Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Even in the middle of winter, Chicago accident attorneys at Abels & Annes receive phone calls about collisions involving bicyclists. More and more area residents are riding bicycles, and motorists often fail to keep a proper lookout for them. Just this morning I was behind a vehicle in traffic that changed lanes without looking, cutting off the path of the bicyclist. If not for a quick turn by the bike rider, there could have been a serious collision.

The City of Chicago continues to try to prevent these accidents. In a recent announcement, the Chicago Department of Transportation notified residents that the Chicago Bicycle Program installed and painted new stripes on nearly 40 miles of on-street bicycle facilities in the city in 2011. This is a giant victory for the city, and for bicyclists, considering only about 10 miles of lanes were completed in 2010.

The Chicago Bike Program continues to work diligently to make our city safer for bicyclists and to reduce the risks of bicycle accidents in Chicago. If you remember, Mayor Emanuel made a promise as he took office to complete 100 miles of safe bike routes to help increase safety in Chicago. He's still carrying out that plan and bicyclists across the city thank him!

“Mayor Emanuel’s commitment to making Chicago a pioneer in bikeway design and implementation has fueled these remarkable achievements,” said Commissioner Gabe Klein Chicago Department of Transportation.

We also have to recognize that the fight against these types of accidents is far from over. But the City does seem to be making progress. In 2011, CDOT was able complete installation and restriping of more about 40 miles of on-street bicycle areas through more than 50 different safety projects in more than 30 wards in the city. Now that we're in 2012, the city is striving for even bigger accomplishments.

Chicago Bicycling Safety Achievements in 2011:

-More than 15 miles of brand new bicycle lanes.

-Nearly 10 miles of restriping.

-Nearly 10 miles of newly-marked shared lanes.

-About 2 miles of protected bicycle lanes.

-A new mile of buffered bicycle lanes.

-One mile of restriped shared bicycle lanes.

There were a lot of firsts for the Bike Program in 2011, too. These firsts included the first bicycle-friendly intersection designs, the first bike boxes, the first buffered bicycle lane and the first protected bicycle lane. The Department was also able to install the city's very first on-street bicycle parking corral. This is the corral in Wicker Park.

Some of the most important achievements in 2011 included the completion of Kinzie Street, 18th Street and Jackson Boulevard bikeway infrastructure projects.

On the Kinzie Street infrastructure, bicycle riding has increased because riders reportedly feel safer along this roadway now. What counts as a double win is the fact that this new design hasn't hindered vehicular travel.

Mayor Emanuel is still committed to fulfilling his promise of installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes during his term as the city's mayor. To make it better, plans for 2012 have already begun.

2012 Safe Biking Plans:

-Install protected bike lanes along Elston Avenue.

-Install protected bike lanes along the west side boulevards.

-New bikeways within a half a mile of every Chicago resident by 2015.

Continue reading " CDOT Still Working to Achieve Goals to Reduce Risks of Bicycle Accidents in Chicago " »

Another child has suffered some serious injuries in Chicago because of a falling TV, according to NBC Chicago.

A large, box-style television set reportedly fell off of a bookshelf and onto a 2-year-old girl. Local police say that the accident happened around 3 p.m. at the little girl's home on South Union Street in Aurora. The child was transported to Rush-Copley Medical Center. It has not yet been determined how the television fell off the shelf.

Our Chicago premises liability understand that there have been an overwhelming number of reports of TVs falling on children in the area in recent years.

Back in November, a 3-year-old was killed after a television fell on her in Hamilton Park. In October, a 6-year-old boy was killed after his television fell on his head. Just last month, a 4-year-old was killed. A 1-year-old and a 2-year-old were also killed earlier this month in similar tip-over situations.

These reports are causing some serious concern nationwide, too. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports there were nearly 250 deaths resulting from tip-over accidents from 2000 to 2010. All of these accident reports involved children under the age of 9. About 90 percent of these cases involved children who were under the age of 6. In nearly 60 percent of these reports, children were crushed by the weight of an appliance, a television or some kind of furniture. Nearly 70 percent of these fatalities were the result of injuries to the head.

