Bus Accident Attorney in Cole County, MO

Bus Accident Attorney in Cole County, MO. If you or someone you care about has been injured in a devastating bus accident, take control of your recovery by calling Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT or by contacting us online.

Bus accidents rarely ever get equal attention as plane or train crashes, even though the can frequently be equally as dangerous and deadly. In 2020, there were 964 bus accidents in Missouri that resulted in personal injury or death. We trust Cole County, MO bus drivers and bus companies to keep us safe and respect the rules. When they eschew their responsibilities and do not respect the rules it can have ruinous, sometimes permanent outcomes for you or the people you care about. Your Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law will ensure that you secure the full compensation that you are owed for your damages.

At Burger Law, our bus accident attorney team has over 20 years of experience defending the injured in Cole County and throughout Missouri and fighting back against bullies like dishonest insurance companies and people who selfishly do not want to be held responsible for their negligent behavior. Many Cole County, MO families have put their claims and their futures in our capable hands, and in total we have gotten them over $175 million in verdicts and settlements. Our bus accident attorney team uses their hard work, devotion, relentlessness, knowledge and experience to help find justice in personal injury cases and help Cole County, MO residents on their road to recovery. You should not have to lose wages, pay for pricey medical costs and also work through the emotional shock of your injury just because another person did not respect the rules. If you or a family member has been injured in a Cole County, MO bus accident, call the bus accident attorney of Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online for a complimentary case review. We begin working on your claim immediately, and we do not charge any fees until we win you the compensation you are entitled to.

If you were injured in a bus accident in Cole County, MO because of someone else's reckless behavior, learn how much your claim may be worth by filling out our personal injury calculator.

Do I Need a Cole County, MO Bus Accident Attorney?

If you were caused injuries in a bus accident, you are likely feeling especially unprotected. After all, you were not the driver and you boarded the bus under the assumption that the proper safety arrangements were obeyed. Cole County, MO bus companies and drivers have strict regulations they have a duty to follow, but sometimes they neglect those responsibilities and they leave us to pick up the pieces. Because of the force that is frequently exerted by bus accidents, injuries can take years to really recover from, may have permanent effects or in the most tragic cases can even lead to wrongful death. The Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law will fight by your side so you do not need to go it alone. When you hire us we begin working on your case immediately, and work relentlessly until you receive the full compensation you deserve. We have made a claim for every type of bus accident claim and know every trick insurance companies use to try and defraud injured Cole County, MO individuals and families into accepting less compensation than they deserve. Those Cole County, MO insurance companies fear us because they know our bus accident attorney team takes on – and wins – the hard cases. Call us today and let the passionate, experienced and relentless bus accident lawyers at Burger Law help you safeguard your family’s future and help make you whole again.

Legal procedures are convoluted and can be difficult to comprehend for Cole County, MO residents who do not have the litigation and trial capabilities of an accomplished bus accident attorney. We have more than 20 years of experience standing up to bullies and fighting the hard fight. When you hire our Cole County, MO bus accident attorney team, we oversee every aspect of your claim. You can bank on an experienced and savvy bus accident attorney at Burger Law to:

• Investigate the crash site as soon as possible. When you call us, we can have a bus accident lawyer on the scene at any time during the day or night in order to obtain important evidence for your case.
• Interview eyewitnesses who were either also involved in the crash or were close by. As buses carry a variety of passengers, there are often a lot of passengers who want the same answers and financial recovery you do. Eyewitness testimony is a essential part of winning your case.
• Obtain additional evidence such as tire marks, surveillance videos, police reports, and important details such as how far the driver had driven that day or when the last inspection and maintenance was done on the bus. Many different factors contribute to bus accidents, and your Burger Law Cole County, MO bus accident attorney will discover why the crash happened and who needs to be held responsible.
• Use our network of Cole County, MO accident and medical experts to determine liability for your bus accident injuries and put a figure on exactly how much your injuries are worth. You deserve every dime of what you are entitled to and we will use our savvy and expertise to make certain you recover it.
• Stand up to resistant Cole County, MO insurance companies who are more concerned for their profits than your health. We have seen every trick in the book that insurance companies use to try and avoid their duty to compensate you. When you hire us, you can be sure those schemes will not work in your case.
• Take the fight to trial if the insurance company does not offer a fair settlement, we will use our finely honed litigation skills to secure you a full financial recovery for your damages.

Beyond that, our bus accident attorney team will be keeping you informed entire time. We manage all communication, documentation and litigation so that you can spend all of your energy on healing and making your family whole again. We collect no attorneys fees until we win your case. If you or someone you care about has been hurt in a disastrous bus accident, contact an expert and devoted bus accident attorney at Burger Law today.

