San Antonio, TX — March 4, 2025, one person was injured in a bus accident at about 7 a.m. on North New Braunfels Avenue.
Authorities said a car crashed into the back of a VIA Metropolitan Transit bus near Austin Highway/Loop 368.
Emergency personnel had to cut the top off of the car to extricate the driver, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, according to authorities. The driver’s name has not been made public at this time.
Six people were on the bus at the time of the crash, authorities said, but none of them were injured.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the crash. The accident is still being investigated.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When people hear about a crash where a car rear-ends a city bus, they often assume the driver of the smaller vehicle must have been distracted or speeding. While that’s certainly possible, my experience handling commercial vehicle cases has taught me that rear-end collisions are rarely that simple.
One of the first things investigators should determine is whether the bus was moving or stopped when the crash happened. If the bus was at a stop, was it pulled fully into a designated bus bay or was it partially in the roadway? Some city bus stops are poorly designed, forcing buses to stop in traffic lanes. That can leave approaching drivers with little time to react, especially in the early morning when visibility may be lower.
Beyond that, were all of the bus’s lights and signals working properly? Transit buses are required to have brake lights, turn signals and hazard lights in working order to alert other drivers to their movements. If any of these were malfunctioning, it could have played a role in the crash.
Road conditions and traffic flow also need to be examined. Was there congestion that might have led to sudden braking? Was the roadway poorly lit or marked in a way that made it difficult to judge distances? These are the kinds of factors that often don’t get enough attention in rear-end collisions.
It’s easy to place blame on the driver who hit the bus, but a proper investigation should consider all possible contributing factors. Without looking at the full picture — including bus operations, road design and visibility conditions — authorities risk oversimplifying what may be a more complex situation.
