Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Winter is a time many people look forward to every year. It can be beautiful outside and cozy inside, with warm nights spent by the fire with good food and better company. However, getting to those warm nights can be a slippery slope. Snow, ice, and sleet can make for a disastrous day when it comes to driving.
Seventy percent of the roads and the population in the United States are in snowy regions and 17% of all crashes occur during winter weather. Research done by AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that almost half a million crashes and 2,000 road deaths are caused every year by poor road conditions or bad weather conditions in the United States. With scary statistics like that, it is important to take as many precautions as possible to keep yourself safe during these bad weather months. So, we’ve compiled a list of do’s and don’ts to help you avoid a serious winter car accident.
Do:
From the time they begin walking, children are in danger of being injured as pedestrians. According to some very sad statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2016, one in five children under the age of 15 killed in traffic accidents was a pedestrian. Children are less experienced with road safety, less aware of the danger that cars pose, more impulsive, and harder for drivers to see. Too many children are injured or killed every year by distracted, intoxicated, speeding, or negligent drivers. When that happens, families are left reeling, devastated by the aftermath– physical, emotional, and financial—of these tragic accidents.
Serious pedestrian accidents in Chicago and the suburbs continue to be a problem for a number of reasons: more people walking to work, an increase in traffic on the roads, and drivers failing to look out for pedestrians. Increasing cell phone usage and distracted driving are also putting pedestrians at risk. Tragically, two pedestrians in Naperville and St. Charles have been seriously injured and pedestrians in Bloomington, Morton Grove, and Chicago have died after being struck by cars recently. Municipalities need to address this problem by analyzing where and why pedestrian accidents happen and taking measures to prevent these tragedies from occurring.
Unlike the current law, where a first offense is a non-moving violation which does not affect your driving record, under the new law, you will get you a ticket for a moving violation if you are caught using a hand-held cell phone for any reason, even if it’s your first time. The ticket will have a fine of $75 for a first offense, $100 for a second offense, and $125 for a third, however, this does not include fees and costs which can make the total much higher. Receiving three tickets in a 12 month period will mean a license suspension.
for families to take it easy, it is not time for parents to relax when it comes to keeping their kids safe. In fact, the AAA Foundation refers to the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day as the “100 Deadliest Days” of summer because, on average, two teenagers die every day during these 100 days – an increase of 26% compared to other months of the year. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for these teenagers, who also have the highest crash rate for any age group.
Fatal truck wrecks across the United States are increasing at a rate almost three times that of deadly crashes overall. Among the most dangerous and deadly are rear-end truck crashes. While big trucks collide with cars in a variety of ways, experts say these types of wrecks are among the most devastating and yet perhaps the easiest to prevent with technology. Unfortunately, semi-trucks across the country are not equipped with the latest, and best, crash prevention technology.