The cause of a fatal Minnesota bus crash may be due to the fact that the bus driver suffered from an aneurysm bursting in his chest while he was driving.

The AP reports that the crash occurred on the Strain Bus Line which was operating a tour bus to an Iowa casino.

The bus driver, Ed Erickson was driving the bus on a clear Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 90 near Austin, Minn. when he lost consciousness due to the chest aneurysm before the crash occurred. The bus actually crossed over the median dividing the highway from the eastbound lane it was traveling in. The bus made it all the way into westbound lanes before it ended up in a ditch.

A video that details the crash can be viewed here:

The United States Dept. of Transportation has released its Motorcoach Safety Action Plan last Monday. This comes at the heels of an investigation into a fatal crash in Texas and another crash this week in Minnesota. The fatal bus crash in Texas occurred in the summer of 2008 because of a tire puncture. We covered both crashes on the Injured blog here and here.

Many would be surprised to know that currently, buses are not required to have seat belts installed.

The bus safety action plan proposes the installation of seat belts on all buses. This is important because DOT's 2009 action plan outlines how data shows that passengers being ejected from their seats due to a rollover crash causes the greatest number of deaths: "[D]ata indicates that ejection due to a rollover crash causes the highest percentage of motorcoach passenger fatalities. NHTSA determined that installing seat belts would be the most direct method of retaining passengers within the seating compartment and preventing ejection."

The action plan put forth by the DOT strives to prevent fatalities like this from happening. The DOT expects that this action plan will result in a reduction in the number of bus crashes as well as a reduction in the number of fatalities and injuries.

Bicyclist Lisa Granert was wearing a reflective vest and a helmet while she was riding her bike along Route 70 in New Jersey but it was of little help when she got struck by a car operated by a man distracted because he was texting.

Philly.com  reports that Robert Sharrer told police that he was texting while he was driving. The worst part? It was a text about a drug deal. While he texting about the drug deal, his car drifted to the shoulder and struck Ms. Granert.

He was allegedly texting about the sale of prescription drugs that he was in possession of at the time of the crash. The unauthorized prescription drugs were found in the car. As a result, Mr. Sharrer has been charged with possession with an intent to distribute.

A class action lawsuit was filed by CA residents Seong Bae Choi and Chris Chan Park on Nov. 5, 2009 against the popular car maker Toyota.

The plaintiffs claim that sudden acceleration is a problem that is present in many makes and models. This particular problem has caused countless unintended accidents and crashes. They also contend that in spite of Toyota's knowledge of the problem, that Toyota has failed to address the safety issue.

According to Bloomberg, there have been over 2,000 complaints about sudden acceleration. The lawsuit also contends that the sudden acceleration has been the cause of 16 deaths and over 200 injuries.

A tire puncture was found to be the cause of a deadly crash in Sherman, TX in August of 2008. The bus was heading to Carthage, MO from Houston, TX. The passengers were planning on attending a Catholic festival.

The tire on the bus blew out just as it was approaching a curve on a bridge. This caused the bus to go over the railing and fall off the bridge into a creek.

According to the Washington Post: "On Tuesday, NTSB investigators said a slow leak left the bus's tires severely underinflated, causing the blowout."

A probe by the National Transportation Safety Board discovered that a retreaded tire on the vehicle's right front axle had failed.

The widow of an Ohio police officer has filed suit against Ford Motor Corporation as a result of her husband's death in a fiery auto crash while pursing a speed limit violator. The wrongful death suit claims, among other things, that Ford was negligent in failing to incorporate simple design elements that could have prevented the fatal crash.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, adults over the age of 65 accounted for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and 18 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in 2008. It likely comes as no surprise that the same study shows that fatality rates in the over-65 population generally increase with age. So, is there ever a point where an older driver is just too old to be driving? It's certainly a matter of ongoing debate. And the line between "experienced driver" and "too old to drive" may get even fuzzier--in an arguably good way--if newly proposed federal legislation makes its way to the President's desk.

H.R. 3355, known as the Older Driver and Pedestrian Safety and Roadway Enhancement Act, proposes programs and investments aimed at making national roads a safer place for older drivers and those of us who share the road with them. The Act, introduced by Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-4), directs the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a program to improve roadway safety infrastructure in all States to enhance the safety of older drivers and pedestrians. Features include:

With distracted driving in the news more and more frequently, the Obama administration is planning to take action. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week that his department will convene a September summit devoted to the problem of distracted driving.

LaHood promised to bring together "senior transportation officials, elected officials, safety advocates, law enforcement representatives and academics" in Washington next month to discuss the problems raised by "text messaging and other distractions behind the wheel" and to explore possible solutions. The goal will be to come up with "concrete steps" that can be taken to reduce the distracted-driving problem.

"Distracted driving," in this context, is pretty clearly code for "texting while driving." The press release for the event focuses heavily on the dangers of texting; several major accidents caused by texting get a mention, while no other potentially distracting activities are specifically named. The newly-launched home page for the summit also seems focused on the texting wihle driving question.

Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate today would effectively impose a national prohibition on texting while driving. Referred to as the ALERT Act, the legislation, sponsored by four Senate Democrats (Charles Schumer of New York, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina), would require the Department of Transportation to devise a penalty scheme for texting-and-driving offenses and would then require states to enact laws implementing the scheme.

The legislation follows the familiar example of previous federal laws raising the minimum drinking age, requiring seat-belt use, and imposing a 55 mile-per-hour speed limit. In order to regulate automotive-safety issues like these that are clearly within the authority of the individual states, Congress resorts to an indirect route, telling the states that unless they enact the laws that Congress wants, federal funding for highway projects will be withheld.

The Debate On Speed Limits and Enforcement Continues.

Fourteen years after states were allowed to begin increasing their highway speed limits from 55 MPH, debate continues about what, if anything, should be done to curb the number of speeding-related traffic fatalities. An academic study and an advocacy group's report out this week highlight some advocates' concerns.

A study by researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago, to be published in the American Journal of Public Health, has found that since the 1995 repeal of federally-mandated 55 MPH speed limits, there has been "a 3.2% increase in road fatalities attributable to the raised speed limits on all road types in the United States." Rural and urban interstates have seen particularly large increases in fatalities, at 9.1% and 4.0% respectively. The researchers recommend a return to nationwide 55 MPH speed limits in order to save lives.

Also lobbying for increased traffic enforcement is New York City group Transportation Alternatives, which just issued a report entitled "Executive Order: A Mayoral Strategy for Traffic Safety."