New Jersey Woman Injured After Bus Accident
A Paterson, New Jersey woman was sent to the hospital with serious injuries after getting trapped under a transit bus earlier this year. While the injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening. According to a report on northjersey.com, the woman was a pedestrian when she was struck by the bus.
The details are unclear, but it seems as though the bus was traveling along Main Street, and was turning left onto Van Houten Street. The woman, who was not identified, was walking on the sidewalk on Main Street, and somehow managed to walk into the back of the bus. Police seem to think she was talking on her cellphone at the time. The force of the impact knocked her down, and her left leg became stuck under the bus on the driver’s side. She did not lose consciousness, but emergency services had to extricate her from her predicament.
Jerry Speziale is Paterson’s police director. He said the woman was in “extreme pain” after the accident, but was in “good spirits” at the hospital. He commended the fire and the police departments for their response. He said they both arrived within minutes, along with the traffic division. “They did a tremendous job of calming her down and removing her from underneath the bus,” he said.
We’ve all heard about the dangers of using cell phones and other devices while driving, but as this incident shows, texting and walking isn’t safe, either. This accident could have been much worse had she walked into the front of the bus instead of the rear. There is also the danger of falling down stairs, running into walls, and tripping on curbs. Every day, there are more and more being using, and more and more people getting injured by, their mobile devices. Games such as last year’s Pokemen Go craze also don’t help matters.
In an interview with Healthline, Dr. Dietrich Jehle, who is a professor of emergency medicine with the University of Buffalo, says that “…you’re not as in control with the complex actions of walking,” when you’re using your phone for texting or anything else that might occupy brain space. That same report by Healthline quotes a study regarding the number of injuries caused by “walking and texting.” It’s on the rise. From 2005 to 2015, the number of pedestrians in emergency rooms with texting-related injuries has doubled to 1,500, with most of the “victims” being between the ages of 16 and 25. These figures cannot count those who are too embarrassed about how they were injured.
Getting injured, whether it’s your fault or not, is both painful and stressful. The pain part you may have to handle on your own with the help of a health care team. The stress can be alleviated by getting the help of a legal professional that specializes in things like bus accidents. If you’re injured in New Jersey, call an attorney today to represent your interests and to protect your rights.
