Seven people struck by car at 110 freeway bus stop in South Los Angeles

A catastrophic accident occurred in South Los Angeles on 110 freeway when a car went into a bus lane and struck seven people waiting for a bus.  The crash occurred at 3:15pm on the northbound of the freeway near Interstate 105.  Six people became critically injured and one man suffered minor injuries from the accident.

An attorney at our firm happened to be a witness of this accident.  He was right behind the car that had struck these pedestrians.  The driver of the car passed him on the far left side of the freeway and went into the bus only lane.  The carpool lanes divide into two lanes – a bus only lane on the far left side and a regular traffic road on the right side of the carpool lane.  The driver probably did not realize that the left side of the carpool lane was for buses only.  While the driver was speeding at around 75mph into the bus lane, he swerved to avoid hitting a standing bus.  In doing so, the car hit a curb and struck the pedestrians waiting for the bus.

The driver was negligent.  But we also believe the city of Los Angeles may have been negligent with two things.  First, there weren’t enough signs to warn drivers not to enter into the bus lane because of this potential danger for pedestrians.  Second, the curb dividing the bus lane road and where the pedestrians stand to wait for their bus was way too low that it is foreseeable that a driver who went into the bus lane due to lack of signs and warnings endangering pedestrians.  This accident was the perfect example of that theory arguing the city is negligent.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families from this accident.  They were just being good citizens by riding public transportations to get to work to help support their families.  Everywhere in the media we see propagandas saying we should ride public transportation more to help the environment and for other various reasons.  By doing so, people should not be in positions of undertaking risks of becoming injured or even killed by foreseeable negligent acts of drivers because of the way roads are structured and the curb being too low.

Our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys help victims of auto accidents.  In many cases, accident cases are not easy to deal with for non-attorneys.  The uphill legal battle is too complicated and costly for cases like this.