Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

John Kerry Injured in Bicycle Accident

May 31, 2015 | By Dave Abels

Anyone can be injured in a bicycle accident when they ride in Chicago or when they ride elsewhere in Illinois. Collisions can happen due to a number of factors that often include mistakes by those involved, whether it is the mistake of a bicyclist or the mistake of the driver of a motor vehicle. Yet regardless of the factors that lead to a crash, the results can be eerily similar – serious injuries or even death may strike those cyclists or even those motorists.

When a bicycle accident happens in the Chicago area, victims may be confused about where to turn or whether they are even entitled to relief. In most cases, victims can bring a civil claim for their damages and those claims can seek monetary payment for the totality of the damages that result from the accident whether those damages take the form of medical expenses, rehabilitative care, lost wages, permanency of injuries, or even pain and suffering. To seek this relief, victims must take affirmative action and must preserve their rights within a time period specified by law. Actions by local police and state officials, like issuing a ticket or levying criminal charges, will not effectively preserve a victim’s rights or pursue that victim’s interests so if you have been hurt, you may want to speak with a personal injury attorney to ensure that you are covered.
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Commuting by Bicycle Increasing in Chicago

May 28, 2015 | By Dave Abels

There is no denying it – when compared to similar cities across the country, Chicago is considered a bicycle friendly town. Recent years have seen numerous innovations aimed at improving the safety of riding along the streets while simultaneously improving traffic flow and alleviating congestion. Many of these changes can be seen in the Loop and in the more popular surrounding neighborhoods but gems for bicyclists can be found in countless parts of the city.

Riding for pleasure is not the only type of ridership that has increased recently, though. According to the League of American Bicyclists, commuting by bicycle has increased 389 percent in Chicago between 1990 and 2013. Projections indicate that more commuters took to their bikes in 2014 as well and that this number is anticipated to keep growing.
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Car Crash on I-57 Injures 5

May 27, 2015 | By Dave Abels

It takes only one car on a road for a car accident to become a possibility. With 285,477 traffic accidents in the state of Illinois alone in 2013, that is a fact that far too many drivers and passengers learned through first-hand experience. While single car accidents happen every day in the Chicago area, multi-car crashes are even more common and pose a greater risk in many cases for causing injuries because more people are likely to be involved in those incidents. When multiple cars collide, it can be difficult for victims to determine what factors led to the impact and whether negligence or recklessness played a role.

Often, a mistake or an error on the part of a driver leads to a crash and is the reason that others are injured. When this is the case, victims may not be forced to bear the burden of their own injuries and instead may possess the right to seek financial relief against those individuals who are to blame for the crash. From an errant driver to an at-fault owner of a vehicle, relief may be possible and may enable victims to get the payment they need to cover medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Those unsure of their options may want to speak with a personal injury lawyer in Chicago to learn about their rights and whether they have a valid claim following an accident.
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Second Story Porch Collapses in Evanston, Injures Multiple People

May 26, 2015 | By Dave Abels

Memorial Day weekend is treated as a three-day weekend for many workers in the Chicago area which provides them with an extra day in which to commemorate the holiday. A significant portion of the city’s population chooses to do so by gathering with friends and family, spending time outdoors, and maybe even barbecuing if the weather is nice. As Memorial Day marks the unofficial start to summer in the minds of many, summertime activities tend to predominate these celebrations.

Unfortunately, every year, several people in the Chicago area are injured in accidents around the Memorial Day weekend and some of those people are forced to seek medical help as a result. Expenses can accumulate quickly if you become an injury victim and other losses, like wages missed when you are unable to work, can add to the financial hardship you may endure. While these incidents cannot be undone once they occur, the laws in Chicago are designed to help victims by guaranteeing them protections and certain rights should those victims choose to take action. Among those rights is the ability to seek and obtain financial compensation if you are injured due to negligence or reckless conduct so that you can receive the money you need to help you move forward after an accident. When in doubt or confused about your rights, speaking with a personal injury attorney can help you realize what options may be available to you and whether you have a valid claim for your damages.
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Child Killed in Car Accident on I-94

May 25, 2015 | By Dave Abels

Nothing is more tragic than when a child is killed in an accident. The suffering that stems from those incidents reaches not only the child’s immediate family but also aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and classmates, to name a few. Often, an entire community feels the devastating loss that occurs when a young person is seriously injured or is killed and no amount of action against those responsible can ease the pain.

