Commuters and travelers use public transportation as a convenient method to get them to their destination without having to drive themselves. Since the vehicles are responsible for getting their passengers when they need to go safely, they must be careful in their action and the maintenance of the vehicle to prevent unnecessarily injuring any passengers.
A recent mass transit accident in New Jersey resulted in multiple injuries to passengers. The accident occurred when a bus collided with a concrete divider and ended up on top of it. Authorities believe that another vehicle may have cut off the bus prior to the collision. Including the driver, there were 28 people on board the bus at the time of the accident, eight of whom were injured. They were all taken to nearby hospitals with minor injuries. The bus had to be removed from the divider through the use of a crane.
Buses fall under the category of common carriers, which are businesses that receive money for performing the service of transporting people. These businesses must apply the highest possible degree of care in their actions to prevent unnecessary injuries to their passengers. If they fail to abide by regulations, fail to warn passengers of dangerous conditions that they knew of or should have known of or if they don’t meet the standard of care mentioned above, they may be liable to their passengers for any injuries that occur as a result. An injured passenger may be able to hold a common carrier liable for their injuries if they can show that they were negligent. To establish negligence, the passenger must show that the carrier owed them a duty of care, breached the duty, the breach caused the passenger’s injuries and that they sustained damages as a result.
Passengers place a lot of trust in common carriers to protect their safety. This is why these vehicles must be as careful as possible to repair known dangerous conditions and prevent creating them unnecessarily through their operation. Passengers who are injured as a result of a failure to do so may seek the counsel of a personal injury attorney to help them collect any damages to which they may be entitled.
