Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog
A girl was seriously injured in a recent Illinois teen car accident, according to The Herald-News. A teen driver was in his pickup truck when he slammed into the female pedestrian who was walking along Bell and McEvilly Roads in Minooka where there are no sidewalks. The girl was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and then later to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“The crash is being investigated and no charges have been filed at this time,” said Police Chief Justin Meyer.Our Chicago car accident attorneys understand the dangers that teens face on our roadways and the dangers they present to other travelers. For this reason, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has released a new study to determine exactly what these dangers are and effective ways to reduce them. The new study determined that teen drivers are roughly 50 percent more likely to get into an accident in the first 30 days of driving than they were after having a year of unsupervised driving experience. And nearly twice as likely as they are after two years behind the wheel.
The recent study looked at teen drivers in North Carolina and noted the three most common driver errors among newly-licensed drivers:
-Failing to reduce speed.
-Driver inattention.
-Failing to yield.
In the first month of a teen’s driving career, these three causes of accidents accounted for nearly 60 percent of traffic accidents in which teen drivers were at least partially responsible.
Researchers also studied various types of accidents in correlation with how long a driver had been licensed. The study concluded that the number of accidents that were experienced at fast-traveling speeds reduced as the driver gained more experience and time behind the wheel.
The study required the installation of in-car cameras to peek in on teen drivers as they were learning to drive with parents and guardians and then for six months without supervision. Researchers concluded that teens who obtained a learner’s permit drove most of their time on routine trips on familiar roads in simple driving conditions. Once a driver could travel without supervision, that’s when the mistakes started happening. The study concluded that these drivers experienced a number of close calls as a result of simple driving mistakes, which they attribute to driver inexperience.
In addition to the inexperience-related mistakes, teens oftentimes committed the following:
-Texting while driving.
-Horseplay and other interactions with passengers.
-Red-light running.
According to Kissinger, this study reiterates the fact that parents need to stay involved in their young driver’s habits behind the wheel.
The AAA study continues to push the following suggestions to parents:
-Allow plenty of driving practice time. More experience behind the wheel may be your child’s best protection against a traffic accident.
-Limit passengers. The risks for teen car accidents multiply when other teen passengers are present in the vehicle. Set limits with your teen driver and enforce them!
-Limit nighttime driving. In these driving conditions, a teen’s risk for an accident increases because of the extreme reduction in visibility.
-Stick to your parent-teen driving contract! Make sure your contract covers driving rules for cities, highways, interstates, weather conditions, curfews and passenger limitations.
If you or your teen driver has been involved in a traffic accident, the Chicago injury attorneys and wrongful death lawyers at Abels & Annes would like to offer you a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS. There is no fee unless you win.
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