Articles Posted in Uncategorized

For the Chicago pedestrian accident lawyers at Abels & Annes, there is no bigger compliment than representing a supervising claims adjuster from a major insurance carrier who was injured in a crosswalk accident.

The accident occurred back on 2/25/10 at State and Lake Street in downtown Chicago. Our pedestrian client was walking northbound across Lake Street in a crosswalk on the east side of the intersection when a bus turned right and failed to observe her. She was struck by the front end of the vehicle.

The plaintiff went to the ER at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. X-rays revealed she incurred a fractured left leg in the accident. She has since been following up with an orthopaedic physician.

A study by the AAA Foundation suggests that more than half of all car accidents are caused by some form of aggressive driving behavior.

The Chicago car accident attorneys and the Chicago injury lawyers at Abels & Annes encourage drivers to take stock of their own driving behavior — the study also noted that a significant number of drivers see aggressive driving as a danger despite being prone to such behaviors themselves.

As many as 56 percent of deadly crashes involve some form of aggressive-driving behavior; speeding is the most common contributing factor and is associated with one-third of all deadly accidents.

Abels & Annes’ Chicago car accident lawyers blog recently examined the dangers of speeding.

A nationwide telephone survey found 8 in 10 people rated aggressive driving as a serious or extremely serious savety threat. Yet nearly half of drivers reported exceeding the speed limit by at least 15 mph in the last 30 days.

“It’s easy to think ‘that other guy is the problem’ – the one who runs someone off the road, tailgates, or yells obscenities,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. “In reality, examples of driving aggressively – any of which can lead to crashes, injuries and deaths – are all too common.”

Examples of aggressive driving include running stop signs or red lights, preventing other drivers from passing, speeding, illegal driving on the shoulder, and failing to yield.

The study and its findings are meant to educate motorists about the different forms of aggressive driving with the hope of improving driver safety and reducing deadly accidents.

Continue reading

A 36-year-old woman from Chicago was killed Wednesday morning in a van vs. motorcycle accident, according to Oak Park-Leaves.com. The motorcycle crash took place near the Austin Blue Line station in Oak Park, Illinois.

The van driver had just dropped someone off at the CTA train and then made an illegal u-turn. The motorcycle hit the van as it cut across her lane while making the turn. The U-turn was made from the far right southbound lane to get into the northbound lanes.

The motorcycle rider suffered severe head injuries. She was rushed by ambulance to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood where she was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a law raising the speed limit to 65 mph for semis and other large trucks. But the trucks will be traveling with better brakes, thanks to federal regulations passed last month aimed at saving lives.

The law, which is the result of a three-year battle among lawmakers, takes effect Jan. 1. While it will not impact highways in the immediate Chicago area, safety advocates voiced concern about allowing semis, dump trucks and other large trucks to legally travel faster among much smaller passenger cars.

The Illinois truck accident lawyers and Chicago personal injury attorneys at Abels & Annes represent victims of accidents with large trucks, which can often weigh 10 times more than a 4,000 pound passenger car.

In 2008, 4,229 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks, down 12 percent from the 4,822 deaths recorded in 2007.

Nine states — Arkansas, California, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Texas, and Washington — still retain lower speed limits for large trucks, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Texas and Utah allow semis to travel as fast as 80 mph.

In July, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued new braking requirements, which the federal government estimates will save more than 200 lives a year and reduce property damage by more than $169 million a year.

“Safety is our highest priority,” Secretary Ray LaHood said. “Motorists deserve to know they are sharing the road with large trucks that are up to the safest possible standards, so they can get home alive to their families.”

The new standard requires that a tractor-trailer traveling at 60 miles per hour come to a complete stop in 250 feet. The old standard required a complete stop within 355 feet.

The new regulation will be phased in over four years beginning with 2012 models in an effort to speed up the introduction of the latest brake technology to help truck drivers avoid collisions with other vehicles.

The new rule applies only to truck tractors, and does not include single-unit trucks, trailers and buses.
Continue reading

An auto accident on Sunday in Kane County, Illinois has resulted in the death of a teenage passenger and criminal charges against a teenage driver, according to the Beacon News.

The accident happened early Sunday when the 18 year old driving a Ford Explorer lost control, left the roadway, and hit 2 trees in the 3100 block of Royal Fox Drive in St. Charles, Illinois. The vehicle ended up stuck between the trees and the fire department had to use rescue equipment to free the occupants from the vehicle.

The driver has been charged with a total of 16 felony counts, including reckless homicide and aggravated DUI by the Kane County state’s attorney’s office. The judge has set bond at $500,000.

In Illinois, the law is about to get tougher on uninsured drivers. The current Illinois law calls for a fine of $500-$1,000, and possible 3-6 month license suspensions upon a conviction.

The new proposed law would make driving with no insurance a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail. The Illinois Senate passed the proposed legislation by a 56-1 vote on Wednesday, and it is now headed to Governor Pat Quinn for approval.

The new law is named after Michael Dean, who was hit and killed by an uninsured driver in 2006. Many were outraged because the only penalty for the at fault driver not having auto insurance was a monetary fine with no jail time.

An ambulance that was stolen in Chicago caused a multiple vehicle accident today in Evanston, Illinois, according to the Chicago Sun-times. The ambulance was being driven recklessly at a high rate of speed with it ran a red light at the intersection of Dempster Street and Chicago Avenue, striking several cars. As many as eight people were reportedly injured. A total of six vehicles were involved.

The ambulance was taken from a nursing home in Chicago. At one point it struck a parked car and kept on going. Witnesses said the vehicle was moving very erratically and thought the driver might have been impaired. The ambulance was privately owned.

Two cars hit were totaled. The driver of the ambulance allegedly got out of the vehicle after the accident, yelled that he hated God, and fled the scene on foot. Witnesses ran after the man and cornered him until Evanston police arrived. He was treated for injuries and arrested. The accident occurred around 3 pm and the intersection had to be closed for several hours.

In Chicago, Illinois a multiple vehicle car accident shut down a major expressway on Monday, according to CBS News. The car crash was on the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway and it was reportedly caused by icy conditions. The accident involved at least 10 vehicles and it backed up traffic for miles. It occurred in the area of Gary Avenue near Hanover Park in the eastbound lanes, and the delay was so bad that many vehicles turned around into the westbound lanes. Three motorists were injured in the accident, non of them life-threatening.

The weather caused many crashes on several expressways in the Chicago area. On the Edens there were rollover crashes and vehicles sliding off the highway. IDOT reported that salt spreading on the highways was less effective than usual due to the extreme cold weather.

There has been several days of hazardous driving lately in the Chicago area. On Sunday it was icy, extremely cold, and high winds made it very difficult for drivers to keep their vehicles under control.