Bus Accidents
If you are familiar with sharing the roads with “big rigs” and large buses, you know that it can be a bit of a scary experience. These are huge and heavy vehicles, and you are not always sure that a driver can see you. While sharing the roads can be a bit challenging, getting into an accident with one of these oversized vehicles is downright terrifying. Perhaps one of the scariest of these incidents would be bus accidents because of the risk of injury to so many people at one time.
If you have been involved in a bus accident, you should also know that within minutes of it happening, a team of insurance and risk management experts will be scrutinizing the incident. They all have one goal – to reduce the liability of the company that owns the bus and to ensure that the insurance company is not going to have to pay out any more than necessary.
Whether the accident was due to the driver’s behavior, something to do with the bus itself, or because of another driver who caused the incident, you are going to have to face a lot of challenges in pursuing compensation for your injuries or losses.
Understand the Challenges
Why should something that seems clear cut to you become a challenge? After all, if a bus driver was going too fast and caused a crash, doesn’t it seem obvious that the bus company should pay for your medical expenses and any damages or losses you (or your surviving dependents) sustained?
While it does seem like a simple matter, there is that issue of the bus companies seeking to reduce the amount of their liability. Their experts are going to look for anything you may have done or said that can be used against you to reduce the amount of compensation you can receive. Something as simple as asking a driver, “Whose fault was this?” at the scene of an accident can lead to a decrease in your compensation.
While nothing can be done once such words are spoken, you can prevent the bus company from slipping out if its responsibilities by working with a knowledgeable attorney who has experience in handling bus accidents. These are professionals who know all of the tricks that insurance companies and risk management experts will try to use against you. This is also why you will want to get in touch with such an attorney as soon as you can after an accident has occurred – even if it means calling them from your hospital bed.
Lots of Rules and Laws
The transportation industry is full of federal and state laws, and bus and trucking companies all know that they are obliged to meet them. Does this mean that they always do? No, and if there are violations going on at the time that bus accidents occur, you can bet that the risk management teams are going to try to do what they can to prevent these violations from harming their case.
Remember that you and your attorney are first tasked with proving the liability of the person or person(s) responsible for the accident. And while it can always be something like mechanical failure that led to an incident, you never want to allow any firm to go on causing accidents and suffering if they are persistently violating regulations or rules. Building your case against them is often a good way to stop bad behaviors in the future.
While you may not feel like championing anything because of the injuries or losses you sustained in a bus accident in West Virginia, you should want the most compensation possible. At Heavens Law you can count on their experienced team to listen to the details of your case and help you get the best results.
Source
- NavBug.com. West Virginia Bus Accidents. 2014. https://www.navbug.com/bus_accidents_in_west_virginia.htm
