On February 10, 2001, District of Columbia resident, 57 year-old Barbara Joyner’s life changed forever. That day, the retired duty nurse was a passenger on a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) bus. As a result of her decision to take a bus to get her to where she needed to go, she became permanently injured and her life was irrevocably changed. One might assume her injuries came as a result of a bus crash, since according to a 2010 study from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, there was an average of 63,000 buses were involved in crashes from 199 to 2005. In these accidents, there were 14,000 that caused injuries to the passengers of some kind. The study also found inter-city buses to have …show more content…
a higher risk of accident and presented “significantly higher odds of driver error.” Therefore, to assume Barbara’s injury was a result of a bus crash of some type makes sense. However, a bus accident was not in fact what lead to the victims injuries in this case. The Cause of Barbara Joyner’s Injury: Barbara’s bus made a 180 degree turn in order to get into the station at Minnesota Avenue.
As a result, the placement of the bus when parked created an optical illusion. This made it seem from Barbara’s point of view as if the bus was flush with the curb and she could safely disembark. This wasn’t the case though. The bus was in fact parked at an odd angle from the sidewalk. The sidewalk was in fact two to three feet away from the bus, even though it looked flush. Barbara happened to be the first passenger to exit the bus. As she was exiting, she stepped down assuming there was a sidewalk under foot. Due to the awkward placement of the bus, she stepped down into thin air. This caused her to fall between the bus and sidewalk. The passengers who followed her off the bus inadvertently stepped on her as she struggled to regain her balance. To make matters worse, the bus driver called out to Barbara , “You didn’t fall of my bus! You must be stupid!” Not only was the bus driver uncompassionate towards his passenger’s plight, he was also inexperienced as he had only been on the job for around 10 months and was talking on a cell phone and acting carelessly while …show more content…
driving. The Long Term Injuries Sustained in The Accident: Barbara suffered contusions and bruises throughout her whole body.
She also had a navicular fracture in her left foot. This injury required grafting of the bone from her knee onto her foot. The process required two surgeries because doctors had to go back in and remove hardware from her foot and leg. The end result caused significant scarring to Barbara’s foot and leg. She was also placed in a cast multiple times and had to use a walker during her rehabilitation. As one might image, her daily activities were greatly altered. She claims she is unable to complete many of the tasks that she was able to handle before, which has led to great hardship. Her medical bills alone were estimated in excess of $54,000 for the
ordeal. The End Result of The Settlement: Barbara sought the help of attorney Joel DuBoff in an effort to recoup the losses she suffered as a result of this unfortunate accident. The plaintiff in this case was awarded a huge verdict of $10,000,000 on January 27th, 2003. Attorney DuBoff was able to prove that the plaintiff, Barbara, became a captive in her own home after the accident. Furthermore, she was on a fixed income and had little help. As a result, the jury ruled in her favor after a deliberation of two and a half hours. Thankfully, this money will go a long ways in restoring the quality of life to Barbara that she had lost through no fault of her own. What to do After a Bus Accident: If you someone you love have been injured as a result of riding a bus, contact us at DuBoff & Associates, Chartered. We are the law firm that cares, and due to our past experience with this type of case, we can offer you experienced counsel through the process of restoring your life.
Jacqueline and her family aren’t treated fairly, because of the color of their skin. If they sit near the front of the bus, the driver will make them move. If there is a white person walking on the sidewalk the have to step off the curb and let
Mooney, Jonathan. The Short Bus: A Journey beyond Normal. New York: H. Holt, 2007. Print.
Mooney, Jonathan. The Short Bus : A Journey Beyond Normal. New York Godalming: Henry Holt Melia distributor, 2008. Print.
