If you or your children have been injured in a school bus or charter bus accident or who simply ride a school bus anywhere in California from San Diego, CA, to Orange County, from Santa Barbara to Ventura or Oxnard, from Santa Ana, Irvine or Anaheim to Fullerton, Fontana, or Yorba Linda, or from Rancho Cucamonga or Ontario to Palm Springs, Indio, Coachella or Palm Desert (though we expect the rides are much shorter than that) you probably wonder from time to time how well your children are being looked after with care and how bus drivers are hired. School bus drivers have a lot to do to ensure the safety of their passengers and one additional factor can result in an accident.

School bus accidents, because of their precious cargo, are no laughing matter. But as every parent knows, where kids are involved, despite a parent’s best precautions, trouble often follows as certainly as dirt and grass stains.

Charter bus accidents have commonly been in the news in a different type of situation – many recent crashes have been promotional bus trips taking gamblers to casinos. In either situation, the results of a crash can be horrific.

Today, many parents lose time from work, and completely disrupt their schedules just to drive their children to and from school, rather than to allow them to risk the dangers of walking to school or being passengers in school busses. And yet, many adults will ride a casino bus with absolutely no knowledge of whether the bus driver has been vetted, and whether he or she is properly licensed to carry passengers.

Here’s a sampling, taken to the extreme, of how bus accidents can happen.

Busses so overloaded they could make it into the Guiness Book of Records.

Bus drivers operating on no sleep due to staying up all night for their medical marijuana license exams.

Novice bus drivers or drivers more experienced in street racing than school bus driving.

Police chases of school or charter busses.

Busses equipped without properly maintained brakes in order to save cost.

Drag racing of busses.

Bus drivers racing to meetings with their parole officers.

Unlicensed or improperly licensed bus drivers.

Bus field trips gone awry with stops for beer.

Bus road rage.

In actuality, bus accidents do occur due to overloading, speed, the use of drugs or alcohol, aggressive driving, poor maintenance, sleepy drivers and drivers with police records that should never have been allowed behind the wheel.

But bus accidents of any kind can also occur without the driver being drunk or on drugs, when it later comes out in an investigation that the bus driver simply wasn’t properly licensed and on parole, as in a recent casino bus crash that took the lives of nine people and injured many more.

If you have a child who has been injured in a school bus accident, or if you’ve been injured in a charter bus accident, speak with an experienced bus accident lawyer who can investigate if any of these factors were the result of your injuries or your child’s accident..

News Note – On October 1, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger banned motorists from texting, writing or reading messages on electronic devices. The law goes into effect January 1, 2009.

A jury in a Santa Ana courtroom will begin to hear opening statements soon from both attorneys in a case that threatens to become a highly emotional one – involving negligence of the city on the one hand, and parental supervision, or the lack thereof, on the other.

Attorneys for both sides of a motorcycle accident case have begun to present opening arguments before prospective jurors in the case involving two teenage San Juan Capistrano boys. In March 30, 2005, the two teenagers, Trenton Merrill, then a 14-year-old, and Scott Agostini, then 13 years of age were riding a dirt bike. Merrill was the passenger. The pair crossed San Juan Capistrano Creek Road, and crashed into a BMW. Both suffered injuries in the motorcycle accident, but it was Merrill who took the brunt of the impact. He spent several weeks in the hospital undergoing a number of surgeries before his leg had to be amputated. Agostini was discharged a week after the accident with no permanent damage. The driver of the BMW, Emily Pastore, was not injured in the accident.

In the days after the motorcycle accident, Merrill and his family sued the city, as well as a city landscaping contractor. The city on its part, sued both Agostini and Pastore, but last week dropped Pastore from the suit.

In opening remarks, the attorney for the city based his arguments on the young boys and their temperament. According to him, the boys had been encouraged to take up the sport of motocross racing by their parents, and were prone to using the neighborhood as their own private motocross-racing track. He rejected outright the notion that these boys were naïve or innocent victims in this tragedy, and said that they were already semi-pro motocross racers by the time of the motorcycle accident. And this when the boys were just 13 and 14 years old!

In his opening remarks, the attorney for the Merrills, argued that the boys had absolutely no time to see Pastore’s BMW as they cut across the intersection because an overgrowth of heavy vegetation created a blind intersection, in the center of the median. Merrill, he contends, had been forced to lose his leg and let go of his dreams, because of the negligence of the San Juan Capistrano city that failed to make the intersection safe to use for riders. There was no record of any maintenance work done at the site of the accident by the landscape contractor. There were no warning signs that could have warned the boys. There was nothing but green brush that blocked the boy’s view, and led to the motorcycle accident.

The case has taken on emotional tones, especially with those who believe that the boys’ parents were being irresponsible in letting them ride dirt bikes in the streets. The attorney for the city actually used the words, “self centered”, and “disobedient.” We’re still a while away from hearing all the facts in this case, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the boys were in the habit of using the streets as a racing track, as the city’s attorney has claimed. Neighbors of the Agostinis say that most of the boys’ riding was done at the racing track that his parents had built for him in the yard.

It’s ridiculous to pile all the blame on the parents, when the city has failed to keep the streets safe for people to use. It looks as if the city is trying to blame others without acknowledging that it too had a part to play in this tragedy. True, the boys may not have had a place on the roads, but then, that huge brush didn’t have a place on the center median that day either.

“A crisis is a close encounter of the third kind.” Being a human being, we never know what is about to occur in our life. It may be possible that today you are prettily sitting in our home, and tomorrow when driving to office you meet an accident, and get severe injuries. Ignoring the possibilities can’t make us strong enough to cope with crisis lying ahead, accept this fact. Sensible are those who prepare themselves to face the difficulties. And often when accident occurs you find none or few to help you. Important to add, the most you are in need this time is some kind of financial assurance which would be big help for you.

