Articles Posted in Car Accident

Our Chicago car accident attorneys encourage those shopping for a car to make the government’s new and improved 5-Star Safety Rating System a part of their review process.

The new rating system comes with more rigid safety standards, an overall vehicle rating, and the use of female crash-test dummies for the first time, in addition to the male test dummies that have been in use for years.”More stars equal safer cars,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “With our upgraded Five-Star Safety Ratings System, we’re raising the bar on safety. Through new tests, better crash data, and higher standards, we are making the safety ratings tougher and more meaningful for consumers.”

The safety of you and your family can depend to some extent on your choice of vehicles and the emphasis the manufacturer has placed on safety. We have all seen some of the new subcompact cars and perhaps you have wondered about their ability to withstand a collision with a mailbox, let alone another car on the road. Certainly prospective owners should check their safety rating. Conversely, the periodic news about rollovers and SUVs and the news this past year about the Toyota recalls, illustrates that bigger does not always mean safer.

Nor do you have to spend a fortune to drive a car with a high safety rating: Of the cars tested thus far this year, the BMW 5 series received a 5-Star rating, but so did the modestly priced Hyundai Sonata.

The new 5-star system will rate passengers cars, SUVs, vans and pickup trucks in three areas, rollover resistance, frontal crash and side crash.

“We want consumers to embrace these new safety technologies as a way to make vehicles safer,” said National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland. “We believe electronic stability control, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning offer significant safety benefits and consumers should consider them when buying a new car.”

Here you will find government safety ratings for new and used cars in Illinois.
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If you are looking to avoid a Chicago car accident, stay off the road or be very cautious on Fridays between 4 and 8 p.m. That is statistically the most likely time for an accident according to 2009 crash data recently released by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

A total of 41,348 urban crashes occurred on Fridays last year; the next-highest day was Thursday, when 37,300 crashes occurred in urban areas. And six-times as many crashes occurred in large cities, primarily Chicago, than occurred in more rural areas of Illinois.Your chances of an accident increase daily between Sunday and Friday.

Between 4 and 8 p.m., 76,134 crashes occurred. Noon to 4 p.m. witnessed 72,136 followed by 8 a.m. to noon, when 53,022 crashes occurred.

Sunday
Rural: 6,872 Urban: 26,346
Monday
Rural: 6,376 Urban: 32,222 Tuesday
Rural: 6,713 Urban: 35,204
Wednesday
Rural: 6,738 Urban: 36,764 Thursday
Rural: 6,764 Urban: 37,300
Friday
Rural: 7,530 Urban: 41,348
Saturday
Rural: 7,924 Urban: 34,005
While urban crashes far outnumbered rural crashes, rural crashes were much more likely to be fatal. A total of 363 traffic fatalities occurred in 48,917 rural crashes, compared to 469 fatalities in 243,189 crashes in urban areas. That means, while rural crashes accounted for just under 17 percent of the state’s traffic accidents, they resulted in nearly half (43.6 percent) of all traffic fatalities.

As for urban crashes, if you think you are most likely to die on the freeway, you would be wrong.

Urban Accidents

State Highway: 150 deaths/ 16,614 injured
Interstate: 79 deaths/ 4,159 injured
City Streets: 166 deaths/ 23,063 injuries
Unmarked Routes: 74 deaths/ 8,566 injuries
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Illinois car crash attorneys at Abels & Annes have signed on to represent a woman who was injured in a motor vehicle accident on the North Side of Chicago in September 2010. The accident happened at the intersection of Greenleaf and Sheridan Road. Our client was driving eastbound on Greenleaf with a green light when the defendant, who was southbound on Sheridan, ran a red light and hit the plaintiff’s vehicle.

The accident was investigated by the Chicago Police Department. The defendant admitted fault to the investigating officer.

Shortly after the accident, the plaintiff developed pain on the left side of her neck and shoulder. She has since started medical treatment with a physician in Chicago. She has also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress due to the accident.

Abogados de accidente de carro en Chicago de Abels & Annes han llegado a un acuerdo para representar a una mujer del Sur que resultó herida en una collision trasera en el autopista Eisenhower. El accidente sucedió en septiembre de 2010 en los carriles hacia el este alrededor de 1st Avenue en Maywood, Illinois.

Nuestro cliente estaba viajando a una velocidad normal cuando se dio cuenta de un vehículo que se acercaba atrás de ella en una tasa muy alta de velocidad. El vehículo entonces golpeó el vehículo del demandante por detrás.

La policía del estado de Illinois respondió al accidente. Después de una investigación, el policía le dio al conductor de defecto un ticket por no reducir la velocidad para evitar un accidente. El conductor le dijo a la policía que él no estaba poniendo atención en el momento de la collision.

Chicago car accident lawyers at Abels & Annes have entered into an agreement to represent a South side woman who was injured in a rear end collision on the Eisenhower Expressway. The accident happened in September of 2010 in the eastbound lanes around 1st Avenue in Maywood, Illinois.

Our client was traveling at a normal rate of speed when she noticed a vehicle approaching behind her at a very high rate of speed. The speeding vehicle then struck the plaintiff’s vehicle from behind.

The Illinois State Police responded to the accident. After an investigation, the trooper issued the at fault driver a ticket for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. The driver told police he wasn’t paying attention at the time of the collision.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys continue to publish results of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s report on serious and fatal accident statistics for 2009.

As we reported recently, fewer Illinois car accidents contributed to the nationwide reduction last year, but still more than 250 people a day were injured in traffic accidents in Illinois. On average, the state reports more than 800 crashes per day.