Ohio Researcher Dies in Mass Transit Accident

A public transit accident may pose serious injuries to anyone, and may result in a great number of people being injured because buses and trains are means of transportation that can carry many passengers at once. Passengers are not the only ones at risk for mass transit accidents because there is a possibility that other motorists and pedestrians may be injured or killed by a public transportation vehicle as well.

For example, an Ohio woman whose husband died in a mass transit accident waited for an explanation from the driver of the shuttle bus that fatally struck the 35-year-old researcher. The accident occurred last year when a shuttle bus hit the victim and another individual from behind as the two walked on a private road on a hospital campus. They were using the road because part of the sidewalk was closed for a construction project at the time.

The 63-year-old bus driver was recently convicted with a vehicular manslaughter charge, a criminal charge police issued against him in connection with the accident. A judge sentenced the driver with 80 hours of community service and two years probation. The bus driver’s license has also been suspended for two years. The criminal consequences of the bus driver seem not enough for the family of the fatal bus accident victim, as they believed that the shuttle bus driver’s failure to properly control the transit vehicle caused the tragedy.

Criminal penalties issued against a negligent driver are sometimes not enough for the family of a fatal accident victim in Ohio. Under such circumstances, the insights of a legal professional may be a critical factor for the family to obtain the justice they are looking for in connection with the tragic death of a loved one.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch, “Judge sentences driver to probation for pedestrian death at Nationwide Children’s,” John Futty, July 31, 2014