Two people were killed and at least 10 others injured in separate weekend Chicago car accidents.
The fatal accident posted originally posted early Monday on our Chicago Car Accident Lawyers blog has claimed another life and led to criminal charges against the driver.
A 27-year-old driver of an Oldsmobile Alero was killed after being broadsided by a Chevy Malibu at the intersection of 75th and State streets shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday. An 87-year-old passenger in the Malibu also was killed.
The Chicago bicycle accident attorneys at Abels & Annes have successfully recovered $27,500 in damages from State Farm insurance on behalf of a client who suffered a leg laceration and hand injury in a Chicago bicycle accident.
The case also included $2,445.98 in negotiated reductions of medical bills at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and a $142.40 reduction in medical bills from Wellington Radiology. After reductions, clients medical bills totaled just under $6,500.
The accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. on Nov. 29,2007 when 21-year-old client was riding his bike southbound in the bike lane on Clybourn Avenue; a 30-year-old Chicago woman in a 2007 Ford Escape opened her car door into his path.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for the driver responsible for a north side hit-and-run Chicago car accident on Nov. 1.
The parents of the young waitress who was killed at Lincoln and Cullom avenues announced the reward, according to WGN9News. She was walking home from her nearby bartending job when she was struck by a vehicle that did not stop, according to police.
Surveillance video from Bowman’s Bar and Grill may have captured the vehicle seconds before the accident that killed Rachel Gilliam, WGN9News reported.
A total of 11,773 of the nation’s 37,261 traffic fatalities were caused by drunk drivers, according to a comprehensive look at drunk driving released in time for the holiday driving season by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Chicago drunk driving accident lawyers and the personal injury and wrongful death attorneys at Abels & Annes encourage everyone to do their part in preventing drunk driving accidents as we head into the heart of the holiday season.
In Illinois, of the 1,043 people killed in traffic accidents, one in three (362) were legally drunk and one in four (252) had a blood alcohol level of almost twice the legal limit (.15) or higher.
While drunk driving deaths decreased nearly 10 percent from the 13,041 deaths recorded in 2007, the new statistics are startling confirmation that one-third of all traffic deaths are the direct result of drunk driving.
The statistics represent an average of one drunk driving death every 45 minutes.
Included in the deaths were 692 non-occupant fatalities, which usually means a bicyclist or pedestrian death.
Over 70 percent of drunk driving fatalities occurred at night and 55 percent occurred during the weekend.
One in every 7 drivers killed in a drunk driving accident were under the age of 21 (and thus not even old enough to drink). One-third of drivers ages 25 to 34 who were killed in fatal accidents were intoxicated. One in four drivers 35 to 44 who were killed were intoxicated.
In recent months, the Chicago Car Accident Lawyer Blog at Abels & Annes has reported on the dangers of nighttime driving, the increasing number of women arrested for DUI, and a report that found 1 in 7 weekend nighttime drivers tested positive for alcohol or drugs.
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A driver, reportedly attempting to get out of the way of an early Monday morning police chase, was involved in a Chicago car accident that sent both the driver and the passenger to the hospital with serious injuries.
The high-speed police chase began about 1:45 a.m. when police heard gunshots and gave chase to a fleeing vehicle, according to The Chicago Breaking News Center.
A vehicle trying to get out of the way of the chase crashed into a viaduct at 5100 S. Princeton Avenue. While police called the crash an unrelated incident, an officer on the scene said the crash was connected to the chase, according to the media report.
Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for children ages 3 to 14 years old, according to 2008 crash statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some of the most tragic and difficult cases handled by the Chicago car accident attorneys and the personal injury lawyers at Abels & Annes involve the serious injury or death of a child in a car accident.
In 2008, 1,347 young passengers were killed in traffic accidents nationwide and 193,000 were injured. Every day, an average of 4 children under the age of 14 are killed and 529 injured in traffic accidents.
Illinois ranked 6th in the nation for the highest number of children killed in automobile accidents. Texas (154), California (142), Florida (73), Georgia (65) and North Carolina (45) were the five deadliest states.
Nationwide, alcohol was involved in 16 percent of the fatal crashes — about half of those occurred when a child passenger of a drunk driver was killed.
A total of 270 children were killed in pedestrian accidents and another 13,000 were injured. About half of these child pedestrian fatalities occurred between 4 and 8 p.m.
Eighty-one children were killed in bicycle accidents and another 52,000 were injured.
The report concluded that child-safety seats reduced the risk of fatal injury to infants by 71 percent and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.
