“Leave the driving to us,” a famous bus line’s slogan said, pressing the idea that driving is difficult if not dangerous business and you’re better off riding in a large, professionally helmed bus for long highway trips. But are you? As a horrific bus accident in North Texas early this morning showed, crowded, heavy, hard to control buses can be extremely dangerous vehicles – dangerous to the point that 14 passengers on this bus bound from Houston died, with another 20 injured and in area hospitals.

Tire defects, blow-outs can be fatal

A blown-out tire was found, leading investigators to surmise that the crash may have been caused when a tire blew, causing the bus to veer. Federal agents from the National Transportation Safety Board are in North Texas to probe the event.

Whatever its cause, the bus line that’s responsible in this tragedy, Angel Tours of Houston, reportedly had been ordered previously not to travel outside of Texas. Its church-chartered bus had not yet left Texas, but it was headed that way and only a short distance from the Oklahoma border.

Top-heavy buses are dangerous

Large vehicles such as buses or 18-wheeler trucks tend to be top-heavy and are far more likely to plunge over an overpass’ low railing than a car, for which the railing was expressly designed. Such large vehicles also tend to go out of control more readily when a tire blows out.

An extremely sudden blowout, as when the side of the tire explodes, makes it even more likely that the driver of a large vehicle will lose control.

If this bus had been on level ground at the time at the time of a blowout, it might have veered into another lane of traffic, or it might have veered off the road and done minimal damage. Since the blowout occurred at the worst moment – when the bus was atop a highway overpass  -- the fate of its doomed passengers was sealed.

Catastrophic bus accidents are common

From improper maintenance to reckless driving, a bus trip can be fraught with peril, even when the bus and its driver are from a professional chartered bus service. As with any public transportation, you are putting your life into the hands of that vehicle or that service. In this case, at least 14 lives were taken.

How common are such catastrophic accidents? This one actually occurred within a mile of the spot where 10 people were killed five years ago when a truck crossed the median. And earlier this week, seven children in East Texas were injured when an 18-wheeler rammed into the back of their school bus bound for band camp.

Chartered bus companies have accident histories

Friday’s bus accident also wasn’t far from the spot where 24 people died when a chartered bus carrying Houston-area nursing home residents fleeing Hurricane Rita caught on fire on a highway near Dallas. That bus accident in 2005 involved a Dallas-based bus charter company, Global Limo.

Last December, another Dallas-based charter bus service, Tornado Bus Co., was ordered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to cease all operations after four of its passengers died in a crash in Arkansas.

If a loved one has been injured or killed in a bus accident, a Houston bus accident lawyer from Jim S. Adler & Associates is standing by and ready to help.

Offering a free case evaluation, the firm’s bus accident attorneys can gain the compensation you deserve. There's one other thing you can rest assured about: Leaving the legal work to us.