Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog

A rollover accident in the south suburb of Posen claimed the life of a 29-year-old man early last Wednesday morning. Though a second vehicle was involved, there were no other injuries or fatalities reported.

The victim was driving a Cadillac on northbound I-57 just after midnight when a collision occurred between his vehicle and another car. The impact forced both vehicles into a concrete median that separates the northbound and southbound lanes near 147th Street. The Cadillac rolled over and ejected the victim, who was the only occupant in the vehicle, and severely injured him. Though he was transported to Metro South Medical Center following the crash, he was pronounced dead before 1:00 a.m.

The crash caused northbound lanes of I-57 to be closed for an hour while police officers investigated the collision and clean up crews could clear the roadway. All lanes were reopened by the time morning rush hour traffic began.

Rollover accidents like this one are generally classified as a “tripped rollover,” where an initial impact or contact with a fixed object caused the vehicle to roll over. Tripped rollovers often come to mind when thinking of a rollover crash because it is easy to appreciate that a car can roll when it is impacted at a high speed, like in a crash with another car.

Rollover collisions make up a small percentage of all crashes but a larger percentage of all fatalities in Illinois and across the nation. This is because rollovers are much more dangerous than some other types of crashes, meaning that occupants are more likely to suffer from serious or even fatal injuries in a rollover. Part of the reason for this discrepancy is that there are often multiple points of impact in a rollover accident. This means that in addition to an impact felt when two cars collide, for example, a rollover also has an impact when the side of the vehicle strikes the ground, another when the roof of the vehicle hits the ground, and possibly more when the far side and tires hit the ground. If a vehicle rolls more than once, the impacts keep adding up, which can throw a passenger about inside the vehicle and cause injury.

In addition to the increased number of impacts, the design of vehicles makes rollovers deadly. The roof of a car does not often get the same attention to detail when it comes to safety that a front bumper might. This is because there are so many more front and rear end collisions that engineers focus on these types of crashes when they make safety improvements. In contrast, the ceiling of a car and the roof often buckle inwards upon impact as opposed to keeping their shape, meaning that the ceiling can injure or trap passengers inside the vehicle. While there are some features that can limit this, particularly a roll-over bar, few vehicles have them and those that do are often designed for rough outdoor use, like a Jeep Wrangler.
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A man on his cell phone rear-ended a vehicle and fled the scene when police approached him late Sunday morning in Chicago. As he fled, he caused a second collision just two blocks away, seriously injuring himself and up to five others in the Park Manor neighborhood.

A police officer who was filling his gas tank near Indiana Avenue and Marquette Road and saw a car driven by a man rear-end another vehicle. It is believed the driver was on his cell phone at the time of the impact. Both cars pulled over after the impact and the officer responded, initially talking to the car that was struck. When the officer began to walk to the at-fault vehicle that caused the rear-end crash, the driver took off from the scene. He tried to drive west on 71st Street over the Dan Ryan Expressway but he hit a minivan that was trying to turn left onto State Street.

The first crash resulted in damage only to the front vehicle which had a man and woman inside at the time of impact. They witnessed the second crash and said that an individual from the minivan was ejected as a result of the collision.

Police have said that the at-fault driver was in serious-to-critical condition after the accident and that four people inside the van were also hurt. Three people were taken from the scene to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious-to-critical condition and three others were taken to Saint Bernard Hospital and Healthcare Center where their conditions were not immediately known.

The Chicago Police Department has not yet stated whether the driver who caused both collisions will face any civil or criminal charges.

Assuming this early information is all correct, the at-fault driver in these accidents committed several negligent acts. Initially he drove while on his cell phone. Cell phones are a significant distraction to drivers and are responsible for many crashes. In addition, using a cell phone without a hands-free device is a violation of local laws in many areas, though it is unclear how this driver was using his phone at the time of the first crash. In addition to driving while distracted, this driver fled the scene of a collision without speaking to police or providing identification information. What was only a minor collision with a small amount of property damage instead became a crime when the driver fled the scene and seriously injured several others. Finally it appears that the driver failed to yield the right-of-way to the minivan and thus caused the second collision. Though not all the details are yet known, collisions that eject one or more passengers often have a significant force, meaning that the car or the van or both could have been traveling at a fast speed.
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An accident involving 4 vehicles injured 14 people on Saturday evening, sending them to area hospitals for treatment, according to local police.

The incident began when a van attempted to switch lanes on the Kennedy Expressway near the Ohio Street exit. The van hit a church van from Milwaukee carrying 20 people in the process and caused the church van to spin out of control and hit another vehicle, which then collided with a fourth car. The van that initially caused the collision fled the scene immediately after the crash.

