In 2010, the report found, there were 379 preventable bus accidents which involved 348 bus drivers. Of those, four drivers had three preventable accidents, 23 had two, and 321 had one. Still, the report found that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is only considering firing seven drivers. Here’s how the Examiner describes the San Francisco MTA’s procecdure following a bus accident:

When a collision is determined to be avoidable, the driver is counseled about the error, trained and given a written warning, according to Paul Rose, a spokesman for the SFMTA, which operates Muni. Depending on how serious the accident was, the driver might be suspended for two days or 10 days, or get fired.

But Rose said operators’ records are cleared after 12 months, meaning some drivers could be responsible for minor accidents every year without more than a written warning. He said past major accidents can be taken into consideration if suspension or dismissal is being considered.

Paul Rose, a spokesman for the SFMTA said the bus accident numbers show that most Muni drivers are safe. “Ninety-nine percent have either zero or only one preventable collision,” he said, “and that’s saying that the vast majority of our operators are exceptional at what they do.” Walter Scott III, a spokesman for the bus drivers’ union said the numbers are encouraging considering that bus drivers carry 700,000 people while driving a 40-foot vehicle and dodging distracted pedestrians.

While it’s true that many Muni drivers are great at their difficult jobs (and often thankless), the record shows that preventable bus accidents are far too common in San Francisco. Even just from a financial perspective, it would be in the city’s interest to fire bus drivers who are consistently involved in preventable bus accidents. Last month, for example, the city settled a personal injury lawsuit with a passenger injured in a train accident for $2 million.

So to improve pedestrian safety and save San Francisco a bundle, the SFMTA should get tough on drivers involved in preventable bus accidents.

Photo credit: randychiu

In July of 2008, 52-year-old Alma Del Bosque was struck by the Powell-Mason cable car line at Mason and Washington Streets, causing serious injuries, including a broken femur. Bosque’s leg was not amputated despite early warnings that it could be, but he still fronted nearly $500,000 in medical bills and was bedridden for months, unable to work. Muni has settled to pay two other passengers present when the accident took place $50,000 each for less serious injuries. Another December 2009 Muni accident crushed the plaintiffs foot, which was later amputated. The plaintiff, John Gainor, is expected to receive an even larger multi-million dollar settlement, reports the Examiner.

The financial strain that serious Muni accidents put on the city of San Francisco is a serious burden. The San Francisco Appeal notes that the city’s mass transportation agency hopes to collect a total of $5.5 million from cable car fares this year, which is minimized by the $4.85 million spent on accident settlements (and that’s without Gainor’s settlement).

Like traffic accidents in general, public transportation collisions are far too common. In July 2009, for example, nearly 50 passengers were injured when a Muni L train collided with a K train at West Portal station. Only two weeks later, a two Muni F trains sandwiched an SUV, injuring six and sending two to the hospital with serious injuries. And last April, a man was trapped and killed in a Muni bus accident. The next day, another pedestrian was sturuck and killed in a bus accident at Castro Station.

San Francisco’s transportation agency needs to get serious about improving its safety record so that pedestrians can walk free of the fear of getting squashed on city streets, and city budgets can stop buckling under the pressure of major accident legal settlements.

Photo credit: DaveFayram

The Oregonian reports that Gittings, Sale’s boyfriend, suffered catastrophic injuries including “fractures to his ribs, pelvis, shoulder blade and foot; the loss of several front teeth; a ruptured spleen; a head injury, and other wounds” that contributed to more than $250,000 in medical fees.

The plaintiffs allege that the bus was driving too fast, and did not take enough time to consider safety at the intersection, which they say reveals that TriMet “approved a culture within TriMet that failed to place safe and defensive driving as the top and overriding priority.”

While everyone agrees that the number of fatal pedestrian-bus accidents must be reduced, few understand how this result can be achieved. After a string of bus accidents involving Portland’s public transportation agency and pedestrians back in April, The Oregonian reported that although left-turn accidents were “alarmingly common,” the agency resisted a proposed “no-left” policy. Instead, TriMet said that it would reduce, not eliminate left turns, and discontinue some of the city’s most dangerous stops.

Hammel’s family hopes that her death will lead other pedestrians and public transportation drivers to be safer on city streets. “The more the story is told and they’re stopped from pushing my daughter’s death under the rug,” said Danielle Sale’s father David, “the more I know she died for a just cause – to improve transit safety so this doesn’t happen again.”

h/t Paulson Coletti blog

Photo credit: kworth30

To a certain extent, the lack of seat belts on commercial vehicles is understandable. Due simply to their size, commercial carriers are much safer than personal vehicles and result in far fewer injuries and fatalities. But every year, reports the NHTSA, 20 bus passengers are killed in accidents, and nearly 800 are injured. The risk of being killed in a rollover crash is expected to drop by 77 percent, says the agency. “We’re committed to making sure that motorcoach travelers reach their destinations safely,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Seat belts save lives, and putting them in motorcoaches just makes sense.”

Due to the financial burden imposed by the addition of seat belts, the NHTSA only requires that new vehicles comply with the new regulations. NHTSA predicts that the measure will cost $25.8 million each year at a rate of $13,000 per bus. The number of lives saved should vary depending on the number of passengers who actually wear their seat belts. But the agency predicts that the societal benefits of the new regulations will outweigh the economic costs if just 24 percent of passengers buckle up.

The NHTSA is seeking public comment on the seat belt initiative online at www.regulations.gov. Click through and weigh in if you’d like to see stricter seat belt laws on commercial busses. We’ll keep you updated on this debate and stay tuned for our analysis of a similar campaign to require the use of seat belts on school busses.

UPDATE: The Fresno Bee has been live blogging this story, with consistent, up to the minute updates. Check it out here.

A Greyhound bus driving from Los Angeles to Sacramento collided with an overturned SUV in California’s Central Valley on Highway 99 near Fresno early Thursday morning. To avoid a second collision, confirms California Highway Patrol Officer Michelle Sigmond, the driver of the Greyhound swerved and crashed in to a concrete divider and a large eucalyptus tree. The bus accident led to 6 deaths and 34 injuries.

Among the deaths were the driver of the bus, four yet-to-be identified women, and likely one of the passengers in the overturned SUV. Authorities said injured passengers were taken to Community Regional Medical Center and other Valley hospitals.

“I had just woke up and I heard a boom once, and a boom again and the next thing I know we were down this embankment,” said Linda Gee, a passenger on the bus. “There was just bleeding everywhere…I’m alive and I thank God I’m alive.”

The Fresno bus accident is a tragic reminder that our highways need to be safer. Our thoughts are with the families of those killed and injured by Thursday’s accidents.

We’ll keep you updated with developments on this story as the situation becomes more clear.

Photo credit: heliosphan