As a Westwood, Massachusetts car accident attorney, I’ll restate something I’ve emphasized previously: In Massachusetts (as in almost every other state) the highest statistical odds of a person being injured, involve a motor vehicle accident of some kind, whether it involves a two-car accident in Dedham, or a pedestrian-car accident in Westwood, a car-truck accident, or a car-bike accident, or a Route 128 motorcycle-car accident. Even if you don’t drive a car, your risk of being injured as a pedestrian is relatively high. It’s a fact of modern life.
Aside from just “car accidents,” there is another type of motor vehicle accident that people can be injured in: A bus accident, or MBTA accident. There was just such an accident yesterday in the town where live and practice law, in Westwood, Massachusetts.
There was an MBTA bus crash on East Street in Westwood, but thankfully no one was injured. The Westwood bus accident occurred underneath a commuter rail bridge on East Street in Islington, a section of Westwood. According to local residents, the East Street bridge is the site of accidents on almost a weekly basis. The bridge has a big sign on it warning of low clearance, but apparently that does not deter commercial buses and trucks from driving under it, even if they’re not sure they can make the clearance.
I’ve driven under that bridge many times myself. When I’m in my car, I don’t worry about making the low clearance. What I worry about is the narrowness of the roadway under the bridge. That narrow road, just wide enough for two cars and two cars only, always seems to me as the proverbial “accident waiting to happen.”
On Sunday an MBTA bus drove under the bridge but couldn’t cleat the underside of the bridge. Its roof was ripped off, rupturing the natural-gas pipeline that powers the bus. It subsequently released thousands of pounds of gas into the air. Luckily, the bus driver was the only person on board. Westwood Fire Department firefighters allowed the gas to slowly leak into the atmosphere. The Fire Department estimated that there were almost 4,000 pounds of natural gas present in the bus.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported. And luckily, there were no pedestrians present, which could have resulted in a Norfolk County bus accident. If you’ve been injured in a Dedham/Westwood car crash or Norfolk County pedestrian-car accident you should discuss your injuries with a Dedham/Westwood personal injury attorney, to receive compensation for your damages.