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The city’s budget crunch is putting the brakes on the metro area’s planned network of 330 red-light cameras aimed at reducing Chicago car accidents.
Many car accidents occur at intersections or are caused by drivers violating traffic laws. The Chicago injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys at Abels & Annes have been following this issue as more and more cases nationwide attempt to introduce camera evidence in courtroom proceedings.
Earlier this summer we posted a report by the Daily Herald questioning whether some of the cameras were going up to reduce accidents or maximize ticket revenue.
The city collected almost $38 million and issued more than half a million tickets for traffic infractions caught on the intersection cameras in the first eight months of the year, according to The Sun-Times.
Annual tickets and revenue increased from $4.7 million and 109,441 tickets during the first year of the program in 2004 to $44.8 million and 579,560 tickets last year.
But Mayor Daley’s 2010 budget includes no additional money for cameras after adding 50 cameras to intersections this year, which brings the citywide total to 189.
Instead, the Chicago Department of Transportation plans to take 20 existing cameras from their current locations and move them to other intersections, where they believe the cameras would positively impact traffic safety, according to The Sun-Times report.
The 50 cameras installed this year cost $2.8 million and $50,000 each per year to maintain and support, according to city budget figures.
“It’s a cost-saving measure. We’re reducing our capital outlay,” said Peter Scales, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Budget and Management.
Scales said the city is comfortable with moving cameras from identified intersections, citing a 60 percent drop in red-light violations since the cameras were installed.
Cost of a ticket for running a light caught on camera is $100, though some city officials have suggested increasing that to $125. Motorists caught on camera get the ticket in the mail, along with a digital photograph of the violation. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court shot down the “innocent owner’s defense,” an argument that an owner was held responsible for the violation of someone else who might have been driving the car.
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A new federal report concerning the use of hand-held devices behind the wheel found a 25 to 50 percent increase in fatal accidents caused by distracted drivers over the last five years, even as the number of fatal traffic accidents has declined nationwide.
The Chicago car accident lawyers and the personal injury attorneys at Abels & Annes often represent clients who have been injured by distracted drivers.
In 2008, the federal government estimates 1 in every 6 fatal accidents was caused by a distracted driver — 5,870 people were killed and more than half a million injured.
A major push in the fight against distracted driving has been to ban the use of cell phones and text messaging by drivers. Earlier this month, Abels & Annes’ Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog reported President Obama announced a ban on text messaging by all federal employees.
This summer, Illinois passed a law that takes effect Jan. 1, making it illegal for drivers to text message and prohibiting the use of cell phones in school and construction zones.
“Every single time someone takes their eyes or their focus off the road – even for just a few seconds – they put their lives and the lives of others in danger,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Distracted driving is unsafe, irresponsible and in a split second, its consequences can be devastating.”
On any given day in 2008, the federal government estimates more than 800,000 vehicles are driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.
Other driving behaviors that lead to distracted driving accidents include eating, drinking, talking to passengers, radios and the use of other in-car technologies and portable devices, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Researchers noted the actual number of serious and fatal accidents caused by distracted driving could be much higher because of the lack of uniform reporting and the challenges associated with identifying distracted driving as a cause of an accident.
But the report concluded instances of crashes caused by distracted driving are on the rise even as the overall traffic fatality rate has declined in recent years. In 2004, 4,409 of the 38,444 fatal crashes were attributed to distracted drivers (11 percent) while 2008 figures show 5,331 distracted-driving fatalities of the nation’s 34,017 fatal crashes (16 percent).
Those figures represent a 50 percent increase in the overall percentage of fatal distracted-driving accidents and an increase of roughly 25 percent in overall number of distracted driving accidents.
Among the other findings of the study:
-Distracted driving was reported as a cause in 16 percent of all fatal accidents.
-1 in 5 injury accidents was caused by a distracted driver.
-Drivers under age 20 has the greatest proportion of distracted drivers.
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Doctors delivered a newborn boy after a pregnant woman was killed in a Chicago car accident on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old woman died when two vehicles collided and one of the vehicle careened into her and three other pedestrians on the city’s West Side, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The West Cortez Street Woman was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The newborn infant is listed in extremely critical condition, according to the hospital.
Police continue to look for a vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run Chicago car accident.
The 36-year-old West Cullerton Street woman died Tuesday after being hit by a car on South Halsted Street, according to The Sun-Times. The car left the scene and the woman was struck again by a Chicago Transit Authority bus.
Authorities report the woman was struck by the car while crossing the street shortly after 5 p.m. The force of the impact propelled her into the path of a northbound CTA bus.
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