At least 12 elementary school students were injured in a school bus accident in Bakersfield the morning of March 10, 2010 on their way to a concert. According to a news report in The Californian, the Bakersfield City School District bus carrying 38 students was stopped at the light on Truxtun Avenue at N Street. When the light turned green, a 2005 GMC Sierra driven by 68-year-old Mickie Mendez, veered in front of the school bus attempting to make a right turn on to N Street. The bus driver, 59-year-old Cecelia Luque, braked hard to avoid a collision and the children in the bus were thrown forward. The bus did not have any seatbelts. Most of the 12 injured children suffered neck and head injuries from hitting the seat in front of them.

No Major Injuries

It is indeed fortunate that no one sustained any catastrophic injuries in this incident. I wish all the injured children the very best for a speedy and complete recovery.

In this case, based on the news report, it appears that Mendez acted recklessly by attempting a right turn and cutting off the school bus. If Mendez is determined to have been at fault for this incident, he could be held liable for the injuries caused here.

Seat Belts in School Buses

According to the news report, the 1988 school bus involved in this incident does not come equipped with seat belts. Only buses built after 2005 are required to have seat belts with a shoulder harness installed. Most school districts use the argument that installing seat belts on older model buses would require them to completely get rid of all the seats and put in new ones. And school district officials say they don't have the money to do that. Also, installing seat belts would mean that the buses' capacity would be lowered. That means school districts would need to buy more buses.

However, the question here is: Could those head and neck injuries have been prevented if this bus had seat belts? In my opinion, the answer to that question is: yes. In this case, the bus driver was wearing a seat belt and she was not injured. However, when the driver applied the brakes, the students were tossed to the front, and most hit their heads against the seats in front of them. Had this been a higher impact crash, we could have seen some major personal injuries and tragedies here. It's time that California school districts take additional steps to make their buses safer. Seatbelts save lives, there's just no question about that.

We are not representing any of the parties mentioned in this article at the time the article was posted. Our information source is cited in the article. If you were involved in this incident or a similar incident and have questions as to your rights and options, call a reputable law firm. Do not act solely upon the information provided herein. Get a consultation. The best law firms will provide a free confidential consultation to "not a fault" persons named in this article and their family members.