Our roads are crowded with more and more vehicles every year, and people always seem to be in a hurry. Sharing the road is vitally important. Drivers have the utmost obligation to those most at risk: pedestrians.

It is vital to keep the safety of those not protected inside of vehicles in mind because if an accident occurs, their consequences will usually be the worst. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are over 75,000 pedestrian accidents in the United States each year resulting in over 5,000 deaths. That is equivalent to one pedestrian killed every 105 minutes or every hour and a half. Pedestrian injuries occur every seven minutes or less.

Similar to difficulties in observing motorcycles, if you don’t expect to see a pedestrian, your brain will often ignore them even though they may be right in front of you. It’s possible the eye won’t get around to focusing on the pedestrian long enough for the brain to actually process it until it is too late. This odd phenomenon is known as selective attention. For more details on the science of selective attention see the link below.

School buses are often the safest way for children to travel to and from school; however, there are dangers when children are boarding and leaving the bus. Over the last decade, nearly two-thirds of school-age pedestrians fatally injured in school transportation-related crashes were struck by the bus or another vehicle when getting on or off a school bus. There are four easy steps to help your child or anyone using public busing to stay “SAFE”:

• Stay five steps away from the curb.
• Always wait for the bus driver to signal or tell you when to board.
• Face forward and stay seated after finding a seat on the bus to minimize injury while traveling.
• Exit the bus when it stops, look around multiple times before stepping forward, and then take five steps away from the bus toward the curb. Do not walk in front of the bus.

When dealing with school buses, governmental school districts are often involved. There are special rules which partially protect the government from lawsuits. The doctrine that protects them is called sovereign immunity and it carries with it special rules. It comes from the olden days when there were sovereign kings and queens—you couldn’t sue royalty. We created law to hold everyone accountable and we don’t have kings or queens, but the government kept the idea and modified it. The rules they kept include shorter deadlines and notice requirements that can jeopardize your claim if you fail to meet them, and there may also be a maximum limit that the government will be required to pay regardless of your injuries. Over the years we have handled claims against counties, cities, police, fire departments, and even the US Postal Service.