Top Five Tour Bus Injuries

San Diego is a very popular tourist destination. For many tourists, their visits end tragically, because of a tour bus crash. Fatigue, distraction, and other driver errors cause about 98 percent of these crashes.

Most people are naturally drowsy early in the morning and late at night. Many tour buses are in operation early in the morning and late at night. Fatigue has the same effects on the body and brain as alcohol. Furthermore, many tour bus drivers have multiple responsibilities. They must drive the bus, supervise passengers, and serve as tour guides. Drivers cannot safely multitask behind the wheel.

A Carlsbad personal injury attorney holds bus drivers, and the companies they work for, legally responsible for these injuries. Attorneys also obtain the compensation victims need and deserve.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

High-speed wrecks often cause sTBIs (severe traumatic brain injuries). Low-speed wrecks often cause mTBIs (moderate traumatic brain injuries). Both kinds of wounds have lasting consequences for victims.

Initial sTBI symptoms mimic accident shock symptoms. Therefore, many brain injury victims don’t get the treatment they need. As a result, their brain injuries deteriorate and often become fatal.

Concussions, or mTBIs, often aren’t life-threatening or even serious, at least individually. However, the cumulative effects of mTBIs causes CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative condition that’s normally fatal.

If a bus accident mTBI is the straw that broke the camel’s back, a Carlsbad personal injury lawyer can still obtain maximum compensation. Insurance companies cannot use pre-existing conditions, like prior concussions, as an excuse to reduce or deny compensation.

Broken Bones

These injuries, much like brain injuries, are normally permanent. Doctors can set broken bones and physical therapists can restore most functions. However, the fracture creates a risk of further fractures, and most victims permanently lose some use, like full range of motion in a broken shoulder.

Settlements must account for possible future medical expenses. If they don’t, the victim may be financially responsible for these costs.

Internal Injuries

Tour buses often tip over and tumble during wrecks. Internal organs often tip over and tumble as well. This motion causes small abrasions that, since internal organs don’t have protective skin layers, usually bleed badly.

Additionally, since these lacerations are so tiny, the course of the bleeding is very hard to detect, especially for first responders who have no diagnostic equipment. Even if they find the source, emergency responders usually aren’t equipped to stop internal bleeding.

As a result, by the time they reach hospitals, many victims have lost so much blood they’re on the edge of hypovolemic shock and organ shutdown.

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a specific kind of traumatic brain injury. Extreme stress, like the stress of a bus crash, alters the brain’s chemical composition. The imbalance causes symptoms like anger, hypervigilance, flashbacks, and depression.

Back Injuries

Spine injuries are very common in bus crashes, mostly because passengers don’t have seat belts. The injury could be a spinal misalignment or a bone fracture. Either way, the lifetime medical bills associated with a serious spine injury could exceed $5 million.

Rely on a Dedicated San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Carlsbad, contact the Pursley Law Firm. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.

Source:

drivethru.gsa.gov/DRIVERSAFETY/DistractedDrivingPosterA.pdf