Illinois Truck Accident Lawyer Blog

Holiday weekends can easily be a time in which many more car and trucking accidents than usual may occur. According to The Chicagoist, one of the main reasons for this is the huge increase in traffic, especially during this holiday weekend because it is the first three day weekend of the summer and many people are taking road trips out of the city. In Chicago this weekend, there is added congestion because the President is in town and a great deal of construction is going on since the weather is warming up. It is important for all drivers to remember that there will likely be an increase in traffic and plan accordingly, and to be extra cautious and alert to avoid any accidents on your holiday weekend.

In addition, a recent study shows that Chicago is home to three of the top ten worst bottlenecks, including the actual top two worst. A bottleneck is an area of highway where the lanes get smaller and this inevitably causes a huge amount of traffic congestion and back up. This leads to a great deal of truck congestion in the Chicago area and can lend itself to a higher amount of trucking crashes. The number one worst bottleneck in the country is the junction between the Eisenhower Expressway and the Dan Ryan Expressway in downtown Chicago. To read more about the bottleneck problems and other congestions problems that can lead to higher number of car and trucking accidents, please click here.

These congestion issues can make Chicago driving more prone to accidents even at times other than holiday weekends. Chicago accident attorneys ask you to please make sure to always allow yourself plenty of time to get to your destination and never to rush or drive unsafely to try to get somewhere on time.

A trucking accident that occurred on May 22nd has left one young woman dead. The accident occurred when a semi-truck driver attempted to make an illegal u-turn and struck a passenger car. The truck driver has been cited for making the unsafe and illegal u-turn and may face additional charges in connection with the fatal trucking accident once more investigation has been conducted. According to The Quad-City Times, the victim was the front seat passenger in the car that was struck by the semi-truck, which was then rear ended by another car. The driver of both the passenger car and the second passenger car, as well as the backseat passenger of the original car were fine and only suffered minor personal injuries. The truck driver that was responsible for the fatal accident has been linked to previous accidents in which he was driving in an unsafe manor. To read more about this tragic trucking accident, please click on this link.

Illinois accident attorneys remind truckers and trucking companies the importance of always being alert and driving safely and obeying the laws of the road. Even minor accidents with semi-trucks can have devastating results, so it is important to always make sure to be driving as safely as possible. Trucking companies can be sued when their drivers are involved in accidents, so trucking companies need to ensure that their truckers understand the importance of taking all safety measures and being extra cautious while driving trucks. Being a little more aware and cautious while on the road can make all the difference in saving a life!

Recently, federal laws have gone into effect limiting the number of hours that truck drivers can be on the road consecutively. The goal of these new laws is to try to make the trucking industry safer for the drivers and other people on the road, by reducing the amount of overtired and fatigued drivers and hopefully reducing the overall number of trucking accidents that occur every year. These new regulations place certain restrictions on the number of hours a truck driver can drive at a time, and depend on the type of vehicle, on how many consecutive hours and days the driver has worked, and require a certain number of hours to be taken in the sleeper berth. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, these new regulations were determined after in-depth studies and analysis to help ensure that the new laws would improve trucking safety as much as possible. To read more about these hours of service federal laws to help reduce the number of trucking crashes, please click on this link.

The American Transportation Research Institute was recently hired to conduct a study to see how effective these new hours of service trucking rules were and if they were actually resulting in a reduction in trucking crashes. The recent study used data from 2003 and 2004 to see if any significant changes were present compared to the recent accident statistics. The study looked at both the overall number of accidents, as well as in what hour of driving the accidents occurred. The study indicated that the overall collision rate had decreased close to twelve percent and that preventable accident rate had decreased over thirty percent. This study seems to show that the new hours of service rules are making strides in making the trucking industry safer and that these new federal laws are successful in what they are aiming to do.

A tragic accident that occurred earlier this year and left a six-year-old Edwardsville girl dead, has been ruled an accident. The accident occurred when a pickup truck was pulling out of a driveway and backed up over the young girl as she rode her bike near her home. The young girl did not die immediately following the accident, but died shortly after in a local hospital. According to The Chicago Tribune, the investigation into the tragic trucking crash has been closed, after a coroner’s jury ruled the death an accident. The driver of the truck has not yet and is not expected to face any criminal charges. It is unknown at this point whether the family of the victim will file civil charges against the driver. If you would like to read more about this terrible trucking accident, please click on this link.

Even though this specific accident was determined to be an accident, it shows us what can happen when a driver fails to pay enough attention to the road or fails to be extra cautious when driving in a neighborhood with children. Chicago injury attorneys want to remind readers of the importance of always looking around and being aware when driving. Small children are not going to be as cautious as adults and may dart out into the street to retrieve a ball or toy, so it is always worth taking the extra few seconds to look around especially when you are driving in an area which has small children around.

