Des Moines DART Ducks Liability for Hitting Pedestrian

The verdict in the most recent bus accident case put blame on the pedestrian by finding for the bus driver and company. The jury assigned only 8% of the fault on the bus driver, a finding that makes little sense and assigned 92% of the fault to the pedestrian. The DART lawyers did their normal show and tell with apologizing for the man’s injuries but that’s completely ridiculous. I’m not even sure why the court allows an apology. What difference does it make that the lawyers come into court and say they are sorry. Everyone knows they aren’t otherwise they would have visited the partially disemboweled pedestrian while hospitalized. And even if the lawyers were so-so-sorry so what? What has that got to do with liability or damages? It’s simply a way to play to the jurors emotions in favor of the defense. A defense lawyer’s emotions are not a part of the evidence and shouldn’t be a part of the considerations.

Metro Bus Drivers Are, Like Pedestrians, Just Working Stiffs

According to the Washington Examiner, Stephanie Richardson, age 47, was killed by a Washington, D.C Metrobus. She was riding the Metrobus on October 5, 2009, when she got off at her stop, began to cross the street in front of the bus, and was hit by another Metrobus driving in the same direction; a bus which came up along the side. The D.C police said she was at the Mount Olivet Road stop between Trinidad and Montello avenues. Richardson was brought to the Washington Hospital Center, and died the next day.

 

The case is under investigation, and the bus driver’s blood was tested, and they were placed on paid leave. This is not the first case of a pedestrian hit by the city’s transit vehicle, though this is the first fatality since September 2008. The Metro’s cause for safety has now been revamped after this incident. They had previously in 2007 put in place “warning strobe lights on 100 buses in the District.” They need to determine more precautionary methods because this issue is a serious one:

 

“The District has a higher rate of pedestrian fatalities than cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, according to a D.C. Department of Transportation report. More than 600 pedestrians are typically hit by vehicles of all types in the city annually, with more than a dozen killed nearly every year.”

 

Pedestrians too have an obligation to use heightened safety measures. When walking the city streets have your head on a swivel; meaning, look all around you as you step into the street. Stop before you step off the sidewalk into the street. Look both ways several times. We are all in a hurry, or so it seems. Many people seem distracted with this economy and the mess Wall Street and Washington have created for those who don’t get multi-million dollar bonuses and “campaign contributions”. Most of the people who work for enough just to pay the rent and to put food on the table are most likely depressed. But raise your head up and look carefully before you step into the street, because the bus drivers are more like you and I then the Wall Street crowd; and they too are just as distracted.

 

And remember the words of Michael Conrad just before he sent his troops out on the streets