Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog

Two different drivers were charged in two different accidents taking place in the same part of the Edens Expressway early on Thanksgiving. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, an Evanston man was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after he swerved into oncoming traffic at around 3:30 a.m., forcing another driver to swerve into a ditch. Both were hospitalized and not believed to be seriously injured.

Just an hour and a half later, a Chicago man fell asleep at the wheel and hit a parked vehicle belonging to an Illinois State Police trooper. Fortunately, nobody was killed, but the driver was cited for failure to yield and improper lane usage, as well as failure to drive cautiously around an emergency vehicle. The last citation stems from Scott’s Law, also known as the “move over law,” which requires drivers to slow down, change lanes if possible and drive with caution when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights on. The maximum penalty for breaking this law is a $10,000 fine and loss of a driver’s license for up to two years.

These drivers may not feel lucky, but considering what could have happened in both cases, I think they’re lucky. A DUI constitutes major legal trouble, but if this driver had killed someone, he would have had to live the rest of his life with that fact. And even if authorities chose not to charge him with vehicular homicide, the driver would still be liable in an Illinois drunk driving lawsuit brought by the victim’s family.

The man who fell asleep at the wheel may not have been legally impaired, but unfortunately, the results of driving while sleepy can be just as tragic as the results of impaired driving. In fact, a 2006 study showed that sleepy driving quadruples a driver’s chances of being in an accident. Even if this man was just coming home from work, or at the end of a long road trip to see family on Thanksgiving, a crash could have been just as deadly and left him just as vulnerable to a vehicular homicide charge or a Chicago car accident lawsuit.

If you’ve been seriously injured, lost a loved one or believe your insurance company is cheating you after a serious car accident, the Illinois auto accident lawyers at Abels & Annes can help. Contact us today to learn more about your rights and your legal options.

In Chicago, Illinois a multiple vehicle car accident shut down a major expressway on Monday, according to CBS News. The car crash was on the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and it was reportedly caused by icy conditions. The accident involved at least 10 vehicles and it backed up traffic for miles. It occurred in the area of Gary Avenue near Hanover Park in the eastbound lanes, and the delay was so bad that many vehicles turned around into the westbound lanes. Three motorists were injured in the accident, non of them life-threatening.

The weather caused many crashes on several expressways in the Chicago area. On the Edens there were rollover crashes and vehicles sliding off the highway. IDOT reported that salt spreading on the highways was less effective than usual due to the extreme cold weather.

There has been several days of hazardous driving lately in the Chicago area. On Sunday it was icy, extremely cold, and high winds made it very difficult for drivers to keep their vehicles under control.

It has been a rough month of weather in Chicago. It's only December, and I am already hearing people saying they have had enough winter and are ready for spring. It could be a long winter, so bundle up and drive safely.

If you have been injured in auto accident in the Chicago area, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

Two older women from Chicago were killed and two others injured in an accident that authorities attribute to snowy conditions on the road. According to the Elgin Courier-News, the women were driving south when their car slid on the pavement and landed in the path of northbound traffic, where it was hit by a semi truck. The truck driver was not injured, but two of the women in the car, both 70, were killed. Two others were hospitalized in critical or serious condition in Rockford.

Unfortunately, this sort of tragedy is a common outcome of an accident between an ordinary passenger car and a large truck (a semi, tractor-trailer or 18-wheeler). Trucks are many times the size and weight of a passenger vehicle. In an accident, simple physics means their greater weight brings greater force to the collision. Their bumpers also tend to be so much higher that cars’ bumpers can’t do their job -- absorbing some of the shock of the impact. Rather, trucks’ bumpers are very frequently at the same level as the torsos, necks or heads of the people in the cars.

This can be disastrous for the occupants of the smaller vehicle, who are frequently killed or very seriously injured in accidents with trucks. According to the federal Department of Transportation, only 6% of fatalities in multi-vehicle trucking accidents in 2007 were the deaths of people inside the trucks. That’s true regardless of who was at fault for the accident. Statistically, truck drivers are much safer drivers than average, but when they do make mistakes, the consequences for the victims are very serious.

In this case, the facts suggest that the crash truly was an accident. But in cases where a truck driver’s bad decisions caused or contributed to a serious crash, victims have the right to hold the trucker -- and any trucking company at fault -- legally and financially responsible for the results. That includes hospital bills and other medical costs, any funeral costs, missed work and other expenses, as well as compensation for a wrongful death or permanent disability. To learn more from our Chicago truck accident attorneys, please contact us online as soon as possible.

Police are investigating a Naperville crash that took the life of a five-year-old boy in November. According to the Daily Herald, the child’s father was driving south when a tire blew out on his car. The father pulled into the curb lane and turned on his hazard lights, but another motorist going in the same direction didn’t see the vehicle. The second motorist hit their parked car with such force that the child was trapped in the back seat. Everyone involved went to the hospital; both adults were treated and released. The report said authorities were still investigating the cause.

This is a good example of how serious a rear-end accident can be. Most people think “rear-ender” is synonymous with “minor accident,” but as a Chicago auto accident attorney, I’ve handled many cases where a rear-end accident turned out to be quite serious. In November, I wrote about one client of ours who was diagnosed with a herniated cervical disc in his neck after a rear-end accident at a stoplight. Many other rear-end accidents end up causing soft tissue injuries to the victims’ necks, with substantial chronic pain.

If you were involved in this type of accident through no fault of your own, you have a legal right to hold the at-fault person responsible. An Illinois car accident lawsuit can hold a careless driver responsible for a wrongful death or permanent disability and cover all of the medical bills, repair costs and other bills caused by the crash. If you’re interested in learning more about your legal rights as an accident victim, please contact my firm, Abels & Annes P.C., for a free consultation.

Chicago saw three accidents with fire trucks in as many days in November, according to NBC Chicago. In a Nov. 8 accident, a woman drove her car into the side of a fire truck at around 10 a.m.; she told authorities that she couldn’t tell where the siren was coming from, although a spokesman for the Fire Department said other traffic at the intersection was stopped. On Nov. 6, another woman failed to yield to a fire truck, causing the truck to hit her car and then a building.

In the third accident, on Nov. 7, a man ran a stop sign into the path of a fire truck. The impact pushed the man’s car into a pole and two parked cars. The man was not badly hurt, but has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Fortunately, only one firefighter was hurt in the three accidents, on Nov. 6; firefighters even stopped and gave first aid to the man who ran the stop sign.

As a Chicago auto accident lawyer, I have worked with many clients who needed help from emergency medical technicians right after their accidents. Sometimes, that help has made the difference for them -- but time is important. You can help by pulling to the side of the road for emergency vehicles whenever possible, or staying put when you’re stopped at an intersection with two-way traffic, even when you have a green light. That said, I also know that emergency vehicles sometimes fail to use their lights and sirens when they should. When that's the case, innocent drivers who hapen to be nearby can be hurt.

Our firm has had a Chicago auto accident case where our client was hit by a fire truck that was on an emergency call where the firefighter failed to activate lights and sirens. The plaintiff was riding as a passenger and was badly injured when the fire truck ran a red light. The defendant municipality initially denied the claim, but there were independent witnesses to the accident, and we were eventually able to prevail for our client.

If you’ve been involved in an auto accident in the Chicagoland area and would like to discuss your legal options with an experienced Illinois car crash attorney, please contact Abels & Annes as soon as possible.