Who is Liable for My Bus Accident Injuries?

Because bus drivers, companies and manufacturers all have a role to play in running a bus safely you will first need to find out the cause of the accident before determining who was negligent. Fortunately, an accomplished and skilled Cole County, MO bus accident attorney like those at Burger Law have seen every kind of car accident, truck accident and bus accident case and will be able to find out what entity is responsible for your injuries.

What Causes Bus Accidents? | Cole County, MO Bus Accident Attorney

• Driver age and experience. A 2012 Journal of Safety Research study found that recently licensed drivers under 25 years old, in addition to more experienced drivers over 55 years old were more likely to be driving when a bus accident transpired.
• Driver behavior. While the same study found that a mere 4 percent of bus accidents were due to an egregious offense such as drunk driving, another study by the University of Michigan stated that 31 percent of bus drivers in metropolitan area bus collisions had been cited with driving errors, for instance, speeding, being drowsy or distracted driving.
• Driver fatigue. A good deal of bus drivers, especially those that work for commercial bus companies such as Greyhound that require drivers to drive hundreds of miles in the middle of the night, become fatigued and can even fall asleep at the wheel. While most busing companies have regulations about how many hours a driver can drive during without a break or how often they have to take a break, those regulations are frequently <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/us/greyhound-investigation/" target="_blank” rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener title="CNN"not mandatory or obeyed.
• Road hazards. Given buses’ size and the difficulty of maneuvering them, slick roads or Cole County, MO construction areas can be especially hazardous for bus commuters. In some cases a third party such as a construction company will be liable. Burger Law's bus accident attorney will help you determine if that applies case.
• Negligence by the bus company. Bus companies are regulated, but much less than other transportation industries. A 2011 study by the National Transportation Safety Board found that The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has only 878 people responsible for inspections of more than 765,000 commercial motor vehicles, or just 1.15 inspectors per 1,000 motor carriers. This means reviews typically cannot stay ahead of the quantity of inspections required. Some Cole County, MO bus companies do not properly maintain their vehicles, causing them to be a hazard. Additionally, bus companies are required to make sure that their drivers are properly trained and are not overworked.
• Dangerous roads. Hazards in the road and road conditions can cause a driver to lose control and crash. A Few typical examples are:
  • Potholes
  • Cracked or uneven pavement
  • Defective or missing traffic signals
  • Obstacles on the road, for example branches or vehicle wreckage
  • Inadequate lighting
  • Excessive grades

  The longer the dangerous condition has been on the Cole County, MO street, the better chance you have of holding the negligent parties accountable. The negligent party may be a local Cole County, MO government, or a third party whom the government contracted to repair the issue but either did not do so quickly enough or did not adequately repair it.

Once your expert Cole County, MO bus accident attorney confirm the cause of your accident, they will be able to ascertain who is liable for your injuries and how to proceed with delivering you a maximum financial recovery. Below are some examples of parties who are typically found negligent in bus accident claims.

Commercial Bus Companies

Transportation buses such as Greyhounds are considered common carriers legally speaking, which means they have a duty of care to their customers to look out for their safety. Part of that duty of care is to ensure that their drivers are not driving too many miles in a day. In despite of insisting that safety is their top priority, a CNN report in 2016 found that Greyhound is not following its own rules in regards to driver fatigue. Drivers are technically obliged to stop every 150 miles and get out to inspect the bus to stave off drowsiness. However, the rule is not enforced and is rarely followed as too many breaks could result in financial losses for the company. A 2012 government study reported that 37 percent of all passenger bus crashes were due to driver fatigue. Furthermore, many Greyhound passengers have reported that their driver was eating during the time of a crash, which constitutes distracted driving.

Ensuring that Cole County, MO buses are correctly inspected and maintained and that they have safety equipment such as seatbelts are also part of the bus company's responsibility. A bus accident may be the result of a bus company either failing to provide routine maintenance or neglecting to repair a broken part or component. Older buses are especially predisposed to breaking down and bus companies must keep their fleets updated.

Finally, bus companies need to be prudent in their hiring practices. All drivers need to be adequately licensed and trained, and should only be able to drive after passing strict background checks. Your Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law will carry out a full investigation into the bus company's hiring practices and the person who was driving when the wreck transpired.

A Bus Manufacturer

Like car and other motor vehicle manufacturers, bus manufacturers have a duty to guarantee the safety of their vehicles and quickly announce recalls in the event of a malfunctioning product. If they approve an inherently faulty design or do not recall a component that they knew or should have known was not functioning adequately, they are guilty of product liability. While they might try to place the blame on somebody else, your Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law has over two decades of experience making sure negligent parties are held accountable for their actions.

