NTSB Investigating Fatal Accident Between Semi & Party Bus

I was caught up in the aftermath of this......it looked pretty bad.

 

Guaranteed, the truck driver and trucking company get sued and lose.

 

Never been on a party bus. Always seemed like a stupid idea. I knew people who rented them often.

 

I agree, but here is probably the situation. The "party bus" is probably owned and operated by a person or persons who is operating on a "shoe string". Something like a "mom and pop" deal. Even winning the case in court, nobody is coming out with their "pockets full".

Having spent almost 20 years in the bus business, I can probably guess what the circumstances were.

 

Well...

That's one way to crash a party.

I can see the reviews now on Google: Killer Party! *****!



Sirscrapntruckalot -

 

We have one here on the sandbar. Usually gets rented by groups having events down here. Weddings, Bachelor and bachelorette, reunions, etc. I have no issue with it if it keeps the drunks off the road. I can't speak for elsewhere but here, they would be trying to drive back to their hotels or beach homes. If it's done right it's not a bad thing.

Sirscrapntruckalot -

 

But, the truck driver could’ve yielded and allowed the bus onto the interstate. That’s how most people view things and a jury will probably see it that way, too. Plus, the plaintiffs’ attorneys will hire an investigator to go through the last however many days/weeks/months of the driver’s ELD and records to find any little thing they can that would potentially have prevented the driver from being there. Then, they’ll base their case on that. If he would’ve XXXX, he wouldn’t have even been there, then, there wouldn’t have been an accident.

My employer lost a case under those exact circumstances. A car crossed an interstate median and hit our truck head-on, killing the person. The driver had an ELD mistake which would’ve put him further back up the road and not been at that point on the interstate. Never mind the car operator driving across the median. See, there’s no longer acceptance of responsibility; it’s blame the truck driver, because there’s a potential windfall, there.

I don’t recall so many attorney billboards and cases against trucks/truck drivers, before ELD/data recorders. It’s seems like now, because of the availability of data, we have an endless barrage of cases against trucks.