Articles Posted in Auto Accident

Drivers are urged to prepared, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Unfavorable driving conditions are on the horizon and risks for car accidents in Chicago will be increasing as we head into the New Year. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Illinois State Police (ISP), and Illinois Tollway officials have teamed up to ensure the readiness of the state’s winter crews and their emergency equipment; all hands are making sure they’re ready for what’s to come in the winter season — snow and ice.”The historic snowfall amounts last year tested IDOT’s relentless 24/7 operation,” said Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider.

Our Illinois car accident attorneys understand that transportation departments have a responsibility to keep our roadways in safe driving conditions. However, the IDOT, ISP and Illinois Tollway are reminding motorists that drivers have a responsibility, too. When the weather changes and our roadways become more dangerous, drivers are asked to buckle up, slow down accommodate snow plows and keep an emergency kit in their vehicles. IDOT says safety should always be a number one priority on our roadways.

During this winter season, there will be nearly 3,700 workers and about 1,750 pieces of equipment ready to be deployed. In 2009, nearly $85 million was spent removing the snow and spreading more than 562,200 tons of salt on our roadways.

Every winter, the ISP, the Tollway and the IDOT urges drivers to work together to keep our roadways safe.

The Illinois Tollway will have more than 400 workers with nearly 200 snow removal devices ready to tackle the fallen snow and ice storms along the 286-mile Tollway system throughout Northern Illinois. Right now, the Tollway has roughly 80,000 tons of salt and some other snow-removal items, including angular crushed stone and liquid calcium chloride. The Tollway typically uses more than 84,000 tons of salt during a winter season.

Kristi Lafleur, Illinois Tollway Executive Director, says that drivers need to be prepared and cautious on our roadways during the upcoming winter season. She reminds drivers to slow down and to call *999 if they and need of H.E.L.P. as the Illinois Tollway is here to help.

Safe Winter Driving Tips:

-Never crowd a plow. These drivers deal with restricted vision and may not see you.

-Keep an eye out for black ice. Drive slowly through intersections, bridges, off-ramps and other areas prone to black ice.

-Make sure you always have more than a half a tank of gas to prevent freezing.

-When snowy and icy, don’t travel unless you absolutely need to.

-Keep an emergency kit in your car.

-Always wear your seat belt.

-Keep a cell phone and a charger in your car.

-Check Illinois travel conditions before venturing out.
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With the recent daylight savings change, we all gained an hour of sleep, but we also gained some increased risks for car accidents in Chicago and elsewhere. According to a recent podcast from Dr. Val Jones with Healthy Vision, driving during the evening hours increases our risk for an accident.

As the sun sets earlier, drivers are hitting the evening rush hour with some serious risks for an accident. According to a recent study conducted by Road and Travel Magazine, about one in every three drivers admit to having trouble seeing all or most of everything while driving in the dark.Optometrist Dr. Cristina Schnider says that drivers who have perfect vision even suffer from drastic reduction in visibility during the evening hours. During this time, pupils enlarge and eyes wander around because there isn’t as much to focus on. Judging distance during this time is difficult because the eye typically will pull in an object to focus on. This object is usually the windshield. Unfortunately, many drivers don’t adjust their driving skills to compensation for these limitations and that’s how accidents happen.

It’s important to see and focus on what is beyond to windshield. Our Chicago car accident attorneys understand that color is more difficult to see during the nighttime, especially in your peripheral vision. Dr. Schnider says that you really only pick up motion in peripheral vision during the evening. For this reason, it’s important to scan your surroundings often. John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council also outlined the risks motorists face on our roadways at night.

Ulczycki says that reaction time and visibility is greatly reduced after dark. According to the National Safety Council, about a quarter of travel happens when it’s dark out and nearly 50 percent fatal car accidents happen at night. Ulczycki says that drivers oftentimes have a misconception of risk while driving at night. People see fewer hazards during the evening because of visibility reduction. He says that drivers don’t adjust their driving skills to compensate for this reduction.

Drivers oftentimes complain about the glare on the windshield and the affect it has on their ability to see the roadway. According to Ulczycki, you should never focus on a vehicle’s headlights. It’s important for you to look above the headlights of the oncoming car. This will help to maximize your ability to see and your ability to keep an eye on your surroundings.

Dr. Jones and Ulczycki go on to discuss the dangers that our young, teen drivers face on our roadways at night. The per mile accident rate is three times higher for teen drivers after 9:00 p.m. than during the day. This rate is so much higher because, like other drivers, they have reduced visibility at night. The difference between teen drivers and veteran drivers is that the older, more experienced drivers have dealt with this type of driving before. While they’re still at risk, these older drivers have more knowledge and experience in handling these situations.

Ulczycki urges parents to spend time with their teen drivers during nighttime driving. Start with quiet residential areas and move your way to expressways. It’s important for parents to be confident in their teen’s driving skills before unleashing them on the roadways.