A Chicago trucking accident that occurred earlier this morning resulted in the personal injuries of two people. This Chicago accident occurred on the Eisenhower Expressway, in the east bound lanes of the I-290, and while it is not currently known what caused the accident, it is known that four cars and a truck were all involved in this accident. According to The Chicago Sun Times, of the two people that suffered injuries, one is in serious but stable condition and the other person is listed in good condition. To read more about this Chicago trucking accident, please click on this link.

Chicago accident attorneys want to remind all drivers, of both cars and trucks, of the importance of always being alert and aware to your surroundings when driving. Always try to keep the distractions to a minimum and always allow plenty of distance between your car and other cars when driving, in order to allow yourself reaction time in the event of a sudden slow down in traffic. This tip is especially important when traveling on highways, because the faster the speed that you are traveling the longer it will take you to slow your vehicle down in the event that you need to slow down suddenly. Staying aware of what is going on around you while driving and always injuring that you have adequate space from the cars around you is a great way to help avoid car and trucking accidents. Taking a few simple steps every time you get behind the wheel can make all the difference in staying out of car accidents, so please stay alert and aware at all times!

The truck involved in a tragic trucking accident that occurred in March of this year and resulted in the death of the driver and of 10 other people was found to have had no electronic recorder on board at the time the tragic trucking accident occurred. According to The Courier Journal, the reason this is significant is because these recorders are a way of determining how long a driver was on the road, letting investigators know if a violation occurred. This driver kept a handwritten log which was unfortunately destroyed in the fatal accident. To read more about this tragic trucking accident, please click on this link. Electronic recorders are not required but there is a big push for them to help regulate and control truck and driver safety, because they create a better way to ensure that drivers do not go over the required amount of hours that the law sets out as safe. According to Trucking Info, a new requirement was just recently enacted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Commission which will require that trucking companies who have been found to be in violation of the hour requirement at least ten percent of the time will be required to install electronic monitoring systems. Chicago accident attorneys remind trucking companies that this law will not go into effect until June 1, 2012 allowing the nearly 5,700 trucking companies that are affected to comply with this new law. The goal behind this new law is to increase safety by making it much more difficult for trucking companies that may lie about or be unclear about their driver’s hours to do this. An electronic recording system, as opposed to a handwritten system is much more precise and does not leave room for driver or trucking companies to change their actual hours.

A fatal truck crash occurred near Chicago earlier this week and tragically killed a 21 year old married man who had a young daughter. At this point the cause of the accident is still under investigation, however it appears that the car that crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer never tried to stop. Both cars were moving at the time of the accident but the passenger car was moving at a much faster speed when the accident occurred. According to My Fox Chicago, the accident occurred when the passenger car drove into the back of the truck which resulted in the death of the driver instantly. While it is unknown why the driver never stepped on the brakes, it is believed that he was distracted from something at the time of the crash. The evidence shows that he was not on his cell phone at the time of the crash, because it was found in his pocket following the accident. It is a possibility but still unknown if there may have been a medical condition or issue that caused the driver to be unable to stop the car to avoid the fatal accident. To read more about this fatal trucking accident, please click on this link.

Illinois accident attorneys want to remind drivers the importance of staying focused while driving and to make sure to keep the distractions away and always keep your attention on the road. This can be done by making sure never to use your cell phone to search for numbers, send texts, read texts or do anything else that will take your attention off the road.

A truck crash where a truck driver slid out of his lane and crashed into 22 cars that were waiting at the Chicago Skyway Toll Plaza was found to be the result of the driver falling asleep at the wheel. According to My Fox Chicago, toxicology tests revealed that the driver tested positive for having cocaine in his system at the time the trucking accident occurred. To read more about this trucking accident, please click on this link.

After reading this report, we felt it was necessary to address the issue of substance abuse among truck drivers. A recent study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration suggests that some truck drivers depend on drugs to help them stay awake and cope with the stress of the long trips on their own. Many trucking companies are beginning to take steps to combat this problem by requiring drivers to submit to drug-testing before getting behind the wheel.

Unfortunately, not all trucking companies have drug-testing currently in place. The company that employed the driver involved in the previously mentioned crash is one of the 120 Illinois trucking companies that have been found to fail to conduct these required drug tests. In addition to the 120 that fail to comply with mandatory drug testing for truck drivers, 55 other trucking companies failed to test new drivers before sending them out onto the road. A study which looked at 120,000 large trucking crashed between 2001-2003, identified about 3,000 crashes caused by truckers using illegal drugs and about 1,000 caused by truckers who had been drinking when the trucking accident occurred. Our Chicago accident attorneys hope that more companies in Illinois and throughout the country will take steps to implement mandatory drug-testing for drivers. These tests will help to protect the lives of truckers and passenger-vehicle drivers alike.

An Illinois teen was killed in a trucking accident that occurred on Illinois Route 48 on May 6. The Taylorville girl was driving when she went off the road, crossed the center line and crashed into a semi-truck that was traveling the other direction. According to The Herald Review, the Illinois accident occurred early in the morning and a third car was involved as well. The only person that suffered any personal injuries was the young teen who unfortunately had too severe of injuries to recover and died as a result of the accident. If you would like to read more about this tragic Sangamon County trucking accident, please click on this hyperlink.

