Bus Accident Near Temecula Injures 10

Ten people were injured on Sunday night when their tour bus crashed near Temecula.  According to the Press Enterprise, the accident  happened  at about 10:30 p.m. while the bus was transporting gamblers from the L.A. area to a casino in San Diego County.  The driver apparently reported that his brakes failed as he was rounding a curve on Pala-Temecula Road near Arouba Road.  The 10 injured, which included the driver, were taken to a hospital in Escondido.  The most serious injury was reportedly a head laceration.  According to the news report, drugs or alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in the crash.  

Scene of the Accident

The area of the accident is on a winding, rural road, and you can easily see how important having good brakes would be to a bus driver.  The speed limit in the area appears to be an un-posted 55 miles per hour, but it is hard to imagine a bus negotiating the turns at or near that speed.  While the bus driver reported a brake failure, it will take a detailed investigation and examination of the braking system to determine whether any failure of the brakes contributed to the accident.  In this type of accident, the speed of the vehicle at the time of the alleged failure will also be important to determine.  

Duty to Maintain Brakes

Under California law, there is a statutory duty to maintain a vehicle's brakes in good working order (California Vehicle Code, §§ 26453,26454), and it is generally no defense to a civil case to simply allege the driver had no notice of a brake defect before an accident.   Because a vehicle, especially a bus, with defective brakes poses a grave risk of serious bodily harm or death, the duty to exercise reasonable care to maintain brakes is not one a vehicle owner can assign to someone else.  This legal duty creates such an obligation on the part of the vehicle owner that it is extremely difficult for an owner to escape civil responsibility for a brake failure.  Assuming the brakes on the tour bus referenced above failed, the bus company will likely be held liable for all of the injuries and damages related to this accident.

If you have been injured or a loved one killed in a bus accident, contacting an Orange County injury attorney may be the best and most important step toward finding out about your rights to compensation.

SOURCE:  TEMECULA: 10 injured in tour bus crash, the Press Enterprise, September 2, 2013, by  Darrell R. Santschi