The Alpha Kids Center 15-passenger van involved in the 4-vehicle Harris County wreck on Monday that left 16 kids injured was of a type banned by the federal government from use by school districts across the nation. Our Harris County injury lawyers note that the 15-passenger van is banned because, according to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board), they are 3 times more likely to suffer rollover wrecks than other vehicles when filled with over 10 people.
The Alpha Kids Center van contained 18 people, 2 adults and 16 children, at the time it crashed on Monday. The NTSB has specifically warned that the 15-passenger vans should not be overloaded because of the high danger of rollovers. (Source: Scott Noll, KHOU 11 News, khou.com, 7/11/12.)
The Alpha Kids Center van did not contain enough seatbelts for all of its occupants, presenting additional dangers in the event of a wreck. Our Harris County injury lawyers emphasize that the type of van used by the Center is particularly vulnerable to rollovers. And rollover wrecks are notorious for ejected un-seatbelted passengers. Approximately 75% of vehicle occupants ejected during rollover wrecks receive fatal injuries.
The NTSB has also recommended that drivers of the vans receive additional driver training in order to be able to handle the vehicles. The driver of the Alpha Kids Center van involved in the wreck, Concepcion Coronado, reportedly did not have a valid driver’s license, so we suspect she might not have obtained the recommended extra training either. In addition, today’s news accounts of the wreck report that Coronado ran a red light before a pickup truck crashed into the van on Gulf Bank in Harris County.
Our Harris County injury lawyers reiterate that while federal law bans school districts from using the 15-passenger vans to transport students, the government does not ban the vans’ use by day care centers. And local day care centers in Texas continue to use them to transport their young charges. The injured kids from the Alpha Kids Center were on their way back from a field trip when the van crash occurred on Monday.
We’re greatly relieved that the Alpha Kids Center van did not suffer a dangerous rollover wreck during the 4-vehicle accident on Monday. Some of its un-seatbelted passengers could have been ejected from the van and killed in the dangerous crash.
Read more about the criminal charges relating to Monday’s 4-vehicle van crash in this articlefrom our Harris County injury lawyers.