The problem gets even worse. Approximately 22,000 children under the age of 9 were sent to emergency rooms from 2008 to 2010 because of injuries sustained in a tip-over accident. Again, a majority of these injuries were sustained to the victim's head.

"Children like to climb on furniture. Placing TVs on furniture not intended for them or having furniture that is not secured can have tragic consequences," said Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.

Tenenbaum would like to remind parents that these types of accidents can be easily prevented with a few low-cost steps, like anchoring down heavy devices, televisions, dressers, etc.

More Tips to Help Prevent Tip-Over Accidents:

-Anchor furniture to the floor or to the wall.

-Always put television sets on low, sturdy bases.

-Anchor your television to the furniture it's on and then anchor that furniture to the wall or the floor.

-Push your furniture and television as close to the wall as possible.

-Keep toys, remote controls and other items children may be tempted to play with away from TV stands and other dangerous furniture.

-Remove all cable cords and electrical cords from a child's reach.

-Always supervise children in rooms with these items.

-Be sure to equip your stoves and ranges with anti-tip brackets.

Continue reading " Illinois Tip-Over Accident Injures Child " »

A 27-year-old man has been arrested on charges of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI after authorities say his action caused a deadly Chicago Transit Authority crash this month.

It was the second such accident to happen in a single week.

Chicago personal injury lawyers are aware that CTA buses average one accident every single day, according to records kept by the Federal Transit Administration.

While not all of these instances result in injury or death, it is a risk riders take every time they get on a city train or bus. And a risk motorists and pedestrians take whenever they are traveling in close proximity to these large buses.

According to The Associated Press, the incident involving the 27-year-old happened early Sunday morning on the city's South Side. Police say the CTA bus was heading southbound, while a vehicle heading north bound crossed over into the bus lane and hit it. The driver's 31-year-old passenger was killed.

A number of passengers were on the bus as well, though all of them refused medical treatment, and none were taken to the hospital.

The AP reported that in addition to the homicide and DUI charges the driver faces, he was also cited for speeding, failing to stay in his lane and not having a license or insurance.

Another incident unfolded Thursday when a car was struck by a train on the CTA's Blue Line.

Mass delays were reported when a car jumped a retaining wall on the Eisenhower Expressway on the West Side. The newspaper reported the car rammed into a retaining wall, landed on the tracks and was struck by a train. It took crews more than three hours to repair the damage and get the tracks back in working order once again.

According to the Chicago Tribune, there had been 30 passengers on the train at the time of the accident Thursday, and seven had to be transported to the hospital.

The driver of the car was able to get out before the train hit, but two passengers who had been inside were not able to escape. They were also transported to the hospital for treatment, though it does not appear their injuries were life-threatening.

It may seem that incidents such as these are rare. But in fact, the FTA has determined that Chicago's public transportation system has some serious safety flaws. Fox Chicago News has reported that our public bus systems have more crashes than any of the nine other largest public bus systems in the nation. In fact, there is at least one crash every single day involving CTA buses.

In 2010, CTA officials said they were not happy with those numbers, and vowed to change them. They said they would focus on training their drivers, specifically on defensive driving techniques.

It's unclear whether the department has followed through with that strategy, but what is obvious is that these type of accidents continue to occur.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the CTA is the second-largest public transportation system in the country, and covers more than 40 suburbs. On any given day during the week, the CTA picks up nearly 2 million riders, and there are more than 2,000 buses that operate on more than 150 routes over more than 2,200 miles. That breaks down to 12,000 bus stops - and countless opportunities for injuries.

Continue reading " Chicago Transit Authority Leads Nation in Accidents and Injuries " »

In the past month there has been a series of six wrong way auto collisions in the Chicago area, ABC news is reporting. The most recent Illinois auto accident occurred on the Eisenhower Expressway.

