Authorities are investigating two Chicago subway accidents recently involving C.T.A. Blue Line trains.
A person died October 25th in the afternoon after being hit by the Blue Line train in the loop, according to WGNtv.
Police were conducting a death investigation shortly after 1 p.m. at the Monroe Street subway station. Northbound and southbound trains temporarily operated on a singled track between Grand Avenue station and the Racine Avenue station, bypassing Monroe.
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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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.
The Chicago Daily Herald is reporting that aggravated DUI charges have been filed against a Chicago resident for his role in a deadly car accident that occurred just after 2:00 a.m. in Park Ridge, Illinois on Sunday morning. A man and a woman were killed in the Chicago area car crash. Four others were injured.
The collision happened at Oak Street and Riverside Drive, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Emergency workers rushed to the crash site and found two vehicles. One car was heavily damaged with one person inside and another vehicle was damaged and came to rest 75 feet from the intersection with 5 people inside. All six of the injured were taken by ambulance to area hospitals by the Park Ridge Fire Department and three other assisting fire departments.
The victims were a 25-year-old man from Des Plaines and a 37-year-old woman from Morton Grove, according to the Chicago Breaking News Center. Both were passengers in a Mercedes that was traveling eastbound on Oakton when it collided with a northbound Nissan that was on Riverside.
Authorities and the media are asking some tough questions after a fatal Chicago car accident last Thursday was allegedly caused by a man sentenced to six years in prison for reckless homicide in 2006 but was nevertheless out of jail and on the road with a valid license.
As reported on our Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, the Thursday car accident in Crestwood was caused after the 52-year-old driver slammed into a group of cars parked at an intersection.
Authorities reported the driver was speeding. Four people were injured in the crash and a 55-year-old father of two was killed.
A 62-year-old woman died Wednesday and 9 people were hospitalized after a van rear-ended a Chicago Transit Authority bus in a South Side Chatham neighborhood.
The Chicago bus accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon when the CTA southbound No. 4 Cottage Grove bus was stopped at 83rd Street and Cottage Grove, where it was rear-ended by the van at about 4:40 p.m., according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The woman, a van passenger, was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office reported.
A Cicero man was sentenced to 7 years in prison this week for causing a fatal Chicago car vs. bicycle accident last year while driving drunk, according to the Chicago Breaking News Center.
The 50-year-old man pleaded guilty at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood in connection with the Chicago drunk driving accident. He had been charged with one count each of aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury.
He admitted to running a red light in his van on Roosevelt Road about 8:30 p.m. on July 23, 2008, where he struck a 49-year-old woman crossing Roosevelt on her bicycle. He left her lying in the street, severely wounded with broken bones and a head injury and fled the scene because he did not have a driver’s license, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The victim, Wilma Bradford, 49, of Cicero, survived for six months in a coma before dying in January as a result of her injuries.
Police found the hit-and-run driver in the attic of his home about an hour after the crash. Blood and urine samples taken four hours after the crash showed he had cocaine in his system and a blood-alcohol content of .06, just under the legal limit of .08.
His license was suspended because at the time of the accident and he had just been convicted of misdemeanor driving under the influence, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini.
It has not been reported if the family of the victim is pursuing a civil wrongful death action against the driver.
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A Burlington High School student died Friday afternoon in a Chicago area auto accident on Randall Road near the intersection of Red Gate Road in St. Charles Township of west suburban Kane County.
A 16-year-old teen from unincorporated Elgin, was transported to Delnor Hospital in Geneva, where he was pronounced dead, according to The Chronicle.
He was northbound on Randall Road near Red Gate Road in a 2000 Toyota Camry when he hit a 2004 Lincoln Navigator almost head-on as it turned left onto Red Gate, according to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the crash.
A 35-year-old man faces numerous charges after a fatal weekend Chicago DUI accident.
The accused driver faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, reckless homicide, leaving the scene of an accident, driving without insurance and failure to stop at a red light, according to the Chicago Tribune.
ABC7 reported the victim, a 30 year old man from Chicago, died as a result of his injuries after his vehicle was struck by the defendant’s truck at about 2:30 a.m. The crash happened at West Cermak Road and South Damen Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
An alarming new federal report shows the battle against drunk driving is far from over: 1 in 10 binge drinkers got behind the wheel of an automobile the last time they drank heavily, driving away from a bar, restaurant or nightclub after downing five or more drinks and putting everyone in their path in danger.
The Chicago car accident lawyers and drunk driving accident attorneys at Abels & Annes have blogged this year –both here and on our sister site www.chicagocaraccidentlawyersblog.com –about the increase in drunk driving cases against women, the high rate of night and weekend car accidents caused by drunk drivers, and the overall dangers of drunk driving.
One out of every three fatal crashes in 2008 was alcohol related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In this latest study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 percent of 14,000 binge drinkers surveyed admitted to driving after their last bout of heavy drinking.
All had five or more drinks; half admitted to having seven or more drinks; 1 in 4 admitted to consuming at least 10 drinks before driving. The report highlighted the need to do a better job of preventing bars and restaurants from serving intoxicated patrons.
Illinois’ Dram Shop laws permit injured parties to attempt to recover damages from restaurants or bars who serve intoxicated patrons who cause serious injury or death to an innocent party. in other words, Chicago car accident victims who are injured by a drunk driver can sometimes make a claim, not only against the at-fault driver, but against the establishment that severed the alcohol.
Dr. Timothy Naimi, of the CDC’s alcohol program, attributes binge drinking to more than 11,000 deaths a year. He called Dram Shop laws “among the most disregarded laws in the country.”
“The drinking location is really important,” Naimi said. “We’re trusting these licensed establishments to serve responsibly, and more than half of the intoxicated people who drive have been drinking in these places.”
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