Emergency crews responded to the scene and transported all 14 people to local hospitals, including Northwestern Memorial Hospital, University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, and Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center. Though it appears that no one suffered life-threatening injuries, two people were in serious-to-critical condition. All outbound lanes of traffic were blocked while authorities investigated and cleared the scene, causing some significant delays and back-ups along the highway and surrounding surface roads for over an hour. All of the 14 injured people were in the church van at the time of the accident and the drivers of the other two cars escaped injuries.

Van accidents pose a serious risk of injury for the passengers within due in part to the heavy weight that is associated with a fully loaded van. The extra passengers mean that these vans are much heavier than other passenger vehicles on the road, and this weight can make it harder to stop a van when a dangerous situation occurs. Additionally the extra weight is thought to be one of the reasons that passenger vans are involved in so many rollover accidents each year.

Even though the risk of injuries is high, passengers in vans often feel a false sense of safety and security that leads them to not use seat belts and other safety devices. All too often, this decision proves fatal as collisions cause passengers to be thrown around inside the car or even ejected. Failure to use a seat belt increases the risk of serious injury to passengers, which may include broken bones, lacerations and cuts, impalement, organ damage, and head injuries, to name a few. This is truly tragic because these vans usually have seat belts available for passenger use but they are ignored out of convenience.
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A crash occurred between a city fire engine and a passenger car in downtown Chicago yesterday afternoon, leaving the driver and a passenger in the car critically injured. The collision occurred in the intersection of Congress Parkway and Columbus Drive around 3:30 p.m. as the fire crew was responding to a call.

Early reports indicate that the car had the green light and the right-of-way but that most traffic stopped as the fire engine approached with its lights and sirens sounding. The fire engine entered the intersection against the light and collided with the car which resulted in the car being pushed onto the sidewalk and into a parked car.

The damage done to the car was so great that both the driver and the passenger were trapped inside. Emergency crews had to remove both women from the vehicle before they could be transported to a local hospital for treatment.

When they arrived at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, both women were listed in serious to critical condition but both have since improved and stabilized. They are alert and able to talk at this time. Fortunately no fire fighters were injured in the collision and the fire engine reportedly sustained only minor damage.

In a collision between a passenger car and a fire engine or other large truck, the people inside the car are always at a high risk for serious injury. The size and weight of the engine when compared to the car means that the car is likely to receive the majority of the damage, putting the passengers at a high risk for injury.

Often collision with emergency vehicles involve high rates of speed which means a higher force upon impact. As first responders race to assist an accident, they tend to travel at speeds above the posted limit, meaning that most collisions that occurs will be significant.

The law in Illinois allows emergency vehicles the right-of-way when their lights and sirens are sounding. However the law is also very clear that the granted right-of-way does not absolve a driver of an emergency vehicle from the requirement to drive with due regard for the safety of other drivers on the road. In practice, ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars who intend to enter an intersection against a light or other traffic control device should always make sure it is safe to do so first. In this case it appears that the driver of the fire engine saw the car in the intersection but was not able to stop in time to avoid a collision. It remains unclear whether the driver of the car saw or heard the fire engine approaching before she entered the intersection.
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A South Side Chicago crash between three vehicles, including a police squad car, resulted in injuries to four on Tuesday night.

Two Chicago police officers were responding to a call in the Gresham neighborhood with its lights and sirens sounding. The officers were traveling west on 79th Street when a passenger vehicle entered the intersection at Racine Avenue and collided with the squad car. The collision forced the vehicles to the side where a third car was struck as it waited at a light at the intersection.

Both police officers sustained injuries in the collision and were taken to Stroger Hospital where they were expected to survive. The drivers of each of the other vehicles were also injured with one being taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital and the other to Saint Bernard Hospital. Both of the citizen drivers were described as having minor injuries.

The driver that caused the crash has been cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision, and causing damage to city property. It is not clear whether she has been released from the hospital.

Collisions between cars and emergency vehicles, including police squad cars, are more common in Chicago than some realize. With a large population confined in a small geographic area, the Chicago police, fire, and ambulance units are constantly responding to emergency calls that require them to use lights and sirens as they travel. When an emergency vehicle is responding to a call with lights and sirens activated, all other traffic must yield the right-of-way and allow the emergency vehicle to pass.

Accidents that occur from failing to yield the right-of-way are common as well since yielding the right-of-way requires drivers to wait or be patient, a trait that is not always exercised in the city. Yielding literally means allowing another passage first or letting another car, pedestrian, or bicyclist proceed while you wait. When a driver fails to yield the right-of-way, two cars or vehicles are likely to be in the same space at the same time, causing a collision. Many of these crashes result in injuries.
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