Articles Posted in Auto Accident

All drivers in the Chicago area should remember that car accidents can happen at any time on the road. While approximately 40 percent of crashes happen at intersections, those are far from the only locations where impacts take place as vehicles driving straight on roads, in parking lots, and on expressways may also experience a collision. Some types of collisions are more likely at points other than intersections including sideswipe car accidents and back over crashes.

Regardless of how an accident takes place, it is possible for those involved to be injured or to otherwise suffer, potentially causing significant damages. When a car accident in the Chicago area causes harm like this, victims of that crash may be protected by local and state laws that enable them to seek relief. Generally, relief can be obtained in the form of monetary payment for the harm that happened due to the accident and can vary as a result from case to case. Whether you incurred medical expenses, suffered pain and inconvenience, or even missed time from work due to your injuries, you may have a valid claim for your harm and speaking with a personal injury attorney can help you understand what rights may be protected after your crash.
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During certain activities in life, a person can control his or her safety. By acting with care and caution, the risks for harm or injuries can be drastically reduced if not eliminated. But unfortunately, that level of control does not extend to all areas of a person’s life and one prime example of this lack of total control continues to be driving. Though the conduct of a motorist behind the wheel remains critically important, it is also true that one driver’s actions alone cannot guarantee an accident-free ride. Instead, if another driver in the area fails to act safely, even the best driver on the road can become the victim of a car accident and may be injured as a result.

It is not fair when one person is forced to suffer due to the actions of another, a thought is echoed by the legislature in the state of Illinois. When a car crash happens here, including in the Chicago area, victims who did nothing wrong but who were hurt nonetheless are protected with specific rights that enable them to get relief. A typical crash creates the right for a victim to seek monetary payment for their losses which may include things like medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and permanency of injuries. These claims can be brought against an at-fault driver, an automobile insurance company, a corporation, or even a city or state and they are separate from any traffic charges brought by local authorities. Speaking with a personal injury attorney can help victims realize their options and whether they may be entitled to relief based on the facts of their collision and their resulting harm.
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Single car accidents happen every day across the state of Illinois and they occur for many reasons. Some are due to the actions or inactions of the driver behind the wheel. Others can be blamed on inclement weather or a poor road design. And still others are properly classified as a failure on some part of the vehicle itself, whether it is a manufacturing error or a design flaw in the car or in a tire.

When a car accident happens, victims may not remember the precise details that led up to the incident. It tends to be up to police, accident reconstructionists, and other experts to determine the factors that led to a collision and whether an error on the part of anyone involved played a role. Where an issue with a vehicle or a component, like a wheel or tire, is suspected, the review can take weeks to months before conclusions are made and may involve the analysis of technical data gathered from a car’s computer systems.
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There are countless factors that can lead to or contribute to a car accident in the Chicago area and they include things like driving while distracted, following too closely, and failing to stop at a stop sign. But a factor that is often overlooked by motorists remains the time and day and the day of the week that a collision takes place. In many respects, it is unfair that a driver faces a higher risk of being involved in a crash simply because when that driver is on the road but statistics prove this risk time and time again. In Chicago, motorists are at a higher risk for accidents during heavily-traveled times, like weekday evening rush hour, and during the weekends. Overnight hours are also prone to crashes as many drivers exhibit dangerous driving techniques at those times.

No one’s safety should be threatened on the roads simply because of the time of day that the person travels yet until these accidents are eliminated, it is a reality that should not be ignored by drivers. If tragedy does strike and a driver or a passenger is injured in a collision, know that those who are hurt may be entitled to seek financial compensation for their losses including any medical expenses incurred. This can be true even if the person hurt was in the same car as the driver who caused the crash or if only one vehicle was involved. To make sure you get a complete picture of your legal rights, you may choose to speak with a personal injury attorney in Chicago to learn about your option as well as who may be held financial liable for your suffering.
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Summer is a dangerous time to drive in the Chicago area. While it may seem like an ideal season to hit the roads because of optimal weather, the truth is more complicated and, as a result, there are still plenty of car accidents that happen during the summer in the city. One major factor that impacts safety is the number of tourists that visit Illinois during the summer months. Many of these people are unfamiliar with the streets, their layouts, and normal traffic patterns as they exist in Chicago. This can lead to confusion behind the wheel which may increase the odds of a collision taking place. Another significant factor that can lead to an impact is the prevalence of inexperienced teenage drivers on the road. Many young people go through driver’s education in the summer and even if they have completed their training, those teens are still less knowledgeable than others and still more likely to make mistakes when driving.

