40 percent of Illinois traffic fatalities occur as a result of Chicago car accidents

Five counties in and around Chicago were responsible for almost half of Illinois traffic fatalities last year, according to the 2008 Illinois Crash Facts and Statistics data released by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The Chicago car accident attorneys and injury lawyers at Abels & Annes are publishing a series of blogs taking a look at the new comprehensive traffic data here and on our sister site, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer blog.

Last year, 569 people were killed and 78,509 people were injured in urban Illinois car accidents, compared to 474 killed and 15,512 injured in rural accidents. Abels & Annes previously reported there were 408 Chicago car accident fatalities in the five-county area in 2008, accounting for 70 percent of the state’s urban accidents and about 40 percent of the 1,043 traffic fatalities that occurred statewide in 2008.

The most common type of injury crash was rear-end collisions, which caused 25,817 injuries statewide in 2008, followed by “turning accidents,” the state’s second-most-common injury accident with 17,650 injuries.

The most fatal crashes occurred in a collision with a fixed object (283), followed by pedestrian fatalities (129), head-on collisions (105) and overturned vehicles (104).

10 Most common Illinois accidents:

Rear-end collision: 115,713 Turning: 60,399 Fixed object: 48,914 Parked: 48,507 Angle: 41,723 Sideswipe same direction: 35,366 Animal: 25,271 Vehicle overturned: 5,816 Pedestrian: 5,671 Sideswipe opposite direction: 5,492
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a Chicago car accident, contact Abels & Annes for a free and confidential appointment to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS. There is no fee unless you win.

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