Georgia Personal Injury Law Blog : Atlanta Georgia Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Jason R. Schultz Law Firm : Wrongful Death, Malpractice, Car Accidents : Georgia

A series of bus accidents in recent months in Georgia and around the country have focused attention on our antiquated bus safety laws, including the failure to mandate seatbelts on buses, and have better scrutiny of motor coach companies.

As an Atlanta bus accident lawyer, I have been particularly troubled by the fact that NTSB recommendations to the FMCSA to mandate seatbelts on buses have been ignored for several years. That’s why it is very encouraging to read about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and its Motor Coach Safety Action Plan that aims to prevent accidents and minimize injuries.   The plan includes measures that will

• Require on-board recorders that will prevent motor coach drivers from operating their vehicles for longer than stipulated by federal laws. This will minimize the number of bus crashes that are caused by driver fatigue, like the one involving a casino bus in California that killed 11 people last year.
• Ban drivers from text messaging while at the wheel, and place restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving. Studies have shown that the risk of accidents increases by 23 percent when a driver is texting at the wheel.
• Make it harder for shady bus operators to be able to quickly rename companies and continue operations, when they are forced to shut down after violations have been found. Such unscrupulous companies find it easy to cover their tracks after an accident, making it hard for investigators to find out who owns the bus.
• Require seatbelts on buses.
• Develop stronger roof crush and collapse standards to prevent the kind of serious injuries that often occur when the roof of the bus disintegrates in a collision.

The Department of Transportation has already indicated its intention of adopting these measures. Seatbelt use may have prevented the kind of serious injuries and fatalities that occurred in the Bluffton University bus accident in Atlanta in 2007, which killed 7 occupants. The NTSB recommended seatbelts, and their use, on buses several decades ago, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has failed to act on these recommendations.

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The death rate from automobile accidents in Georgia over the New Year's holiday was exactly as the State Patrol expected. The Georgia State Patrol had estimated that there would be 20 deaths between the 20^th of December and 3rd of January, and that's exactly how many deaths have occurred. The numbers of people who have been injured in accidents across the state were significantly below what the Patrol had predicted, however – 870 injuries as against the prediction of 1350 by the State Patrol. There were a total of 3008 accidents that took place over the New Year's holiday week, and 17 of those involved fatalities. 

The accident and death rate statistics over the New Years' have also been more encouraging than the statistics over the Christmas weekend which were aggravated by the poor wet weather conditions plaguing much of the state. 24 people died as they traveled across Georgia to meet up with family and friends over the Christmas holiday, a count that was much higher than the State Patrol's projected estimate of 19 deaths. Many of the fatal accidents could be attributed to wet weather that had left roads slick and slippery. Several accidents, especially single vehicle ones could also be traced to alcohol use. These tend to be the most frequent types of accidents over any holiday season, and reach their peak during New Years' which is arguably the biggest drinking holiday of the year. Over Christmas this year, State Patrol says they cracked down on a large number of drunk drivers. This is in spite of the all the pre-holiday anti drunk driving education programs that are conducted in Georgia.

Many accidents were also traced to the mechanical failure of cars that simply couldn't cope with the slippery roads. Interestingly enough, the floundering economy seems to have had a part to play in this. With many people out of jobs or extremely anxious about the status of their current employment, motorists have been less inclined to spend money maintaining their cars, such as replacing old worn out tires. Safe driving in bad weather requires that your vehicle be in top shape to take on the additional challenges.

Drivng in bad weather or during a heavy traffic holdiay season soesn't have to be the nightmare it is for law enfircement agencies.  A little extra caution and care while driving in heavy traffic or in bad weather can prevent most accidents.  As a Peachtree City car accident lawyer, I see all too ofter how negligence behind the wheel can cause injury or death to another motorist who may have been following all the rules of the road.  If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, contact a personal injury lawyer at my office for a free consultation or download a FREE copy of my book entitled "The Ultimate Guide to Accidents in Georgia".

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Federal investigators continued to look for clues over the weekend into the construction accident  at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens that killed at least one worker, and injured several others. The accident occurred when a canopy was being laid in preparation of a new pedestrian bridge at the park.

The accident occurred on Friday morning when workers were busy pouring concrete on the much vaunted four-storey high "canopy walk" that was under construction. As the concrete was being poured, the canopy suddenly collapsed, sending workers plunging at least 40 meters below. At least 18 of the workers sustained injuries in the accident, and had to be rushed to the hospital. One worker, a 66-year-old man was killed in the accident.

The bridge, upon completion, was supposed to be the only one of its kind in the country, and construction was being overseen by Hardin Construction, the project contractor. As the probe continues, we have been seeing reports of a record of fatal accidents involving workers not only at previous Hardin Construction projects, but also at the concrete company that was involved in the accident. A Hardin worker died due to suffocation in 2001 when his head got stuck between a platform and a ceiling. A worker at the concrete company, Pioneer Concrete Pumping Service Inc., was killed in 1991 after a truck malfunction during construction work. Records show that the two companies have been cited several times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and have only had to pay a few thousand dollars in fines as a result. OSHA has already sent its compliance officers to the scene of the Atlanta bridge collapse.

We're still waiting for more details to emerge out of the Atlanta bridge collapse, but it definitely appears like there was negligence on the part of more than one company involved in the construction of the bridge.

Liability for Construction Accidents
 

Any worker who is injured on a construction accident is entitled to Worker's Compensation from his employer. Besides this, he can also use the help of a construction accident lawyer  to bring a civil liability lawsuit against third parties that were involved in the accident. These parties can include manufacturers of equipment that contributed to the accident, the company that was involved in the oversight of the construction work, architects and engineers who may have been responsible for any design flaws, and others. Workers' Compensation, in many cases may not be sufficient to cover all aspects of an injured worker's recovery and rehabilitation, and a personal injury lawsuit can help obtain the maximum compensation possible from all sources.

If you have been injured in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens construction accident, contact an experienced Atlanta construction accident lawyer  for a free evaluation of your case.

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