Archives for National Bus Trader

Working in the passenger transportation field, you may occasionally have to deal with personal injury attorneys. Because this experience usually follows a serious accident, you will not enjoy it. Because an insurance company underwrites your risk, you will also not select the attorney. You will certainly not select the attorneys assisting the victims. While even a poor plaintiff’s attorney can cause you great difficulty, having a terrific one on your side may save your business and your career. A bad one may ruin your life. Mensches and Monsters You have all heard the jokes: Q: What do you do when

Driving around a bus full of mostly poor, often angry passengers has its rewards, even if making a decent living is rarely among them. But it also has its downsides. Bus and motorcoach drivers spend considerable time remaining courteous and polite through a spate of insults, ridicule and complaints from passengers who rarely have access to the targets responsible for making their lives so miserable and dreary. These drivers spend time as repositories for chewing gum, spitballs, profanity and racial epithets. Sometimes they are physically assaulted. Every transportation system’s management hopes its drivers will handle on-board problems professionally. But when

There is an old expression, “It is not what you know but who you know.” This may be true of job-hunting. But it is not true of liability. In the land of liability, the key is often “Where you were at.” Red State, Blue State, Yellow Brick Road In some states, a safe stop encompasses the area where the passenger steps off the bus, the area surrounding the bus, the intersection, and a reasonable distance along safe paths to or from the stop. In other states, the driver’s responsibility ends the moment the passenger’s feet leave the stepwell. In still

Incidents where seated passengers get thrown down the stepwell and through a closed door seem to be rare – although I have been involved as a forensic expert in several lawsuits where such incidents have occurred. But passengers being propelled forward from their seats, and standees slipping and falling when the vehicle accelerates, decelerates, brakes, turns and merges are common staples of bus and motorcoach incidents and the lawsuits that inevitably follow them. The Balancing Act When a floor surface moves, forces are exerted on those objects resting upon it. When this surface moves longitudinally, these forces are referred to

Forensic experts are engaged ostensibly for a single purpose: To examine the evidence and opine on it. In contrast, attorneys are engaged to advocate. The dynamics of the U.S. legal system stretch this system because the incentives and risks borne by plaintiffs’ attorneys are grossly disproportionate to those borne by defendants’ attorneys. Three elements of U.S. society and its legal system are primarily responsible for these dynamics: The contingent fee, the Free Shot and the Bum’s Rush. The Contingent Fee The contingent fee arrangement provides a mechanism to finance the prosecution of civil lawsuits: Plaintiffs’ attorneys retain a portion of

Not being facetious, I am getting tired of writing about fatigue: This is my eighth National Bus Trader article about it. While its cause has not yet been ascribed to fatigue (at least not officially), the recent Arkansas motorcoach crash prompts me to recount yet another episode. The Long, Long Night On New Year’s Day Even, 2001, a motorcoach driver retired at 4:30 PM to prepare for his nocturnal marathon later that evening. After a restless nap during which he barely slept, he arose at 10:30 PM,  gulped down a bowl of soup, and drove 45 minutes to his waiting

With panoramic/wraparound windshields lying against the front plane, sun visors, tinted windshields, crossover and parabolic mirror systems, ergonomic driver compartments with tilting/telescopic steering columns and pneumatically-adjustable seats, video surveillance cameras and motion detection sensors – much less corrective lenses, sunglasses, annual vision examinations, and continual improvements in headlamps – one would think that bus drivers could see and react to large objects appearing directly in front of their vehicles. But, as many jurors learn, one would be wrong. One Eyed Jacks Two recent incidents make one wonder why vision tests administered to drivers even examine both eyes: A motorcoach driver

No, this article is not about pedestrians and bicyclists, even though they are common victims of many bus and coach-related accidents and incidents. Instead, “cycle” time represents the time identified for the trip on a bus or coach schedule, while “running” time represents the actual, on-the-street time it takes the vehicle to travel the scheduled trip or run. Common sense suggests that running time should be less than cycle time. The subtracted difference is commonly referred to as “recovery” or “layover” time. Yet the number of incidents that occur when recovery time is too limited is astonishing as a safety

As transportation community members well know, driving is, by itself, becoming increasingly complex while the complexity of management functions is exploding. It is doubtful that safety and liability concerns can keep pace without expanding the knowledge, experience and perspective of management. Beyond this, it is becoming increasingly important for management to also develop the skills to articulate its knowledge, experience and perspective – particularly in the courtroom. Providing more and better training to management is not only an appropriate response, but an inevitable one. Responsibility for drivers’ failures often lies in the policy-making, planning, system design and management hierarchy above

While motorcoach drivers may not possess the status or formal authority of pilots, ship captains or train conductors, their knowledge, skill, wisdom, judgment and perception have been every bit as critical to the industry’s safety record as have been the capabilities of their air, sea or rail counterparts. Largely with this expertise, the number of small motorcoach businesses had been expanding – at least until September 11th. Among other dynamics, however, the U.S. legal system is slowing reversing this trend. A paramount reason is the exaggerated linkage among safety, liability and written documentation. At least as an excuse, one caveat