School Bus Accidents

Each day Colorado school busses are entrusted with safely transporting our children to and from school, field trips, and after school activities. Because children are our community’s most valuable asset, Colorado school districts must carefully hire, train, and supervise school bus drivers so that they can keep our children as safe as possible when on Colorado’s roads. Unfortunately, each year in Colorado there are several serious and preventable school bus accidents that are caused by careless or reckless school bus drivers. At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, our Colorado school bus accident lawyers understand the special duties that school districts have to keep our children safe on school busses, and we are experienced at successfully holding school districts accountable when careless school bus drivers end up hurting or even killing children. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed because of a negligent school bus driver, we invite you to call us today at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation about your case.

School bus accidents happen both in metropolitan and rural areas across Colorado. It is no surprise that school districts like Denver Public Schools, Jefferson County R-1, Cherry Creek Schools, and Adams 12 Five Star school districts have the most students, the largest fleet of school busses in Colorado, and the highest number of school bus accidents each year. However, our experienced Colorado school bus accident attorneys understand that students also get seriously injured in school busses operated by smaller school districts across Colorado.

Whether your child was injured in a school bus accident in a large metropolitan area like Colorado Springs, Denver, Aurora, Grand Junction, or Fort Collins, or in a rural school district on Colorado’s Eastern Plains or in on of Colorado’s mountain communities, our experienced Colorado school bus accident lawyers can help you. We have represented injured victims across Colorado, and we encourage you to reach out to us wherever your family resides. If we think we can help you, we frequently travel throughout Colorado and can arrange an in-person meeting with you and your family regardless of where you live.

Over the years, our Colorado school bus accident attorneys have learned that, just like any other type of car accident, school bus accidents can happen in many ways and at any time.

For example, in the summer of 2018, a Boulder Valley School District school bus rear-ended a number of vehicles in Lafayette, Colorado. Our Colorado school bus accident lawyers learned that at the time of the crash the school bus driver had alcohol in his system which played a role in the school bus driver’s careless driving. It goes without saying that school bus drivers are absolutely prohibited from driving drunk and it is a serious public safety concern to students and other drivers when school bus drivers are under the influence of alcohol or drugs like pills and marijuana. When aggravating factors are present like a school bus driver who is drunk-driving, our experienced Colorado school bus accident attorneys will work to hold the school district accountable for punitive damages above and beyond negligence.

In another case, also in the summer of 2018, a school bus driven by the Greeley-Evans School District was involved in a collision just outside of Hudson, Colorado. In that case, 35 students and staff from Greeley Central High School and North Ridge High School were returning from a field trip at Elitch Gardens when the driver of a flatbed truck fell asleep and caused an accident with the school bus, resulting in the school bus rolling 1 ¼ times and ending up on its side. Although our school bus accident attorneys do not currently represent any injured children in that case, we have learned through reports that the school bus driver’s actions were taken to avoid colliding head-on with the flatbed truck. We understand that each school bus accident is unique, and sometimes a school bus drivers must take choose the lesser of two evils to avoid a deadly school bus accident.

As the above examples illustrate, our Colorado school bus accident lawyers understand that school bus crashes can happen in many ways, including:

• Drunk driving;
• driving under the influence of drugs;
• poor hiring, training, supervision practices and procedures;
• inadequate safety procedures;
• bad driving conditions like snowy and icy roads;
• drowsy driving;
• school busses with too many students (over capacity);
• poorly maintained school busses;
• poor communication by the school district;
• and many more

At Cook, Bradford & Levy, LLC, we understand that when a school bus accident happens, it is the school bus driver as well as school district administrators and the school district itself that must be held accountable. As a general rule, and depending on the type of claim that is brought against them, school districts can be immune for negligence unless certain procedures are followed to comply with Colorado’s Government Immunity Act (CGIA). Because of these unique requirements – including strict time limits – that come into play when suing the government, our Colorado school bus accident attorneys recommend that you contact a lawyer as soon as possible after your accident. It is important to understand, however, that there are always exceptions to every rule, and even if your accident happened some time ago it is worth your while to speak with an experienced Colorado school bus accident lawyer who might be able to help you and your family.

Our experienced Colorado school bus accident attorneys would like to speak with you if your child has been injured in a school bus accident. We invite you to call us today at 303-543-1000 for a free consultation with our experienced team of lawyers to see how we might be able to help you. We have offices in Lafayette and Denver, and we will travel to you if we think we can assist you in your accident.