Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog
A 16-year-old teenager died Saturday night at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn from brain injuries suffered in a two-vehicle Chicago car accident over Memorial Day weekend, the Post-Tribune reported.
The victim was the passenger in a 2003 Chevy Silverado driven by her 16-year-old boyfriend when their SUV crashed into another vehicle on a rain-slicked highway on Sauk Trail in suburban Cook County, the sheriff’s department reported. The passengers of the other vehicle were also hospitalized with injuries. Cause of the accident remains under investigation. The teen would have been a junior at Marian Catholic High School this fall.
About 1.7 million people a year suffer a traumatic brain injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Falls and motor vehicle accidents are the leading causes, accounting for more than half of all brain injuries that occur in the United States each year.
As our Chicago injury lawyers reported earlier this year, teenagers are at high-risk for being involved in a serious or fatal Illinois car accident. Fatal crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers ages 15 to 20, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2008, a total of 164 teenagers were killed in car crashes in Illinois, ninth-most in the nation.
In this case, the Southtown Star reported that the young driver had slowed for heavy afternoon rains but lost control of the truck when the tires slipped off the pavement, causing the vehicle to fishtail into oncoming traffic. He was cited for failure to reduce speed, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
The SUV was hit on the passenger side by an eastbound Chevy Blazer driven by a 39-year-old Manhattan man. He suffered a broken ankle. His wife was taken to the hospital with a broken wrist and pelvis and the couple’s 4-year-old son was also injured.