An accident victim who survived was interviewed by ABC and said that as he was driving to work on Saturday morning inbound on Interstate 290 in the area of Austin he was faced with the situation of a van headed the wrong way towards him traveling at a high rate of speed. "I just said oh my God and I just turned my car", the motorist reported.

Three people were hurt on Lakeshore Drive near Roosevelt on February 9th after a Chicago resident operated an $80,000 Nissan sports car going the wrong direction. NBC news reported that the vehicle was traveling northbound and southbound lanes when it struck a white Toyota around 2 AM, and then careened into a van.

The woman driving the Nissan and her passenger, along with the Toyota driver, were taken by ambulance to Northwestern Hospital. Rescue personnel had to cut the roof off of the Nissan to extricate the passenger.

The sports car involved was a Nissan GT-R, which some consider a dangerous street legal race car. The vehicle has a V-6 530 hp engine that tops out at 193 m.p.h and goes from 0-60 in 3.8 seconds. The Nissan was actually just on display at the Chicago auto show.

Prior to the Lakeshore Drive accident, as we previously reported on our Chicago car accident lawyers blog, four men were killed on Interstate 80 when the driver of that vehicle headed the wrong way down the highway.

IDOT states that drivers heading the wrong direction has become a common occurrence, taking place 30 to 40 times a year on average in Illinois alone. IDOT is starting to take a look at how to reduce these accidents, considering they often cause severe or fatal injuries. Most of these crashes involve alcohol and most occur at night in urban areas.

The State currently has Wrong Way and Do Not Enter signs posted at ramps exiting and entering highways. The question now becomes whether more can be done to prevent these accidents.

Continue reading " Rash of Chicago car accidents caused by wrong way drivers " »

A young woman was struck and killed as she walked across the street in Palatine the other day during evening rush hour.

The fatal Chicago pedestrian accident happened as the woman was making her way to the train station, heading for Chicago.

The woman, Yesenia Enriquez, 24, was killed on Peder Drive, just south of Northwest Highway, when a woman in a 2001 Toyota Camry struck her. Police said Enriquez worked nearby, and was on her way home when the crash occurred, according to news reports.

This tragic case underscores the need for vigilance among Chicago motorists to watch out for the people who share our roadways.

Our Chicago personal injury lawyers have seen far too many cases of pedestrian who have died in wrecks that simply didn't need to happen. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, there were 32 pedestrians killed and more than 3,000 hurt in the city in 2010.

Between 2005 and 2009, nearly 18,000 pedestrian accidents happened in Chicago, most of them when pedestrians are in the crosswalk with a walk signal. Alarmingly, officials say there are an average of two serious hit-and-run pedestrian accidents every day. Some result in injuries, others in death.

Many Chicago residents have complained that part of the problem lies with the city and its failure to make walking simple and safe. For example, it's been alleged in certain areas that stop signs are hung too low, failing to meet the standards of federal traffic engineers. Others have said that no parking signs are sometimes placed too close to intersections, causing parked cars to block a driver's view of crosswalks and stop signs. Further, pavement markings are often worn or undetectable.

The fact that these cases are often more complicated than they appear on the surface is all the more reason for you to have an experienced personal injury attorney in your corner - someone who knows how to research all relevant factors.

The Illinois Department of Transportation indicates pedestrian accidents are a serious problem in the state, just as they are elsewhere in the country. In the U.S. in 2008, more than 4,500 pedestrians were killed and some 60,000 were injured.

This breaks down to about one pedestrian injured every 8 minutes, and one killed every two hours. Of those killed, 18 percent were over the age of 65 and 7 percent were children younger than 15.

In 48 percent of fatal pedestrian crashes, alcohol is a factor. Almost half of all pedestrian crashes happen on a Friday, and a large percentage of the fatal crashes involving child pedestrians happened between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., as school was letting out.

