School Zone Accidents: Holding Drivers Accountable for Negligence

As a parent, your top priority is to keep your child safe and comfortable – not only at home, but also anywhere else they go: school, sports, extra-curricular activities, and more. Even though you are proactive about protecting your children, you can’t count on other people to take the same care that you are offering. For example, school zone accidents can occur because of the negligence of another person.

Have you seen any potential issues at your child’s school, indicating a safety concern? Even though most schools are careful about monitoring the children, there are still potential risks that can result in school zone accidents. One moment can be dangerous, causing a potentially life-threatening situation for your child.

Reasons for School Zone Accidents

While there can be all kinds of reasons for school zone accidents, some of the top causes include the following:

• Distracted driving – Distractions could be your phone, other people, kids, and more. During all the chaos of school drop off and pick up, you must focus on your driving and driving alone. Otherwise, accidents can occur when you least expect it.
• Speeding – Speeding is always dangerous, but going too fast in a school zone can be disastrous. Always slow down in a school zone. When you see those flashing lights reminding you, immediately follow the lower speed limit.
• Ignoring school zone rules – Slowing down in school zones as well as watching for crosswalks being utilized by kids is a must if you’re driving around schools, even in school areas that your kids don’t attend. Don’t ignore the signs and crossing guards, no matter what.
• Disregarding bus stop signs – When a school bus stops to drop off kids, the lights come on, and a stop sign pops out. Drivers who don’t see or abide by the bus stop sign rules could easily hit a child or teen crossing the street or coming off the bus. It may be easy to rush by a bus just coming to a stop, but it’s truly not worth the extra minute you could save.
• Distracted walkers – It’s not just drivers that can be distracted. Those crossing the street or kids getting off school buses can be distracted by all kinds of things that take their mind off safely crossing the street or watching for cars.

Are School Zone Accidents Different from Other Accidents?

As you know, school zone accidents almost always involve kids. This simple fact often makes these accidents much more emotional, and more people seem to get involved with worry. In a legal case, parents or legal guardians have to file a lawsuit on behalf of the child that is injured. Legal cases that involve kids often involve much higher compensation than those accident cases that only involve adults.

Also, kids don’t have the same understanding as adults about the risks of accidents and injury. If a child steps into the street, then they don’t hold the same responsibility as an adult driving the car. So, there are different levels of responsibility depending on the age of the people involved.

Holding Responsible Parties Accountable

Many different parties could be held responsible for a school zone accident. Some examples include a bus driver that fails to adequately look around his bus before moving, a distracted mother correcting a child in the backseat, a crossing guard that doesn’t stop oncoming traffic at the right time for crossing children, and much more.

If you or a loved one suffers from personal injury, then it might be time to file a lawsuit to recover damages. The person at-fault should be held accountable for their actions. This is especially true if the at-fault party was under the influence of drugs or alcohol or driving distracted. This kind of driving must be stopped, especially if someone has been injured.

Preventing School Zone Accidents This Coming School Year

It has been a while since we’ve seen kids arriving at school and school buses driving around in the neighborhood. While it’s good to return to school after a long summer break, the accidents that are sure to follow are not welcome.

Next time you see the flashing school zone sign or see kids in a crosswalk after school, take extra care to watch out for often unpredictable kids that are not paying attention to traffic that could hurt them. As adults, we must hold ourselves responsible for making school zones a safe place for our kids. This means eliminating distractions, slowing down, planning extra time for drop off and pick up so that you’re not in a rush, checking twice before turning in a school zone area, and maybe even volunteering to help kids cross unsafe areas before and after school.

By following these careful measures and encouraging others to do so, we can make school zones a much safer place for our kids. Get involved and show others the importance of watching out for our youth.

Has Your Child Been Injured in a School Zone Accident?

Having your child hurt in a school zone accident or any kind of accident for that matter is a scary and horrible thing to experience. At Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshauer, L.L.C. we believe that negligent drivers should be held responsible for their actions, especially when it comes to our kids.

Our legal team also has years of experience representing accident victims in the following types of accidents:

• Personal injury
• Hit-and-run accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Distracted driving
• Workplace accidents

Give Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshauer, L.L.C. a call at (504) 522-2304 to discuss any kind of injury case you may have been involved in, including school zone accidents. We stand ready to advocate for you and your family.