The U.S. Department of Transportation (under whose umbrella the FMSCA resides) announced the proposed rules with fanfare, and focused on the goal of keeping overworked, tired commercial drivers off the road.  As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated ,“[a] fatigued driver has no place behind the wheel of a large commercial truck. We are committed to an hours-of-service rule that will help create an environment where commercial truck drivers are rested, alert and focused on safety while on the job.”  Our experienced auto accident attorneys echo those sentiments, and hope that the new rules will move us, as a nation, closer to this important goal of improved motor vehicle safety.

Although the FMCSA does “favor” a newly reduced rule allowing a driver to be on the road for 10 hours each day (instead of the current 11), the proposed rules leave this amendment open for comment by the public.  This amendment is thus not yet formally proposed.   

The new rule also tightens the “restart” portion of the HOS rules.  The restart provision allows commercial drivers (and their employers) to “restart” their workweek after a mandated rest period, thus allowing them to again drive the maximum weekly hours.  The new rules keep the old restart period of 34 hours.  They now, however, require that this 34-hour period must include two consecutive nights where the driver is off duty from midnight to 6:00 a.m.    Moreover, drivers can only “restart” their work week once in any seven-day period.

The FMCSA was required to propose a new rule by a court settlement agreement, although the details
of the rule’s contents were not a part of the settlement.  That same agreement requires a new HOS rule to be finalized by July 26 of this year.

For those interested in learning further details of the newly proposed rules, a copy of the rulemaking proposal is available on FMCSA’s Web site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/HOS. The public, and any interested parties, now have 60 days to comment on the proposal (dating from publication on December 29, 2010).

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago car accident attorney at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Yesterday,  CTA officials finally released a statement finding all bus equipment, including the steering and handling components, to be in good condition.  Admittedly, however, the CTA has not completed its investigation because a court order has prevented the agency from conducting any “destructive testing” or retrieving any further data from the “black box” recorder on the bus.

The CTA’s preliminary findings contradict statements, not only from the bus driver, but also from passengers.  According to reports, several passengers who were interviewed stated that another passenger tried to help the bus driver pull the steering wheel straight after the front wheels started pulling hard to the right, but couldn’t.

Fortunately for the injured victims in this accident, the legal process will allow their own investigators and experts to conduct their own investigation into how this accident occurred.  At least one personal injury lawsuit has been filed by a passenger against the CTA arising out of this crash, and more are certain to follow, depending on the severity of injuries sustained.

The recent court orders allow the evidence to be preserved, and provides for a more balanced investigation into the true cause of this accident.  Was it caused by defective components on the bus?  Was it caused by driver error?  What does an independent examination of the bus, including information retrieved from the black box reveal?  What can the driver and passengers tell us about how this accident occurred?  Should the CTA have known about problems with this bus, or with this bus driver, before this accident?

Most importantly:  should this accident have been prevented?

Our CTA injury lawyers will continue to advocate on behalf of victims in public transportation accidents who rely on agencies such as the CTA for safe travel on a daily basis.  If it turns out that this accident should have been prevented through reasonable conduct of the bus driver or those responsible with the CTA, the civil justice system is the only place to hold those responsible accountable.

For a free consultation with a top Chicago CTA bus accident lawyer, call Passen Law Group at 312-527-4500.

The accident occurred on Saturday, on the No. 6 Jackson Park Express bus at Lake Shore Drive near McCormick Place, and involved a single vehicle – a CTA bus carrying seventy passengers, including children and disabled patrons.  The bus jumped the curb at an estimated forty miles per hour and kept right on going.  The bus, one of the CTA’s articulated buses (a bus of double length with a connector in the center), then proceeded to plow into around 15 or 20 trees.  The bus finally came to a stop after striking a larger tree, approximately a foot and a half in diameter.  This was a fortunate stop, as the bus was only a few feet from the drop-off of a retaining wall when it finally came to rest.

Inside the bus, chaos reigned.  Passengers further back in the bus related that their first sign of a problem was hearing passengers near the front “freaking out” and saying things such as “Oh, God.”  After the bus jumped the curb, passengers were tossed about, falling out of their seats and all over one another.  Some passengers stated that they cushioned each other, preventing more serious injuries.  However, this naturally did not do enough to allay the injuries associated with such an accident.

In fact, after the bus came to a stop, at least twenty ambulances were rushed to the scene to treat the injured.  All told, thirty-seven passengers were hospitalized.  Most of these, however, were “minor” injuries as described by the Chicago Fire Department Emergency Medical Services:  such “minor” injuries include contusions, fractured bones, and back and neck injuries.  Four passengers, however, were hospitalized in critical or serious condition.  And approximately ten to twelve passengers had injuries severe enough to prevent them from leaving the bus after it finally came to a stop.

In light of the publicity this crash has garnered, the CTA bus accident attorneys of Passen Law Group are not surprised that no one has yet provided any proposed explanation for the crash — and has gone into “CYA” mode.  The bus driver, who was not seriously injured in the crash, was to be given “standard” drug and alcohol tests by the CTA – but three days later, the results of those tests have not been released.  The CTA also stated that it would be looking at the bus’ mechanical systems and its black box – and although we would expect those investigations to take longer than a standard drug and alcohol test, certain causes should have been immediately or quickly eliminated.

Yet nothing, not even preliminary findings, has yet been reported.    Nor has the available videotape of the accident been released.  Every CTA bus is outfitted with a video camera.  The CTA has stated that the tape from this bus will be studied, but has not released the tape to the media.  Although the CTA has stated that the video contradicts a passenger statement that a passenger had grabbed the wheel in an attempt to control the bus, it has provided no further details from the tape.

The driver herself has given a statement to the drivers’ union, which in turn released portions of that statement to the public.  In it, the driver indicated her belief that the power steering system on the bus had failed.  She states that she struggled to control the bus, but failed.  But the bus driver also told union officials that after the bus jumped the curb, she “may have” then pressed the accelerator by mistake, a good explanation for why the bus continued for so long before finally being stopped by a large tree.

The union, which has not had access to the bus, its black box or videotape, has already provided its explanation of the crash:  mechanical failure.  And the union has lost no time in laying blame at the feet of the CTA for failure to keep on schedule with preventative maintenance for CTA buses, and the failure to fill vacant mechanic positions in the organization.  The bus that crashed, however, which was purchased in 2008, was still under warranty, and the union did not provide evidence of maintenance failures on that particular bus.  Still, the CTA has not yet released the bus’ maintenance records (in spite of its statement that the bus is under warranty).

Our Chicago bus accident attorneys urge the CTA to make the information that it has available to the public, and to conduct an open investigation into the accident and its causes.  With an event of this magnitude, there is no excuse for withholding information from the public and the press:  we, and especially the victims of this crash, have the right to know everything the CTA is learning – from the videotape to the results of the driver’s drug and alcohol tests to the preliminary analysis of the bus’ steering system.  Perhaps, if the CTA acts openly and honorably in its investigation, it can maintain the public confidence at this difficult time.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago CTA accident lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.