Although SEPTA is generally considered to be a safe means of transit, it is not free of accidents. Every year, SEPTA carries 321 million passengers a distance of over 1.45 billion miles throughout Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, Bucks, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Newark, Delaware and Trenton, New Jersey.
These millions of passengers go throughout the region on 17 bus routes, 8 trolley routes, and 3 trackless trolley routes. They have an option of stopping at any of the 12,536 total stops. With this many routes and vehicles, accidents are inevitable. In fact, SEPTA accidents happen every day. While people are not always hurt in these accidents, injuries are frequent. Since SEPTA vehicles have no seatbelts, injuries can often be quite severe if there is a collision.
The Most Common SEPTA Accidents That Injure Passengers
While SEPTA accidents can be caused by many factors and occur in many different forms, there are six types of accidents that injure passengers most frequently. Some of these are collision-type accidents such as:
- Train derailments
- Collisions with another vehicle
- Curb strikes (usually only buses)
The other common SEPTA accidents are those that injure passengers without actual collisions. These include:
- Jerk and jolt accidents: These are caused by a sudden and unpredictable vehicle stop due to the driver’s carelessness.
- Premature departure accidents: These are caused by the driver leaving a stop before all passengers are safely aboard and seated.
- Defective door accidents: These are caused by a malfunction that causes doors to close on passengers.
Although some of these accidents are caused by mechanical failure, many of them are caused by the negligence of the SEPTA drivers. Under the law, common carriers, or vehicles engaged in the business of carrying passengers in exchange for money, have a greater responsibility to ensure their passengers’ safety than private individuals. This means that SEPTA drivers are held to a higher standard of care than other drivers. Therefore, you should be able to make a claim to recover damages for any injuries you may get during a SEPTA accident caused by negligence.
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Unfortunately, SEPTA accidents must be reported in a certain way, and victims must follow a very strict procedure if they want to be fairly compensated. For that reason, it is important to have an experienced accident attorney to guide you through the process. Philadelphia injury lawyer Jeffrey Harlan Penneys has years of experience successfully settling SEPTA accident claims for his clients. Contact Jeffrey Harlan Penneys, Esq. today to get a free consultation and learn how he can help you with your case.