Seven Girls Injured In Bennett Spring School Bus Rollover

This past Sunday, seven teenage girls were injured when the small school bus in which they were riding tumbled down a hill.  The girls were riding in a Fort Niangua bus headed to a float trip.  The bus was traveling on Moon Valley Road when it tried to pull over to the side to allow an oncoming car to pass.  However, in attempting to do so, the bus drove over to far to the side and it began to tumble down the hill.

Generally, bus drivers must carry a CDL license and both them and their employers are governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.  These regulations impose much higher standards on drivers.  Should any of the girls retain a Missouri Car Accident Lawyer, the first thing that should be done is to investigate whether the driver had the proper training and experience to drive this bus.  Additionally, it should be investigated whether the driver’s employer properly trained the driver and screened them.  When employer’s chose not to properly screen and/or train their drivers, they can be liable for not only their driver’s negligence, but also their own failure to retain and train the driver.  This is a claim we often present to juries in our Missouri car accident cases.

Interestingly, Fort Niangua is also pointing the finger at the county.  They claim that the design and maintenance of the road itself is dangerous because it is too narrow and that was the cause of the wreck.  Yet, in a local newscast (the video is above), Dallas County’s Presiding Commisioner, Harold Morgans, seems to acknowledge the problem.  “It’s gotten worse”, claims Morgans.  This begs the question, if the County is aware that the road has “gotten worse”, why has nothing been done about it?  Does it take a bus of injured girls and and what could have been a deadly accident to force them into action?  Thus, the County may also be responsible for causing this accident.

Certainly our prayers go out to all of these girls and their families and we hope they all recover speedily.

If you have been injured in a car wreck and would like to speak with an expert Missouri car wreck lawyer, contact Joshua P. Myers at 888-956-2487.  It’s always free to talk about your case and there are never any fees unless and until we recover on your behalf.