Two CTA Bus Crashes Cause Five Injuries

June 10, 2013

Recently, two Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses were involved in auto accidents in a single evening. The Chicago Tribune reports that one of the two crashes occurred on the North Side, in the South East Ravenswood neighborhood. The second of the two accidents occurred on the Southwest Side in the Marquette Park neighborhood.

The Chicago Tribune indicated that five people were injured, though none reported serious injury. However,  the fact is that bus crashes can be very dangerous for all involved. Our Chicago bus accident lawyers know that many serious injuries including traumatic brain injuries, whiplash, and other soft-tissue injuries do not always become apparent in the immediate aftermath of a collision. Unfortunately, due to the large size of CTA buses, these types of injuries are more likely to occur in bus accidents than in other types of crashes.

Chicago Bus Accidents Cause Injury

According to the Tribune, one of the two CTA bus accidents occurred around 5:10 a.m. The driver of a van collided with the bus on the 6400 block of South Kedzie Avenue. The driver of the van, along with three of the passengers inside of the van, were transported to Holy Cross Hospital.

The second of the accidents involving a CTA bus occurred on the 1700 block of Irving Park Road. The accident happened shortly after midnight and details of the cause of the accident or injuries sustained were not available at the time of reporting. However, one person was identified as having been injured in the bus accident.

These two bus crashes are far from the first that have occurred involving CTA buses. Unfortunately, bus accidents routinely occur as a result of mistakes made by drivers, maintenance problems, and other issues where the bus driver or bus company are negligent.  These accidents endanger all passengers aboard the bus and endanger drivers and passengers of other vehicles forced to share the road.

When a bus crash happens, it is important to determine the cause of the accident. If the CTA driver was responsible for the crash, then it may be possible for passengers and other motorists hurt in the accident to take legal action. Because the CTA is public transportation, however, there are special rules and requirements associated with making a claim and the case is a bit more complicated than standard car accident injury claims.

Government employees and government entities are provided with limited protections as a result of sovereign immunity that dates back to English common laws preventing citizens from suing the king. Today, we don’t have a king, but government employees and agencies still get special treatment when it comes to holding them accountable for their negligence.

The laws don’t say that you cannot make a claim after a CTA accident, but such claims are more complex. Bus accident victims, therefore, will need to ensure that they have assistance from attorneys with experience suing after CTA crashes.

If you were injured in a bus accident in the Chicago, Illinois area, contact Coplan & Crane at 800-394-6002 or visit our Oak Park office.