This is where accident insurance appears greatly in handy. Having an insurance covering all kind of accidents is tremendous favour to yourself when you are struck with any financial difficulties. To make the term clear, this is a kind of insurance paying you certain amount of money in the form of compensation when you meet an accident. To attain the compensation, you ought to buy an insurance from an insurance company. Before availing an insurance it is important to know that what all it is going to cover, means what kind of accidents will be covered. Normally, organ loss like hands, legs, etc., car, rail and air accident are covered under the insurance scheme.

The compensation amount you are paid differs from the injuries to injuries caused in accidents. Usually, the amount you get in accident insurance ranges from $25,000 to $1,00,000. Contrary to it if the reason of travel accident is drunken driving, you are refused to be paid any compensation. Likewise, if you are trying some risky sports like car racing, bungee jumping, scuba diving, skiing, etc., you will be excluded from getting any compensation amount by insurer. Reading the policies and guidelines of insurance company may give you avail a good deal at affordable rates. The best way to do some research before availing this insurance is to go online and ask companies free quotes.

1. BMX racing with that bad back.

2. Skiing on that bad leg.

3. Mountain climbing with that neck injury.

4. Snowboarding with that knee pain.

5. Motocross racing with that wrist sprain.

6. Snowmobile racing with back pain.

7. Sled dog racing with a migraine.

8. Running on two bad knees.

9. Rock climbing with a fractured hand.

10. Avoiding going to see a doctor for that swollen ankle.

Now here are ten useful tips of advice from a motorcycle accident lawyer to follow if you have been in an accident.

Obviously, if you have had an accident, and you are reading all of this advice, it’s probably been at least a few days since the accident. However, if it’s only been a few hours or if you ever have another accident, here’s what you should do the next time from the start.

First, take a look around and determine if you or anyone, are hurt. If so, taking steps like trying to prevent further injury or loss of blood are the most important thing you can do. Even if some other driver caused you to be injured, it’s just good manners to help the other driver if they are hurt. They may even be so thankful that they admit their fault to you. The worst thing you can do is get angry or start a fight.

Second, make sure everyone is safe from being injured further. If you are in the middle of traffic, and you are dizzy, sit down away from traffic. If your vehicle is a traffic hazard and you have accident warning devices like flares or triangles, put them out on the road to warn other drivers and get away from the car. Let the police an other emergency personnel investigate the scene with the vehicles in place and move them more safely at a later point.

Third, call the police. Accident reports are extremely helpful if the police will do such a report. Let the police know you are injured immediately. Answer the police questions honestly. But if you are dazed or confused, let them know you need medical treatment and answer only what you feel sure about. Remember, your statements can and will be used against you if you admit fault, and it will be too late and too fishy to later say you didn’t know what you were saying at the scene. Police know that your best recollection is immediately after an accident.

Fourth, get the other driver’s information including their names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, make and model of their vehicles, license plate numbers, and their insurance company name and policy number. If there are witnesses, get their names, addresses and telephone numbers as well. If the other driver makes any admissions of fault, write those down as well.

Fifth, if you have a camera on your cell phone or in the car and you aren’t too injured, take some photos of the vehicles and the scene. If you can’t do it right away, do it after you are released from the hospital.

Sixth, if you are hurt, obtain medical treatment. Don’t decline the ambulance or hospital examination to save your insurance company money or to be stoic. Take your valuables out of your car if you can and get checked out at the hospital. If you are not hurt, don’t get treatment you don’t need. However, remember, after an accident, you may feel a rush of adrenaline that causes you to only start feeling symptoms of pain a few hours later. If you have a health plan that requires you to obtain permission first, call them and find out where you are allowed to seek treatment.

Seventh, call a good motorcycle accident lawyer as soon as you have had your initial treatment, so the attorney can gather other important evidence and prevent the insurance company from taking advantage of you and obtaining such things as recorded statements that you feel fine, when many of your symptoms have yet to manifest themselves. A good motorcycle accident lawyer can save you from making a great deal of mistakes and can shoulder much of the hassle of knowing what to do about car repairs, car rentals, medical treatment, witness statements and the like. If you think you will save money by not having an attorney, think again. A good motorcycle accident lawyer can almost always obtain much higher settlements, obtain reductions of medical bills and insurance liens and prevent you from making costly mistakes. Also, most motorcycle accident attorneys advance costs of obtaining police reports, medical records and the like and are paid and reimbursed for these costs only out of any settlement.

Eight, you will need to report the accident to your insurance company, but since they will want to take a recorded statement from you, just like any other driver’s insurance company, it’s good advice to retain an attorney first. And if the other driver did not have insurance, remember that it is your own insurance company that will be your adversary. You will also need to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles and your lawyer can give you the form for this.

Ninth, do not agree to settle your claim privately with the person at fault for the accident. This almost never works out to your advantage. Don’t agree not to call the police. Police reports that determine the fault for an accident are golden. Your agreement to not involve the police only affords an opportunity for the other driver to change his story and blame you when the police will no longer investigate the accident.

Tenth, don’t pay a traffic ticket without a fight if you weren’t at fault or agree to accept a small payment for your vehicle repairs without knowing that the amount will in fact cover the cost of all the repairs.

If you’ve had a motorcycle accident in Carson, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Long Beach, Venice, Santa Monica, Camarillo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, Brentwood, Cambria or San Luis Obispo, or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your Carson Motorcycle Accident Lawyer and your Torrance Motorcycle Accident Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with auto, motorcycle, truck, bicycle, pedestrian, car, bus, train, boat and airplane accident experience, wrongful death experience and insurance law expertise who can ensure you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.