As the price of gas has steadily crept up over the last decade, more and more residents of the greater Philadelphia area have turned to public transportation to get to jobs, school, medical appointments and other places they need to go. While the statistics show that there are far fewer serious and fatal accidents involving buses, trains and other forms of public transportation than there are in cars, public transportation still poses a legitimate risk of serious and catastrophic injury.
Public transportation accidents can have a variety of causes, including:
- Operator error or negligence—The driver of a bus, train or other public transit vehicle has a duty to act as a reasonable person would, under the circumstances. This customarily means that the driver must obey all traffic signs and signals, stopping for red lights or stop signs, and maintaining a prudent speed under existing conditions. There are other ways, however, that a driver may be negligent, such as working too many hours without adequate rest or breaks, reporting to work while sick or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including prescription medications. If the driver took any action that was unreasonable, and you suffered injury as a result, you may be able to seek damages for your losses.
- Negligent or improper maintenance of a public transportation vehicle—This can include a failure to conduct routine safety checks or maintenance, as well as neglecting to repair known mechanical problems.
- Negligent design or construction of public transportation vehicles, or negligent design or manufacture of train tracks or transit routes
Public transportation injuries can have a wide range of victims, including drivers, passengers or pedestrians. As a victim of a public transportation accident, you may have a right to recover compensation for lost wages and income, medical expenses, loss of companionship or consortium, and physical pain and suffering. Public transportation accident injuries are typically handled on a contingency basis. This means that your lawyer will generally not bill you on an hourly basis, but will take a percentage of any recovery that you receive.
Contact Our Office
At Metzger & Kleiner, we provide a free initial consultation. To schedule an appointment with an experienced Philadelphia public transportation injury lawyer, contact us by e-mail or call our office at 215 622-2210 in Philadelphia, 610 563-2186 in the Lehigh Valley, or toll free at 800 228-1760.
We take all public transportation injury claims on a contingency basis. We won’t charge attorney fees unless we recover compensation for your losses. Se habla Espanol.