The laws in the Chicago area and in Illinois understand that the last thing families should have to worry about is how they will move forward financially when such an accident occurs. If the harm is caused when a child is involved in a car crash, the parents or guardians of that child may be able to seek compensation for the child personally and for additional expenses that are incurred depending on the facts surrounding a particular collision. Speaking with a personal injury attorney may help you understand the options that exist for you if your child was injured or killed in an accident and if you have questions about what relief may be possible.
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DUI Enforcement Planned for Memorial Day Weekend

May 22, 2015 | By Dave Abels

Memorial Day is a national holiday dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives while serving in the American armed forces. Unofficially, Memorial Day also marks the beginning of the summer season in much of the Midwest, including Chicago, and is a time that tens of thousands of people choose to take to the roads and travel with friends and family. Many people have a long weekend to celebrate the holiday and they will opt to do so in a variety of ways, but if you plan on using alcohol during your celebrations, several departments of local police want to remind you to refrain from driving after you have been drinking.

Everywhere in the State of Illinois, it is a crime to drive while under the influence of alcohol, yet drivers do so every day and they risk their own safety and the safety of others while they are impaired. Traditionally, Memorial Day has a large incident of drunk driving accidents and incidents that affect the lives of victims for weeks, months, or years after the crash happens and also causes harm to those in the victims’ lives leading police officers to initiate steps to reduce such collisions.
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Failure to Yield Causes Fatal Bicycle Accident

May 20, 2015 | By Dave Abels

In recent decades, Chicago has morphed into a metropolitan area that caters to bicyclists both in the downtown Loop and in many of the surrounding neighborhoods of the city. As cycling has increased in popularity, officials have taken affirmative steps to increase the safety of riders and to keep motorists safe as well. Implements like shared bicycle lanes, bicycle-only lanes, protected bike lanes, and bicycle-specific traffic signals are some of the changes that residents have seen recently and some changes that people can continue to anticipate in the coming years.

Despite these steps taken at the local and state level and despite the increased awareness and presence of bicyclists, bike accidents continue to happen in Chicago and across Illinois. Though there are countless reasons for these collisions, the predominate factor continues to be driver error or negligence. Those in automobiles or on bicycles who fail to notice cyclists or respect their rights to ride continue to create hazardous situations that lead to collisions and often, as a result, injuries or even death of the rider involved.
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2 Killed in Calumet City Car Crash

May 19, 2015 | By Dave Abels

As the school year comes to a close in the Chicago area, thousands of teens are beginning to celebrate the start of summer and all it has to offer. Some of those teens are set to graduate from high school which means they are wrapping up their studies and preparing to move on in the weeks or months to come. A popular way to mark this transition in a number of schools is through prom which can enable students to have one last gathering with all their friends before each embarks down his or her own path.

Annually, prom-related car accidents happen in the United States and many of them cause injuries or even death to the teens and others involved. In some cases, an accident of that nature occurs in the greater Chicago area and can cause devastation to the families of the victims involved as well as distressing other students at a school, faculty, friends and neighbors.
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Alcohol Suspected in Aurora Car Accident

May 18, 2015 | By Dave Abels

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 10,322 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving accidents in 2012 alone and that these deaths accounted for 31 percent of all traffic-related fatalities. Additionally, 20 percent of all children ages 0 to 14 years old who were killed in collisions were involved in alcohol-related incidents and that more than half of those were in the same vehicle as an impaired or drunk driver.

The results of drunk driving accidents cannot be understated: these collisions cause injuries, death, and substantial financial toll in every state and major city in the country, including Chicago. Perhaps most disturbingly is that these accidents need never happen and therefore all the destruction they cause is both preventable and avoidable if motorists follow local laws and abstain from drinking and driving. Yet despite these risks and despite these consequences, millions of drivers self-report operating while under the influence of alcohol on a repeated basis.
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Failed Attempt to Pass Causes Fiery Chicago Car Crash

May 14, 2015 | By Dave Abels

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 32,719 people were killed in traffic accidents in the United States in 2013 alone. By far, the greatest toll we pay as a society in car crashes is the loss of life and the injuries sustained to the victims involved but many people fail to realize that, though these are the greatest costs, they are not the only harm done.

Additionally, car accidents were estimated to cost this nation almost $1 trillion in lost productivity in the workforce and at home combined with the loss of life experienced due to collisions. Additional damages can be experienced in the form of damage done to vehicles and other inanimate objects, scarring and permanency of injuries, and loss of a normal life or the ability to engage in activities to the same extent as a victim did before an accident. Some damages are easy to quantify but others are difficult or impossible; for these reasons, it may be wise to consult with a personal injury attorney if you have been hurt in Chicago and you have questions about your rights to relief or the value of your case.
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