It’s no secret that driving is more difficult and more dangerous during the evening hours. With the recent turn back of time, drivers are spending more time on our roadways during dark hours. Drivers are urged to be cautious, to be alert and to be safe when driving during the evening.
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As we recently reported on our Chicago Car Accident Lawyer Blog, the risks of car accident are expected to increase as we finish up 2011. Kids will be getting out of school for winter break, visitors will be flocking to the city and residents will be venturing out on holiday vacations. Adding snowy and ice roadways to these conditions makes matters even worse. With all of the holiday vacations planned, we can expect there to be some exhausted drivers on our roadways.Our Chicago car accident lawyers would like to talk with you about Drowsy Driving Prevention Week. This is a week-long campaign that is put on by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the National Sleep Foundation. This week-long campaign aims to educate and raise awareness in drivers about the dangers of fatigued driving. Drowsy drivers contribute to one out of every six fatal accidents and one in eight accidents resulting in injury. These accidents are 100 percent preventable. The trouble is getting drivers to recognize the symptoms, to understand the risks and to ultimately stop driving dangerously.

“Many of us tend to underestimate the negative effects associated with fatigue and sleep deprivation,” said Kathleen Marvaso, a vice president with AAA.

Drowsy driving-related accidents take the lives of more than 1,500 people, injure another 71,000 and contribute to more than 100,000 accidents every year. These accidents cost more than $12 billion annually.

A recently released study from AAA concluded that even though more than 95 percent of drivers see drowsy driving as completely unacceptable, more than a third admitted to doing it themselves at least once in the last 30 days.

“People know that they shouldn’t text or drink when they drive, and that’s great,” says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. “However, many don’t realize that driving while drowsy is also very dangerous.”

A poll from the National Sleep Foundation concluded that one out of every ten drivers between the ages of 15- and 46-years-old admitted to driving while drowsy once or twice a week.

Driving while drowsy can drastically hinder your driving abilities. It can slow your reaction time, it can impair your vision, in can slow your ability to process information and it can cause lapses in judgment. Many studies conclude that a driver who has been awake for 20 hours has the same abilities as a driver who is legally drunk.

You may be drowsy and should probably pull over if you:

-Feel irritable.

-Have trouble keeping your eyes open.

-Have trouble keeping your head up.

-Can’t remember the last couple miles you’ve driven.

-Are daydreaming.

-Yawn excessively.

-Swerve in and out of your lane.

-Miss traffic signs, traffic lights, turns and exits.

-Feel restless.

-Feel aggressive.

If you feel any of the symptoms listed above, you’re urged to pull over, get some rest, take a break from driving or switch with a passenger.

To help prevent getting drowsy at the wheel, be sure to stop and take a break after every 2 hours or every 100 miles of driving, get plenty of sleep (at least seven hours) before taking a long road trip and never drive during times when you’d normally be sleeping. These accidents are preventable, but it takes an educated driver to recognize the symptoms, to properly assess the situation and to make the proper moves to correct it.
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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), its 5-star safety rating system will soon have tested virtually every new make and model car on the road.

The administration began new testing last year that uses a 5-star rating system and a combined rating that reflects the overall results of a trio of safety tests. The ratings help tell how well a vehicle would protect an occupant in the event of a car accident in Chicago and elsewhere. The new rating system also looks at available crash avoidance technologies.The test ratings will be conducted 80 percent of the new 2012 model vehicles that are expected to hit U.S. roadways. Our Chicago car accident attorneys encourage consumers to pay attention to rollover risks of vehicles as well. This test is a new portion of the program and will be testing more than 90 percent of all new model vehicles.

There were 74 new model vehicles that will be put through the new, rigorous testing. The test will examine the safety features of about 42 passenger cars, more than 20 sport utility vehicles, two vans and nearly 10 pickup trucks. The new tests will also calculate a single safety rating for each vehicle which will allow consumers to narrow their search by considering the one overall score before looking into individual ratings.

Some testing has already begun. The NHTSA has already tested vehicles that have carry-over designs from the 2011 to the 2012 models. These ratings are already available to you online at www.SafeCar.gov.

“Our 5-star ratings program is a critical resource to help consumers make the best possible decisions about the cars they want to buy,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

LaHood says that this program is so important because it helps set the bar for vehicle manufacturers. Consumers should remember “More Stars — Safer Cars!”

In addition to the new overall rating, the NHTSA will also be adding “crash avoidance” to its safe car checklist. For the new model vehicles, about 68 come equipped with this technology. The technology is available as a lane departure warning (LDW) or a forward collision warning (FCW) or as both in one. Last year there were less than 50 vehicles that had this technology. Now that the NHTSA is including it in its inspection, nearly 70 vehicles come equipped. More specifically, a dozen have the LDW, nearly 20 come with the FCW and about 40 vehicles have both.

Consumers have been using the 5-star rating system for more than 30 years now. This rating has a big effect on how well a vehicle is going to sell. As the program continues to strengthen its requirements and its rating standards, vehicle designers will have to come to the table with even more features to help avoid a car accident and to keep vehicle occupants safe in the event of one.

