Michigan School Bus Traffic Laws: What You Need To Know
February 4, 2025
The Michigan school bus traffic laws prohibit drivers from passing a school bus that is stopped and has its red lights flashing. Drivers must stop at least 20 feet away and cannot resume driving until the bus lights are turned off or the bus begins moving. Stop-arm cameras record drivers who unlawfully pass. Penalties range […]
Detroit Bus Accident Statistics Show Bus Crashes On The Rise
June 11, 2024
Detroit bus accident statistics show that Detroit city buses averaged more than 1 bus accident per day in 2023, resulting in a total of 369 collisions involving Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) bus drivers, according to The Detroit News and Axios Detroit. It is estimated that 174 of those Detroit bus accidents that occurred in […]
Michigan School Bus Driver Training: What Is Required And Is It Enough?
October 31, 2023
A CDL and about 10 hours of training, and most school bus drivers are good to go under federal and Michigan law As a featured speaker at a legal conference for injury attorneys who litigate serious truck injury and bus accident cases, I pointed out how the Michigan school bus driver training regulations are set […]
Gursten to CBS: School bus driver safety gets failing grade
June 28, 2017
In story on a national safety crisis for our children, CBS News asks: Shouldn’t school bus drivers be as safe as drivers transporting lettuce?
Why are school buses exempt from so many important federal laws?
June 9, 2016
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s puzzling position on school bus safety, despite carrying our most precious cargo – our children If children are our “most precious cargo,” shouldn’t mandatory safety regulations that apply to other commercial vehicles like 18-wheelers also apply to school buses? I’d wager most people would say yes. If so, […]
Safety questions about autonomous cars that still need to be answered
April 29, 2016
Michigan Department of Transportation sees autonomous vehicles on our roads in the near future, but answers are still needed about crash risk and legal liability The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is pressing down on the accelerator and moving forward to bring fully autonomous cars onto our roads in Michigan. At a recent House […]
Is Megabus really safe?
April 8, 2016
The low-cost coach travel option claims to be “safe” and “convenient,” but recent Megabus accidents are cause for safety, legal concerns Megabus touts itself as a bus service that can get passengers to more than 100 cities in the U.S. and even Canada — in a “safe, convenient” way and for very low prices. But […]
NHTSA wants seat belts on school buses
November 28, 2015
NHTSA administrator announces: ‘ [E]very child on every school bus should have a three-point seat belt’ Children are our most precious “cargo” when we’re out on the roadways. Nice to see the nation’s top traffic safety organization now agrees, and after years of debate and some controversy (stemming from a 2006 position paper on seat […]
How to adjust mirrors on buses to prevent crashes
August 8, 2015
Check for improper adjustment, and get out and look! Poor mirror adjustment is one of the top causes of bus and truck accidents involving lane changes and pedestrians. For instance, I appeared on Channel 4 News on the issue after a rash of SMART bus accidents in Metro Detroit last year. As I told the […]
Should school buses have seat belts?
March 5, 2015
House Bill 4020 proposes one seat belt per student; but NHTSA casts doubt on the need Should Michigan school buses be equipped with seat belts for each student? I’m a parent, and I’m also an attorney who’s been involved in many school bus accident and injury cases. I’ve deposed manufacturers of school buses and in […]
Scary secret from a bus driver: The deadly blind spot on transit buses
January 31, 2015
I was recently interviewed as a legal expert on a Channel 4 News story about the spike in bus accidents and injuries being caused by SMART buses. Channel 4 was investigating the reasons these SMART buses keep causing accidents and hitting pedestrians in metro Detroit. To begin with, bus accidents are a lot more common […]
Why do SMART buses keep hitting pedestrians and causing accidents?
December 8, 2014
Attorney Steven Gursten weighs in on Channel 4 News, after two SMART bus accidents in one week left one dead and one critically injured On Thursday, reporter Kimberly Gill of Channel 4 News stopped by the office to interview me on bus safety – in the wake of two serious SMART bus accidents involving pedestrians. […]