Is your child safe – the 15-passenger van used to transport school children groups and churches may be an instrument of death and severe bodily harm
For many years, 15-passenger vans have been the travel vehicle of choice for large groups of people and their cargo. These large motor vehicles are often used for transporting church groups, school groups, business groups, the elderly, and as a shuttle service between hotels and airports. Unfortunately, 15-passenger vans also boast an unsafe track record for accidents caused by serious design flaws. The Pennsylvania 15 passenger van rollover lawyers at the Philadelphia law firm of Reiff and Bily have been researching and handling numerous automobile and 15-passenger van accident cases since 1979.
Fifteen passenger vans can be very dangerous to ride in when they are fully loaded. Body design flaws with unreasonable and unrealistic capacity limitations are just some of the major problems associated with these kinds of vans. Design defects, such as cargo vans that are top heavy while the back of the van goes as far back as four feet beyond the back wheels, can increase the possibility of rollovers and/or fishtailing. When the vans are fully loaded with passengers, the center of gravity shifts. A van containing more than 9 passengers has a rollover ratio of 35.4%. (http://www.safetyforum.com/passengervans/).
In 2005, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT) reports that light trucks, SUVs, and van rollovers account for 36.8% of rollover deaths in over 4,500 total rollovers. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) calculates that the vans overturn more than half the time they are involved in single-vehicle crashes, compared to 33 percent of the time for other vehicles. Surprisingly, 81 percent of all fatalities in 15-passenger van crashes occur in just such single vehicle rollovers. When a 15-passenger van is carrying 15 people and is overloaded with too much cargo, it has a 70% greater chance of being involved in a rollover accident.
The automobile accident and 15-passenger van rollover experts at Reiff and Bily had a case where several members of a church were involved in a single vehicle rollover. The 15-passenger van’s driver swerved in a defensive maneuver to avoid an accident and lost control of the loaded van, causing it to rollover. The van had a multitude of design defects. Passengers were thrown from the vehicle and several passengers were killed or permanently maimed. The automobile company that made the van could have prevented the rollover by installing dual-wheels, which adds stability and improves handling, for several hundred dollars. Lives could have been saved if the manufacturer spent the money to correct the known problem.
There have been numerous cases in which 15-passenger vans containing students, the elderly, or church groups have been killed or maimed in a rollover over the last 10 years. The vans tend to fishtail and swerve out of control until it rollovers. Most of the deaths occur when the passengers are thrown outside of the vehicle. Lack of crash padding on the inside also attributes to injuries. Windows tend to shatter and passengers are thrown out of the broken window.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued warnings and made recommendations about passenger van safety. For more 15-passenger van information please refer to http://www.safetyforum.com/passengervans/.
To help reduce the risk of injury, always wear your safety belt. If you are ever in an accident, make sure everyone is ok and exchange information. Call 9-1-1 or the police to report the accident and never leave the scene of the accident. Double check your insurance coverage and report the accident to the insurance company. There are three important factors to automobile accidents: (1) liability; (2) establishing damages; and (3) determining where to collect the damages. Philadelphia personal injury lawyer Jeffrey Reiff and the experienced Pennsylvania 15-passenger van and auto accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily will examine the facts, evaluate your claim, determine which parties and insurance companies are responsible, and organize all of the details of preparing and presenting your automobile accident case.
The Pennsylvania vehicle lawyers at Reiff and Bily (www.reiffandbily.com) work on a contingent fee basis, charging a small percentage of the recovery. They will not get paid one cent unless there is a successful recovery. They have handled numerous automobile accidents and 15-passenger van cases and have successfully recovered in excess of $150 million dollars from their opponents for physical injuries and emotional damages.
If you or someone you love was seriously injured in a 15-passenger van accident anywhere in Pennsylvania, call Reiff & Bily at (800) 421-9595 or contact us online to schedule your free consultationf.
