Articles Posted in Car Accident

A woman was reportedly killed Tuesday morning in a Chicago car accident on the South Side when a minivan driven by a drug suspect rammed her car while attempting to run down police officers, The Chicago Sun Times reported.

The woman’s car was one of two civilian vehicles the suspect’s van crashed into after striking two undercover police cruisers.

The suspect was caught after a brief foot pursuit following the string of accidents, which began just before 7 a.m. at 63rd Street and King Drive, according to police.

Speeding drivers cause an estimate one-third of all accidents at a cost of $44,193 per minute, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has published a “Think Fast” campaigned aimed at reducing speed and speed-related accidents.

A significant number of the car accidents handled by the Chicago injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys at Abels & Annes can be attributed to speeding drivers or drivers who disobey other traffic laws and traffic-control devices.

With winter driving just around the corner, drivers should remember that speed isn’t always about speed limits — driving too fast for road conditions also causes a significant number of Chicago car accidents.

Fuel consumption also decreases dramatically as speed increases. It takes 50 percent more fuel to travel 75 mph than it does to travel at 55 mph.

The federal government estimates more than 1,000 people a month are killed in speed-related crashes.

Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely, negotiate curves in the road or road hazards, and it extends the distance required to stop in emergency situations.

Crash severity also increases with speed and the effectiveness of safety devices, like airbags and seatbelts, decreases as speed increases.

In fact, the federal government estimates the probability of death or serious debilitating doubles with every 10 mph over 50 mph that a vehicle is traveling at impact.

Speed facts:

-Rural roads account for over 60 percent of all speed-related accidents
-66 percent of speed-related crashes involved a single vehicle
-Drivers in speed-related crashes are more likly to have a history of traffic violations
-On average, 1,000 people a month are killed by speed-related crashes in the United States
-Of drivers 15-24 years old involved in fatal crashes, one-third were speeding

Continue reading

A Chicago car accident on Saturday in Logan Square has led to charges against a driver who allegedly hit a squad car.

The 29-year-old woman was charged with failure to produce a driver’s license, no insurance, damage to city property and failure to yield to a stop sign, according to police.

CBS2 reported the woman was driving a Toyota Sienna van shortly after 2 a.m. when she went through a stop sign and struck a police car in the intersection at 2133 N. Central Park and Shakespeare avenues.

A new report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that more than half of all traffic accidents in a recent five-year period were caused by some form of aggressive driving.

I believe that many of the Chicago car accidents handled by the personal injury and wrongful death lawyers at Abels & Annes could have been prevented if the at-fault driver had not engaged in some form of dangerous behavior, including distracted or aggressive driving.

When an aggressive driver causes an accident, he or she can be held responsible in civil courts for the injuries and damage caused to innocent motorists and in some cases can even face criminal prosecution.

We are all familiar with the irate or dangerous motorist who tailgates, weaves in and out of traffic, and offers hand gestures to anyone in the way.

But some of us are guilty of some form of aggressive driving from time to time, including speeding, following too closely and failure to use proper signals or obey traffic control devices.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety rates aggressive driving at or near the top of traffic safety issues nationwide.

– Speeding, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is responsible for almost one-third of all fatal traffic crashes.

– Failure to yield the right of way is responsible for 11.4 percent of traffic fatalities.

A total of 192,069 fatal crashes killed 212,997 people during the five-year study period. The top causes of death were speeding, failure to yield, reckless driving, failure to obey traffic signals and improper turns.

The report found the following driver actions were among the most likely causes for accidents:

– Following improperly
– Improper or erratic lane changes
– Illegal driving on a road shoulder, median or sidewalk
– Passing where prohibited or where there is insufficient distance or visibility
– Operation of a vehicle in a reckless, careless, negligent or erratic manner or suddenly changing speeds
– Failure to yield
– Failure to obey traffic signals, traffic officers or safety zone laws
– Failure to observe warnings or instructions on vehicles displaying them
– Failure to signal
– Driving too fast for conditions or exceeding posted speed limits
– Racing
– Making improper turns

Continue reading