Marjorie Stewart Joyner was born on October 24, 1896 in Monterey, Virginia, which was the Blue Ridge Mountain area of the state. She was the granddaughter of both a slave and a slave owner. She was a very strong businesswoman and humanitarian with strong ambition and desires. When she was a teenager, she and her family joined the Great Migration, moving to Chicago, Illinois where so many African-Americans were moving for jobs and a better life. Once she arrived to Chicago, she began to study and pursue a cosmetology career. Marjorie Joyner had a strong message that she carried throughout her lifetime which was: Be proud of who you are and treat yourself as if you care. From this belief, she became an avid supporter of young men and women throughout her life. She attended A.B. Molar Beauty School and became the first African American woman to graduate from the school in 1916. Marjorie made it her mission to become an educator in African American beauty culture. She did that while inspiring many younger African Americans. Marjorie also fought for racial and gender equality during the years of growth for the Black community in Chicago. At the very tender age of twenty she married a man by the name of Robert E. Joyner and opened a beauty salon soon after. Obviously Marjorie Joyner developed an early interest in becoming a cosmetologist so she started a salon in her home. Her mother-in-law was not impressed with the way she did hair and felt that she needed more practice so she suggested that Marjorie study at one of Madame C. J. Walker’s beauty schools. She was a very gracious and generous woman, and even offered to pay the cost for Marjorie to attend the beauty school. Soon after, she was introduced to the very well-known Afric...
“A friend of mine, Barbara Silva, a nurse at Waltham school was driving to work on Route 128 when another car suddenly cut her off. For some reason the truck ahead of [that car] braked abruptly and [the car] banged into it. She slammed into [the car]. It was a horrible accident. It could have been avoided if [the other car] hadn’t jumped lanes.
Dangers on roadways is an issue that describes the discrepancy between perception and reality of road rage. The media, for some odd reason, tends to make road rage a huge controversial issue. As seen on talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to CNN, they reveal to people that road rage could happen at any time and to always be looking over your shoulder. These talk shows and news programs also put fear into our minds by explaining that most roadragers often use guns to kill or injure their victims. Glassner contradicts the media's speculations by stating that out of approximately 250,000 people killed on roadways between 1990-1997, AAA attributed that one in one thousand was an act of road rage (pg.5).
As quoted from Plato, “Only the dead have seen the end of the war”. The battle between life and death does not simply end at the close of a war or during a resolution of peace. Rather, in the minds of those who survived the atrocities and terror, it lives on. Yet, as the strife continues to rage, the future of the affected becomes dependent on their decision to continue to fight with hope, or to find solace in defeat. This internal struggle is exemplified through Norman Bowker’s ending in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Despite the tragedy, his suicide serves as a representation of his moral reconciliation with himself, death, and the present. His resolution and resulting harmony depicts the contradictions
Visser, Steve (January 11, 2008). "MARTA blames brakes and weak motor for escalator accidents". Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Statistics taking from Spain, United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands show the majority of all bicycle accidents involve a motor-powered vehicle such as a car, bus, truck, tram, etc... [9]. In Germany in 2011, 10% of fatally injured road users were cyclists [13]. Bicycle-vehicle accident accounted for 60% of all bicycle accidents, while bicycle-pedestrian and bicycle only accidents make up 5~6% and 12~16% respectively [9]. Data presented in a report conducted in Germany stated, accidents involving collisions with vehicles accounted for 38% of all bicycle traumas while 26% of incidents involved the rider only [14]. The most common collision partner in a bicycle-vehicle accident was a
Kitty Genovese case led to the development of the 911 emergency call system and inspired a long line of research led by psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley around the time of 1970 into what circumstances lead bystanders to help someone in need. They discovered that, the more people available to help, the less likely any individual person would help—a phenomenon they called the “bystander effect.” If you are the only one around when an elderly person stumbles and falls, the responsibility to help is yours alone, but, with more people present, your obligation is less clear. Latané and Darley called this the “diffusion of responsibility” (CSI). A more recent case of the bystander effect was when assault victim Marques Gains laid motionless in the street due to by a hit-and-run; traffic whizzed past along with a few people stopped and seemed to stand over Gaines, who was crumpled near the curb on North State Street. No one tried to lift him from the pavement or block traffic. The lack of action by passers-by cost the hotel cocktail server his life after a cab turned the corner and drove over him. Experts says that a traumatic or odd event occurring in a public setting triggers an array of social and cultural cues and, combined with human nature, often leads to the lack of action by witnesses
In 1966, the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) was designed by the Highway Act. NHSB’s director, Dr. William Haddon, noticed that he could prevent motor-vehicle injuries by applying public health methods and epidemiology. Various passages demanded the government to set standards for the highway and motor vehicles. The federal government responded by developing new safety features in cars such as safety belts, head rests, and shatter-resistant windshields. Barriers, reflectors, and center line strips were placed on roadways to provide direction and illumination. Traffic safety laws, wearing a safety belt, and public education encouraged drivers to make safer decisions. The use of safety belts has skyrocketed from 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 and decreases When the community and government understood the necessity for motor-vehicle safety, various programs such as Prior to the implementation, the rate stood at 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1925; however, the rate stood at 1.7 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1997. With all of the new safety features with cars, public education and enforcement of safety laws, “motor-vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the United States.” Over 23.9 million vehicle crashes were reported in 1997; estimated costs were around $200 billion.
