The Car was Under the Bus: Inattentive Driving?

This case is a bit of a mystery, which has not yet been solved. The 21-year old driver of a small Kia was traveling westbound on a lane parallel to a school bus full of noisy kids. The bus got to the intersection and made a left turn, promptly colliding with the Kia in the midst of the intersection. Inside that small car, with its mother, was an infant child.

The impact was forceful enough to drive the entire front of the Kia underneath the bus. The police report showed that the Kia had the green light at the time of the accident, but police question why the mother did not see the large bus. What was she doing at the time of the accident? Was she checking on a fussy infant? Talking on her mobile phone? Was she otherwise distracted? And what about the bus driver? Did he make an illegal turn against the red light? Was he distracted by a bus load of kids? Did he expect the Kia to stop?

The accident investigation will tell part of the story; subsequent litigation will sort out the rest of the details. It took firefighters 30 minutes to extract the driver from the wreck using the Jaws of Life. Her injuries, and her infant’s, were listed as potentially critical, but not life threatening.

Lawsuit Financial, the pro-justice lawsuit funding company thinks that there are too many distractions in our nation’s vehicles. Driving is serious business; mobile phone use, texting, eating, drinking, applying make-up, talking to passengers, reaching for items in a glovebox, reaching for something in the back seat, scolding your children; all of these can cause momentary inattentiveness that can cause serious injury or death. Cases like this will be handled carefully and thoughtfully by the courts; litigation will determine the percentages of fault. There is a long way to go, here.