Metro Bus Operator Still Permitted to Drive After Causing an Accident and Driving on a Suspended License

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While bus companies are constantly reassuring citizens that the drivers they allow to operate their buses have gone through extensive training and have had a background check conducted, a story the Cincinnati published might cause you to question if this is actually true. According to the source, Tracey Covington who was driving a Metro bus back in January 2017 when she collided with an RV leaving the trailer severely damaged and the driver suffering from nerve damage.

When police arrived on scene and wrote up the report, it was noted that Covington was at-fault for causing the accident. To make matters worse, she allegedly was driving on a suspended license at the time of the accident for failing to pay for insurance. She also had it suspended several times before joining Metro and even had violations against her afterward.

What’s more concerning is that she is still on the road, despite the fact that she caused an accident while driving with a suspended license. Although Metro claimed “the system for checking the status of their drivers’ licenses has been updated,” there is still the issue surrounding Covington’s ability to continue driving.

 

The confusion doesn’t end there.

 

The driver of the RV, Steve Duffey, also filed a lawsuit against the bus driver seeing that she was negligent and found at-fault for the accident as well as her employer, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA).  The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Duffey as he claimed he sustained nerve damage in his foot after the wheel well collapsed around it. While you would have expected that the company would show some sort of sympathy to the victim seeing that their negligent employee caused him to suffer, they claimed sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine that applies to government entities which protect it from civil or criminal prosecution.

The company also turned around and countersued Duffey saying that the crash was his fault. Clearly, there was some miscommunication going on between SORTA and the victim and perhaps this case serves as a valid example of why victims of bus accidents should always hire a bus crash attorney to represent them when proceeding on with a lawsuit. While some companies may take responsibility for their actions, SORTA chose to fight back against a victim who was not at-fault for the incident.

Hopefully, Duffey is being represented by a dedicated bus accident lawyer as this case took a turn in the opposite direction than what he probably expected.

And if you or someone you know has suffered an injury in a city bus accident in Ohio and are in need of legal representation, USAttorneys.com will help you find the best Ohio bus accident attorneys in your area. If you want to increase your chances of obtaining an outcome in your favor, your best bet is to enlist the help of a legal representative.