The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – the federal agency responsible for keeping America’s highways safe for motorists – recently under-counted the total number of fatal bus accidents in the nation. Safety advocates believe this has not only given citizens a false sense of security about bus safety, but also prevented the implementation of stricter regulations.
According to USA Today, the NHTSA did not follow its own regular methods of counting bus accident deaths between 1995 and 2009 – which is the most recent year that statistics are available for. After a review of government records and various news reports, USA Today concluded that at least 84 bus accident deaths were not counted by the agency.
A spokeswoman for the NHTSA says the agency receives its accident data directly from the states, and is currently working with them to improve the quality and accuracy of the data they send. Bus safety has been a recent headline many times over, and the enforcement of higher safety standards relies in part on accurate data about bus accidents nationwide.
If you or one of your loved ones has been injured in a bus accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact an injury attorney in your area today using the Personal Injury Lawyer Directory.
