TRAVERSE CITY -- A bus accident left Alice Skrzysinski with more than just a bruised face and sore body.
She's also distraught over the safety of fellow riders who use wheelchairs.
Skrzysinski, 61, was riding a Bay Area Transportation Authority bus Monday afternoon when the driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. The quick stop threw Skrzysinski from her wheelchair, which was fastened to the floor.
"I want (BATA) to know they don't have any handicap restraints to hold the person," said Skrzysinski, a widow who lives in Traverse City. "I want something to be done."
An ambulance took Skrzysinski to Munson Medical Center where she was released after a CT scan showed she had no broken bones.
"Today my body is so hurt all over," she said Tuesday afternoon, adding that she had a hard time putting her false teeth in her mouth and couldn't fit her scratched glasses over her puffy, black and blue eye.
Skrzysinski said she left a message with a BATA supervisor Tuesday morning and didn't know if they'll pick up her medical bills.
BATA Executive Director Joe DeKoning hadn't heard about the accident by Tuesday afternoon.
"Oh wow, I'm surprised I didn't hear about that," he said. "I was off yesterday and no one mentioned it to me this morning."
Bus accidents that involve injuries typically are forwarded to BATA's insurance company, he said.
Regular seats have belts, but DeKoning said it's not up to BATA to provide wheelchair restraints.
"I don't know that the buses are equipped with the necessary, whatever it would be for someone who remains in the chair," he said. "If the chair is tied down, and the wheelchair comes with a belt, that would be something they own themselves with that wheelchair. We couldn't add that to it."
But John Weaver, the BATA driver from Monday's incident, said seat belts are available for riders in wheelchairs.
"We offer when we hook them in," he said. "(Skrzysinski) didn't ask for a belt."
The belt is located behind the spot for wheelchairs and she likely wouldn't have seen it, he said.
Skrzysinski has used a wheelchair for the past 28 years due to a car accident that left her right side paralyzed.
Aside from pushing herself in her wheelchair, the bus is her only means of transportation.
"I'll keep fighting it if I have to," she said. "If something is not done about this, then I will sue them."
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