Drivers are urged to pay attention to these types of ratings as the vehicle you drive can mean the difference between life and death in the event of an accident. Residents are urged to check out the same website to learn about recent recalls. Even after these safety ratings are completed, a vehicle can hit the recall list because of malfunctioning equipment. Stay on top of your car’s maintenance and your car’s recalls to help ensure the safety of you and your passengers on our roadways.
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A recent Illinois car accident in Effingham County took the life of a 3-year-old when the SUV she was in crashed on Interstate 57, according to The Effingham Daily News. According to the County Coroner, the little girl was pronounced dead at the scene just an hour after it happened.

The accident happened at mile marker 168 when the SUV ran off the road. Once it left the roadway, it flipped a number of times and finally came to a stop in the ditch. Emergency responders reported that the little girl died from traumatic head injuries and the news article claims that she was not properly restrained in a child’s car seat.These are always tragic cases. Our Chicago child injury lawyers know the importance of properly buckling children during every single car ride. Car seats have been proven to save young lives. As a matter of fact, parents and guardians of children in Illinois are required by state law to keep children under the age of 8 properly buckled into a child restraint. If you’re caught by an officer with a child who is not buckled in properly, you could face a $75 fine, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The driver of the vehicle was transported to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. There were seven other passengers in that SUV. They were all transported to the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and it’s recently released FAQ page, traffic accidents are the number one cause of death for children who are 3-years-old and older. There were more than 1,000 children under the age of 13 who were killed in traffic accidents in 2009. Nearly 800 of these fatalities were child passengers.

To determine which seat your child should use, review the following:

-Infants and toddlers should be placed in a rear-facing car seat in back seat until they’re at least 2-years-old or until they’ve reached the seat’s height and weight requirement.

-Children who are 4- to 8-years-old should ride in a harness-equipped front-facing child seat for as long as they can until they exceed the seat’s height and weight requirements.

-Children who are over the age of 8 should be seated in a belt-positioning booster seat until they’re able to fit properly in an adult seat. Once a child is 4’9″ or at least 80 pounds, they should be moved to an adult seat with a seat belt.

Child seats are difficult for some people to use. The NHTSA reports that from 2002 to 2003 there were approximately 70 percent of children who were improperly placed in child restraints. You can visit one of Illinois’ Child Seat Inspection Locations to have a certified technician look at your car and your child’s seat to make sure that everything is properly installed. We urge all residents to properly buckle in children during every car ride. A properly used seat can mean the difference between life and death in the event of an accident.
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A Chicago woman was driving her Envoy Excel at about 25 miles per hour when suddenly the airbags deployed. Now, the woman suffers not only from a swollen arm, but also is enduring hefty bills for a rental vehicle while her SUV is being looked at to determine what happened, according to FOX Chicago.

The car’s manufacturer reported that the investigation could take a few weeks to a few months. But the driver believes the company is trying to stall, and hiding what could be another case of recalled vehicles in Illinois and elsewhere.Our Chicago car accident attorneys understand that the woman had her vehicle towed to the nearest GMC dealership so that they could get to the root of the problem. The service manager said he was instructed by corporate management not to touch the vehicle.

“We’re sitting there trying to figure out what happened. There’s no malfunction, nothing’s broken nothing hit us, we hit nothing the road was clear,” said the driver of the Envoy Excel. She also says she has owned the vehicle for six years, but after this incident she never wants to drive a GMC again.

Reports indicate that the dealership has seen this problem before, but is not authorized to release any information regarding these incidents. The Envoy Excel has been the subject of several recalls, including faulty ball bearings and malfunctioning door latches.

GMC has agreed to pay for the reimbursement of the car rental only if the incident is proven to be their fault. Until then, the Chicago woman is stuck footing the $200 a week rental bill.

Typically how it works is the registered owner of a vehicle will receive a recall notice once a manufacturer has discovered dangerous and malfunctioning issues with a vehicle. Unfortunately, sometimes vehicle owners don’t get these recall notifications in time, if ever. We have reported here before on the strides the industry has made in vehicle safety. But we have also reported how new technology can create hazards.

Sometimes those hazards involve in-car technology such as navigation and entertainment systems. And sometimes those hazards can result from vehicle defects.

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act allows the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue specific vehicle safety standards to help vehicles up to par and to keep motorists safe. These standards require vehicle manufacturers to recall vehicles that have not met federal safety standards or have been found to have safety-related defects. Since this act was enacted in 1966, the auto industry has recalled more than 400 million vehicles, nearly 50 million tires, more than 65 million pieces of motor vehicle equipment and more than 40 million child car seats.

Here are some recent major recalls:

-Suzuki Recalling Grand Vitara, XL-7 SUVs: Accelerator Cable.

-Ford Escape Recall: Seat Belt.

-Volvo Recall: Fuel Leak.

-Chrysler: Jeep Liberty
-Ford Recalls: 2001-2003 Windstar Vans.

-Nissan Recalls: 2.5 Million Units.

-Honda: Ignition Flaw.

-Subaru Recalls: 2004 Models.

-Toyota Tacoma Pickups: Fuel Leak.

You are urged to visit safecar.gov to ensure that you or your family’s vehicle has not been issued a safety recall. This website allows you to search for any recalls regarding your specific car through the make, model and year of manufacture.
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