White, C. B., & Caird, J. K. (2010). The blind date: The effects of change blindness, passenger conversation and gender on looked-but-failed-to-see (LBFTS) errors. Accident Analysis & Prevention,42(6), 1822-1830.
I had so many conspiracies of riding the bus, I thought perverted people ride buses and they were going to bother me, I thought it was going to be confusing because I have to ride two buses to get to Valencia which were identified with numbers. For instance, I ride bus 44 and get off and ride bus 37 the rest of the way. Not only was I opened to a more open view on people riding buses but I was no longer classifying what kind of people ride buses. I never thought I was going to ever ride the Lynx bus. But now I look at it as a school bus but not with kids but with grown people who are trying to get to where they are going because they simply just might not have enough money to buy a car at the time. Also I know how it feels to ride a lynx bus, to explain I would be riding in the car with my parents and see people getting on the lynx bus and be like I know what it’s like to ride that bus. So me looking at them made me realize when I grow up, I want a car and keep that car because I do not like riding the bus with a whole bunch of people. At the same time I thanked my parents for introducing me to riding the lynx bus just in case in the future if there ever comes a time and I say again if there ever comes a time I need to ride a bus because I can’t afford a car I wouldn’t be scared and would know how to ride the city bus to where ever I needed to
The bus is short and only has seating for eighteen passengers. It is white on top, black on the bottom with a12 inch wide green stripe along the side of the bus and the letters K A T S, boldly displayed on the green stripe. There are 3 steep stairs to climb, to get on the bus. The day I rode it was raining and cold. The windshield wipers ticked back and forth, clearing the wind- shield of rain. There were three passengers, all of them where white; two men, one woman. The older gentleman was casually dressed. I think he was in his 60’s (I’m guessing, because he was gray headed). He sat in the third seat on the drivers’ side of the bus. Right across the aisle from him was a man, in his mid- 30’s, dressed in an olive green army surplus jacket. The woman on the bus was sitting in the front seat, behind the driver. She was wearing a pink wind breaker and was carrying a matching pink umbrella. She was approximately 50 yrs old and very thin. Wrinkles marked the corner of her eyes .I think she had a brain injury of some kind. Her eyes didn’t seem to focus on anything and she had applied her lipstick in such a way that it had smeared to one side of her mouth.
The bone healed well she regained 80% use of her arm. Although she couldn’t move huge adults anymore she had no trouble with the babies in the NNICU. Although her dream of becoming a flight nurse was taken from her she still had her life and a promising nursing career. Even though she still dealt with constant nerve pain, Mandy thrived in the NNICU. She resumed her duties as a charge and stabilization nurse and went on to become a PICC placement nurse and an ECMO nurse. She loves learning new things that make her a better nurse for her patients. After fourteen years in the NNICU, Mandy decided to move across the hallway to the Pediatric ICU. This was an exciting challenge for Mandy. She was so used to caring for tiny premature babies and these kids were as old as 18! There were new disease processes to learn about and Mandy jumped right in with both