The Cole County or Missouri Government or a Public Entity

Public transportation accidents can often be devastating because of the number of people who could be injured and because they usually take place in densely populated areas. While you can seek compensation from the Cole County, MO government, there are special procedures for doing so. Missouri has sovereign immunities for governmental bodies and government employees than for the average citizen in tort claims. If you seek to make a claim against a municipality or government employee, you must file it within 90 days of the accident with the Office of Administration’s Risk Management Division. That is why it is urgent to reach out to a Cole County, MO bus accident attorney right away after your accident. There is no time to wait, call the trusted Burger Law bus accident injury lawyers now at (314) 500-HURT.

Missouri Revised Statute §537.600 grants sovereign immunity to government entities and employees except against a government employee who was driving a motor vehicle “within the course of their employment.” This means that you can sue or make a claim against a negligent or thoughtless public bus driver in Missouri.

The Bus Driver

Even a properly licensed and trained bus driver can cause an accident owing to recklessness. If they became distracted by looking at the roadside or texting, did not pull over when they were feeling overly tired, did not pay attention to the Cole County, MO road conditions and driving laws while they were driving or made the foolish decision to drive drunk, they need to be held accountable just like bus companies sometimes have to be. When you get on a bus you trust that driver with your safety and your life. If a bus driver does not take that responsibility seriously and causes you injury, you can be certain that the committed and tenacious bus accident attorney at Burger Law will hold them responsible.

The Other Driver

Like any type of motor vehicle collision, two or more drivers are often involved, and in some instances they each may bear a portion of the blame. Another driver’s thoughtlessness, such as speeding, driving while intoxicated or pulling in front of the bus too quickly can injure you. If you were hurt in a bus crash where there was another driver or drivers involved, your talented and experienced Cole County, MO bus accident attorney will help you confirm if they are liable and if you can make a claim against their insurance company.

School Districts

School bus accidents are the most common type of bus accident in Cole County and Missouri. Nationally, school bus accidents account for 40 percent of all fatal bus accidents. While often the driver, bus company or bus manufacturer is at fault, a school district in Cole County, MO may also be held responsible, for instance if they did not cancel school on a day when weather conditions were particularly bad or they did not perform proper background checks when hiring drivers.

Below are some helpful links and frequently asked questions for bus accident injuries and other types of injuries:

• Do I have to Talk to the Insurance Company Before I Talk to a Lawyer?
• How Much to Expect in an Auto Accident Settlement
• What Happens During Litigation?
• Does My Family Have a Wrongful Death Claim?
• Proving Negligence in a Personal Injury Claim

What Compensation Can A Bus Accident Attorney in Cole County, MO Recover For Me?

The compensation you are awarded in a bus accident case will typically depend on the severity of your injuries and how they have impacted and will impact they have on your life. You may have gotten a sprained wrist that just needed a quick trip to an emergency room in Cole County, MO and a couple weeks off work. Or, you may have sustained a catastrophic spinal cord injury that leaves you disabled and in need of assistive devices for the rest of your life. When you hire a dedicated and accomplished Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law, we will make certain that you receive a fair financial recovery for all of the pain and inconvenience your injury has caused and will continue to cause. Missouri Senate Bill 239 defines the damages you can receive as:

• Economic damages, including:
  • Medical costs, such as hospital bills, rehabilitation, assistive devices and medications
  • Lost wages
  • Lost earning capacity

  We utilize our network of medical and economic experts to compute the exact dollar amount you deserve, accounting for inflation for future lost earning potential or future medical expenses.

• Noneconomic damages, including:
  • pain and suffering
  • mental anguish
  • inconvenience
  • physical impairment
  • disfigurement
  • loss of capacity to enjoy life
  • loss of consortium

However severe your injuries and however much they have impacted your life, Burger Law's Cole County, MO bus accident attorney team will fight aggressively to ensure that you get the best possible compensation for all of your damages.

Learn more about our various practice areas by clicking the links below:

• Truck Crash Lawyers in Missouri
• Semi-Truck Accident Lawyer in Missouri
• Car Accident Attorney in Missouri

Call Our Cole County, MO Bus Accident Attorney Today

We have seen every variety of bus accident case and know the immense pain and disastrous effect it can have on your and the people you care about. Your Cole County, MO bus accident attorney at Burger Law is compassionate, accomplished, straightforward and determined and will use every bit of the knowledge and skills we have obtained over the past two decades to get you the full recovery you are rightfully owed. If you or a loved one has been harmed in a bus accident, do not wait another second. Call Burger Law immediately at (314) 500-HURT or fill out our online form for a complimentary case evaluation.