Another recent tragedy involving a young child has sparked calls for action on the issue of pedestrian safety. In 2006, a 4-year-old was crossing the street across from the Lincoln Park Zoo with her mother and 6-year-old brother when she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Following the crash, the intersection was repainted and reconstructed, and city officials have vowed to work toward having zero pedestrian deaths by 2020. A sagging economy has impeded those efforts, though officials with the Chicago Department of Transportation have promised to invest more than $2 million on pedestrian-friendly road improvements this year.

Continue reading " Fatal Pedestrian Accident in Chicago Highlights Risk " »

A Chicago injury lawyer at Abels & Annes has settled an auto collision claim for a defendant's auto insurance policy limits.

This claim arises out of an incident which took place on September 13, 2011 at approximately 12:02 p.m. at or near 2701 South Harlem in Berwyn, Illinois. Our client was injured when the automobile she was driving was hit by a vehicle driven by a negligent driver.

The plaintiff was driving northbound on South Harlem at approximately 25 miles per hour. The defendant driving behind her on northbound South Harlem. As she continued to drive, your insured drove too fast for conditions, failed to yield and rear-ended her.

The Berwyn Police Department responded to the scene of the collision. After speaking to both parties, the responding officer determined the other driver at fault for the collision and issued him a citation for driving too fast for conditions.

We alleged to the defendant's insurance carrier that their insured failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to stop and/or reduce his speed to avoid a collision, and failed to exercise due care for the safety of those in the area, including the Plaintiff.

Following the collision, our client had an immediate onset of back and knee pain.

She sought treatment from Rush Oak Park Hospital’s Emergency Department immediately after the collision. A history was taken, she was examined, and diagnostic tests were performed. She complained of pain in her lower back that was worse with bending as well as bilateral knee pain. On exam, she had tenderness on palpation of her right lumbar paraspinal area. She was diagnosed with lumbar spine sprain/strain, pain in her lower legs, muscle spasms in her back, and trapezius strain. She received prescriptions for pain medications and muscle relaxants and was ordered off work.

Due to ongoing and increasing pain, our client sought follow up treatment with a physician on September 15, 2011. At that time, she continued to complain of lower back pain that radiated to both of her legs. Her pain was constant and severe and it ranged from sharp to stabbing to aching. Her pain interfered with her sleeping, often waking her in the middle of the night. Her pain prevented her from engaging in activities of daily life and severely limited those activities she could engaged in. Additionally, the pain was worse with pushing and lifting heavy objects, walking, sitting, or standing for long periods of time, and bending forward.

Her doctor took a history and examined her. She had tenderness and spasms from L2-L5 bilaterally as well as difficulty squatting and while walking heel to toe. She had limited range of motion in her thoracholumbar spine because of the extreme pain she experienced. The physician diagnosed our client with lower back pain with a radicular component at L5-S1, myofacial pain syndrome, and lumbar strain and sprain.

It was noted that she had an underlying degenerative condition in her back that was asymptomatic before her injury. In his medical opinion, the automobile collision aggravated her underlying condition and necessitated treatment. The doctor instructed her to continue taking her medications, undergo a lumbar MRI, refrain from lifting and/or pushing objects heavier than 15 pounds, and remain off work.

Pursuant to doctor's orders, she underwent an MRI of her lumbar spine on September 16, 2011. The MRI revealed 3 bulging lumbar discs.

Continue reading " Illinois car accident case settled for insurance policy limits " »

As we recently reports on our Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, 9 students were hospitalized after a school bus accident in Illinois. According to the Daily Herald, the school bus crashed near Sugar Grove as it rolled over onto its side and slid into a nearby field. Come to find out, this accident may have been prevented had the busing company taken the numerous complaints that had been filed against this particular bus driver more seriously.

One of the students injured on the bus that day had previously filed a complaint about the bus driver who had a history of drowsy driving. The passengers on the school bus that day were between the ages of 4 and 20. They were heading from Sandwich to Napperville, a 30 mile journey. The bus transporting these passengers was owned by Illinois Central School Bus. The busing company agrees that the accident was caused by a drowsy driver, which they say was the first time something like this has happened, despite numerous previous complaints.