If you are involved in a car accident in Chicago, you probably will not be interested in the statistics surrounding the likelihood of your crash or the probability that you would be hit. Instead, you will probably be focused on putting the pieces together after an accident so that you can move forward from the crash. From the damage done to your vehicle to the injuries you sustained, it can be challenging to realize the full extent of harm that happens immediately after a crash and it often takes months to understand the impact that the accident caused. Working with a professional like a personal injury attorney can help remove much of the guesswork surrounding a collision and can help you realize whether you have a valid claim for compensation under Illinois laws. If you were injured, your rights may include monetary relief but only if you act in a timely manner.
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In the minds of many who live outside of Illinois, Joliet gets overshadowed by its larger neighbor, Chicago. But with more than 140,000 residents and as the county seat of Will County, Joliet is a significant presence in Illinois and it should be treated as such.

Joliet boast many appealing sites from its miles of bicycle trails to the Chicagoland Speedway, home to NASCAR races. It can be a wonderful place to live or to visit and tens of thousands take advantage of trips to Joliet every year. But like any other town or city in Illinois, Joliet can still be home to dangerous conditions to those who drive in the area and car accidents in town are far too common. These accidents affect not only the victims who are immediately injured in accidents but also their family members, loved ones, coworkers, and friends and the suffering caused can range in time from weeks to years or even a lifetime. To protect victims, state laws in Illinois enable those who are hurt to seek and obtain financial compensation for their injuries against those who bear legal responsibility for a crash. In some cases, it can be an at-fault driver. In others, it may be a corporation or a municipality. Often, it is an insurance company that may be forced to pay for the harm that results.
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Teens are at a higher risk of being involved in a car accident than are drivers of other age groups, but when it comes to teen accidents, summertime poses the greatest threat. Many teens are out of school and therefore have a lot of additional free time with which they can be behind the wheel. Teens similarly are likely to be injured at this time of year because in addition to being drivers, they tend to be passengers in car accidents involving teenage drivers or they tend to be operating on a learner’s permit – both situations marred by inexperience behind the wheel.

When a car accident happens and people are injured, it is those injured victims and their family members who are forced to sort through the damage and attempt to begin again. In some cases, injuries may be minor and may take only weeks to heal but in others, the damages sustained in a collision can last a lifetime and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of losses. In the worst cases possible, a victim is killed and that damage and suffering will never end.
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Car accidents are such a serious and pervasive threat to the safety of motorists in America that the trends associated with them are monitored closely. Numerous federal and independent agencies record data related to car crashes so that the data can be reviewed and new safety procedures implemented, all in an attempt to prevent future collisions and to save lives that otherwise may have been lost in those accidents.

One such agency, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, reports that 32,719 people were killed in traffic-related accidents in 2013 alone in the United States. Though much of the devastation caused in a collision cannot be measured monetarily, the best estimates of the financial harm caused by those crashes is $242 billion. Chicago saw its fair share of accidents in 2013 and collisions continue to strike in the city every day. As a result, citizens are left in need of medical care, forced to miss time from work as they recover, and sustain other damages like pain and suffering.
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Do you drive in the Chicago area? If so, do you think about your safety each and every time you get behind the wheel? If you possess the traits of a typical motorist, your actions may be on autopilot when it comes to safety checks while driving. Sure, you always put on your seat belt and you always wait to proceed until you have the right of way. But those actions are so ingrained in your driving skills that you perform them out of habit – you do not conduct a running check list in your mind of the actions you must take to act safely.

Yet even if you are always a safe motorist and if you always are aware of your surroundings, you still are at a very significant risk for being the victim of a car accident if you drive in Chicago or if you ride in a car as a passenger. Tens of thousands of collisions occur within the city’s limits annually and far too many of those cause serious injuries or even death.
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Experts consider head-on car accidents to fall into one of two broad categories: those that occur at intersections and those that do not. Both types have the potential to cause extreme devastation to the drivers and passengers involved but the types of crashes often stem from varied causes, making classification helpful.

At an intersection, drivers collide in a head-on manner most often when a motorist fails to yield the right-of-way or obey a traffic light. Other crashes may happen if one driver attempts to make a turn when oncoming traffic is present or if a motorist fails to navigate the intersection appropriately, especially when an intersection involves the crossing of more than two roads. Perhaps more common, collisions that involve head-on impacts which occur away from intersections are very dangerous and typically involve medium or high speeds. These tend to occur when a driver is distracted and crosses the center line or runs off the road. Alternatively, they occur due to some intentional action by a motorist like trying to pass on a two-lane road when it is not clear to do so.
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