15-Passenger Van Death Traps Still Transporting Students As Schools Reopen: Experienced Rollover Attorney Weighs In
As the school year opens, regretfully I still see many 15-passenger vans transporting children, our precious cargo, despite being called a “death trap” by the Safety Forum, a U.S. consumer watchdog. Although more than 30 American states prohibit schools or day care providers from using them, there are still 20 other states that use them for transporting school children and there is still an ever increasing number of church groups or convention groups using a 15-passenger vans while unaware of the dangers.
The 15-passenger van was originally designed to carry cargo and was never modified in a proper fashion for passenger safety. In the 1970s the major automobile manufacturers Chrysler, Ford and General Motors took cargo vans and expanded them to carry more than 10 passengers, yet they never modified them to include steel plates, roof reinforcement or laminated windows to protect passengers during a rollover collision.
As an experienced Pennsylvania SUV rollover and 15-passenger van rollover lawyer, I am all too aware of the safety inadequacies of the 15-passenger van and how they fail to protect their occupants in a rollover accident. As a matter of fact, automobile manufacturers have knowledge of the design flaws but have failed to fix them calculating that it was cheaper to pay out claims rather than modify the vans with a safe and proper fix.
The 15-passenger vans have a high center of gravity and are prone to rollover. The roofs and supporting structures are inadequate to protect the occupants if the vehicle rolls over. Most certainly the automobile manufacturers blame the driver in a rollover case, claiming that the driver committed an error, rather than take responsibility for their own defective designs. The rollover risks associated with the 15-passenger van, including those predominantly used by church groups, school children and other unsuspecting groups makes it, in this experienced rollover lawyer’s opinion, the most dangerous vehicle on our roads today.
Many churches, school boards and government entities have approved motions to discontinue the use of 15-passenger vans once they became aware of the danger. These decisions were a long time coming and based upon a rash of rollovers involving catastrophic injuries and fatalities caused by the use of 15-passenger vans. When a 15-passenger van is fully loaded it is 6 to 7 times more likely to flip over than a van containing only the driver. As a matter of fact, NHTSA has noted that fully loaded 15-passenger vans are more likely to roll over than any other passenger type of vehicle, including cars, mini vans, SUVs and trucks.
So then, the question must still be answered: Why are these death traps still allowed to transport students and churchgoers in many venues?
If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of a 15-passenger van accident, please contact one of our experienced 15-passenger van and SUV rollover lawyers at Reiff and Bily for a free no obligation consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.