The busing company states that the driver was punished after complaints about his performance. Officials with the school said that all they could do was pass along the complaints because they were not the ones who contracted the bus company. That wasn't enough though because the driver stayed behind the wheel, endangering students.

“He started the route in September, and within days, some of us started to notice a regular pattern of him nodding off and swerving erratically,” said one complaining witness.

A teenage school bus passenger reportedly sent in a number of complaints with her grandmother. They both say that the complaints were just ignored.

On the morning before the accident, students report that the driver was falling asleep at the wheel, as had become the norm. The bus driver was allegedly woken up by the bus aide who was screaming.

One student said that she wasn't buckled in that day by a seat belt. She says that the bus driver's assistant was screaming at the sleeping bus driver. Within seconds of the yelling, the bus veered to the right and was thrown on its side. Nearby motorists pulled over to assist the young children.

According to officials with Kane County, an investigation is ongoing and information will not be released until the investigation is over. Lt. Patrick Gengler says that the department is awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

Illinois Central is conducting an internal investigation of its own.

Officials with Little Friends, Inc., who operates the two Naperville schools where the students were being taken, say that they knew about the complaints that had been filed against that particular driver and had made previous attempt to intervene but they weren't able to do much because they aren't associated with the company and were not in charge of contracting the bus for these rides.

The witness says that she is just upset that her complaints were not acknowledged. She says her concerns, as well as the concerns of the other passengers, could have helped to prevent this accident.

Continue reading " Numerous Complaints Filed Against Driver accused of Causing Bus Accident in Illinois " »

A recent school bus accident in Kane County sent nine students and a bus driver to local hospitals. The school bus was carrying a group of special-needs students through Big Rock as it flipped on its side, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to the Kane County sheriff's department, the accident happened just after 8:00 a.m. on Camp Dean Road and Granart Road as the students were being bused to Kreici Academy in Naperville. The accident forced Granart Road to be shut down for about three hours.

Our Illinois school bus accident lawyers understand that officers have yet to determine why the school bus left the roadway when the accident happened. In the area in which the accident occurred, the shoulder is narrow and slants into a ditch. Reports indicate that the driver of the bus tried to get the bus back on track, but failed to do so before the wheels went into the ditch. The bus landed on its side, but didn't roll over. Luckily, all of the children on board were wearing seat belts when the accident happened. The company that owns the bus, North American School Bus, requires all passengers to wear a seat belt.

Drivers who were passing by when the accident happened helped to get the special-needs students off of the bus after it tipped over.

Three of the students were taken to Provena Mercy Center and six were taken to Delnor Hospital.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than 20 million young children who ride the a school bus to and from school and school-related activities. School buses are also used to help children to get to athletic activities, church, camp and other youth events. Since 2000, there have been more than 371,000 fatal traffic accidents. Of these fatal accidents, nearly 1,250 were classified as school transportation-related. In these fatal school-related accidents, more than 1,385 people died. This means that an average of 139 people died each year. School-transportation vehicle occupants who were killed during this time were a part of the near 10 percent of all roadway fatalities. Nonoccupants, bicyclists and pedestrians involved with school-related vehicle accidents accounted for another 20 percent of the fatalities.

A majority of the people who were killed in these accidents were the occupants of other vehicles involved. Since 2000, there have been nearly 150 school-age pedestrians, under the age of 19, who have been killed in school transportation-related accidents. In addition to these fatalities, another 170,000 students are sent to the emergency room with a variety of injuries.

Children are asked to be courteous to the bus driver when riding to and from school on the big, yellow bus. Children are asked to keep their voices down, to remain seated and to keep objects out of the aisle. Unfortunately, even with following all of the proper safety precautions, accidents do happen. Make sure that you seek the advice of an experienced attorney if your child has been injured in a bus accident. Failure to act could your ability to collect the compensation necessary to deal with current or future medical issues.

Continue reading " School Bus Accident in Illinois Sends 9 Students to Hospital " »