People around the country often rely upon buses for transportation needs. Whether a city bus, charter bus or long distance bus; each day hundreds of thousands of Americans ride buses. Individuals who ride buses either by choice or out of necessity, must put their trust and lives in the hands of a bus driver they do not know and a commercial vehicle with which they are not familiar.

Motor vehicle accidents involving passenger buses often result in multiple passengers being injured. In addition to those types of injuries commonly suffered in any motor vehicle accident, most buses also lack seatbelts. Therefore, when a collision occurs, not only are passengers thrown about, but items aboard a bus often become dangerous projectiles.

An Ohio-bound Greyhound bus recently crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer along Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania. The commercial vehicle accident occurred just after 1:40 a.m. as the bus was traveling along I-80 while carrying 49 passengers.

For unknown reasons, the bus crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer driven by a 36-year-old truck driver. According to the police report, the truck driver reported he was traveling the speed limit when the bus suddenly rear-ended him along the freeway. Information about the bus driver and his or her driving record, has not been released yet. Greyhound did provide details related to the fact that the driver has been with the company for 12 years.

One female passenger who was aboard the bus was killed in the accident. Forty-four other passengers reportedly suffered injuries. Additional information related to this accident will likely be forthcoming which we'll continue to discuss in the coming weeks.

Source: The Richmond Register, "1 dead, 44 injured in Greyhound bus crash in Pennsylvania," Oct. 9, 2013