Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog

The USA Today is the latest to report on the growing chorus of voices that contend the emphasis on text messaging and cell phone use while driving is coming at the expense of focusing on the many other forms of distracted driving.

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys have reported extensively on the cell phone and text messaging debate — Illinois became one of 30 states to forbid drivers from text messaging when its law took effect on Jan. 1.The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released a study that found text messaging bans were actually increasing the number of distracted driving accidents in states where they are in place — perhaps because motorists were attempting to hide their phones in their laps, thereby taking their eyes off the road for an even longer period of time and exacerbating the problem.

The group has become increasingly critical of the government’s focus on text messaging and the use of hand-held devices by drivers.

“They’re focusing on a single manifestation of distracted driving and banning it,” IIHS President Adrian Lund said. “This ignores the endless sources of distraction and relies on banning one source or another to solve the whole problem.”

We have reported on the many other forms of distracted driving, both here and on our sister site, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, including the risk of distracted driving accidents while driving with your dog or pet in your vehicle.

Other forms of distracted driving include eating, drinking, smoking, grooming, applying makeup, reading, adjusting the radio or using GPS or other in-car electronics, and talking to passengers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blames nearly 5,500 deaths and 450,000 injuries a year on accidents caused by distracted driving. Only speeding and drunk driving are blamed for more traffic fatalities.
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An Illinois auto accident lawyer at Abels & Annes has signed on to represent a local resident that was injured in a collision on the West Side of Chicago. The crash occurred in early September, 2010 at the intersection of Washington & Lamon.

Our client was stopped in traffic moving westbound on Washington Street when she was caught in the middle of a four vehicle chain reaction rear-end accident. Another vehicle that was headed westbound struck a second vehicle that was behind our client, and that second vehicle smashed into the her car. The force of the impact then knocked the plaintiff’s automobile into a vehicle in front of her.

At the scene of the accident she started experiencing severe low back pain. She was seen right after the accident at the Oak Park Hospital emergency room. At the ER, she was examined by nurses and physicians, and x-rays were taken.

Si mira para evitar un accidente de tráfico en Chicago, estese fuera de la carretera o sea muy cauteloso los viernes entre 4 y 8 pm. Eso es estadísticamente el tiempo más probable para un accidente según 2009 datos de choque recientemente publicado por el Departamento de Transporte de Illinois.

Un total de 41,348 accidentes urbanos ocurrieron los viernes el año pasado; el día siguiente más alto fue el jueves, cuando 37,300 accidentes ocurrieron en áreas urbanas. Y seis veces más accidentes ocurrieron en ciudades grandes, principalmente en Chicago, que tuvo lugar en áreas más rurales de Illinois.

Sus oportunidades de un accidente aumentan diariamente entre el domingo y el viernes.

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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