While it is unknown at this point exactly what caused the teenage driver to lose control of her vehicle, teenage drivers often tend to be more involved in car accidents than older and more experienced drivers. One main reason for teenagers being involved in more accidents is that they are younger and less experienced than older drivers and often lack the ability to judge situations on the road in order to avoid accidents. Additionally, younger drivers tend to be more likely to allow distractions to get the best of them while on the road. This can include talking to friends while driving, listening to and changing the radio, texting while behind the wheel, talking on the phone while driving, as well as other distractions that can take the young drivers focus away from where it needs to be, on the road at all times. The combination of the lack of experience and the many possible distractions that teenage drivers face are the leading causes of the higher rate of teenage accidents.

Recently, many have wondered if the structure in which trucking drivers are paid encourages them to drive beyond the amount of hours that is safe and could actually be responsible for more trucking accidents. The way truck drivers are paid is by mile as opposed to by how long they are working, which leads drivers to often times drive more miles and longer hours than what may be safe for them to be driving. Additionally, drivers are not paid for the as many as 30-40 hours per week that it takes to load and unload their trucks. According to The Rolla Daily News, many people within trucking organizations and truck drivers feel that a change in the structure of paying trucking drivers would not only be more fair to the drivers but would also increase overall safety within the entire trucking industry. However, on the opposite side of the debate from the people that feel that truckers should be paid for the hours they work, many say that if truckers are not paid for miles driven it could encourage drivers to lose the incentive to get a lot of miles in and instead cause them to relax possibly too much on the job. So while there are two sides to this issue, it is pretty apparent that something likely needs to be done to increase safety among trucking drivers. There are new hour limits being put into place to try to encourage safe driving, but since these restrictions are pretty new it is still hard to tell how successful they will be in increasing safety and reducing truck crashes. If you would like to read more about the issues facing truck drivers and the way in which they are paid, please click on this link.

A trucking accident that occurred in March of this year in which eleven people were killed has been connected with the truck driver using his cell phone. The truck driver that was one of the people killed in the trucking accident was driving over the speed limit and did not have his truck in control and crossed the median and struck a van going in the opposite direction. According to Google, the report created during the accident investigation says that the truck driver was using his cell phone at the time of the accident and that this distraction is partially what caused the fatal accident. The report does not specify if the driver was using the phone at the exact moment of the crash but it is known that he was at least using it right before he crossed the median. To read more about this fatal trucking accident, please click on this hyperlink.

Cell phone usage has proven to be a very dangerous distraction to drivers and it is important to be aware of just how distracting phones can be while on the road. Many states have made it illegal to talk on the phone while driving unless you are using some type of hands-free system and recently many states are also making it illegal to send or read text messages while driving. The city of Chicago currently has banned talking on cell phones while driving as well as texting while driving. This is an important step to take in cutting down on the number of unnecessary traffic accidents caused by distracted drivers.

A trucking accident lawsuit has been filed by a truck driver following an accident that he was involved in. The plaintiff claims that the trucking company negligently allowed a truck to be driven that had a defective wheel, because the wheel detached from the back of the tractor-trailer he was driving and then hit the front of the truck. The Illinois accident occurred on Illinois Route 127 in Bond County back in 2008. The driver and his wife filed the lawsuit seeking damages for medical bills as well as pain and suffering damages. The lawsuit is against the trucking company for failing to properly inspect the truck before allowing it to be used by their employees. According to The St. Clair Record, the trucking crash lawsuit seeks over $600,000 in monetary damages.

Trucking companies are often held liable when their truckers get into car accidents. Even if the truck itself has defective parts, the trucking company that employs a driver that gets into an accident may face a lawsuit for failing to properly inspect and perform the proper safety tests on the trucks they have for their drivers to use. Trucking companies need to not only insure that their drivers receive proper safety training and follow certain safety precautions, but also need to insure that the trucks they are using are safe and okay to be driven under the conditions that these trucks are often forced to undergo. To read more about this Bond Country trucking accident lawsuit and the trucking accident itself, please click on this link.

An Illinois trucking accident occurred on May 3rd when a semi-truck crashed on the highway. The trucking accident occurred on I-55 near Springfield, Illinois and the Illinois State Police were required to close down all but one southbound lanes while the truck’s load was cleaned up from the road. Luckily, the truck was not carrying hazardous materials so the accident spill was not as dangerous as it could have be been. According to The Pantagraph, the accident did not leave anyone with any serious personal injuries and no one had to be taken to the hospital following the Springfield area trucking accident.

Trucking accidents are often more disruptive that other types of car accidents because of the load that the truck is carrying. When trucking are carrying hazardous materials and get into a trucking accident it can be extremely dangerous if those materials spill. In situations where hazardous or other dangerous materials are spilled, the hazardous materials (Haz-Mat) team will be called in to clean up the spill immediately because of the danger that is created when hazardous materials are unintentionally released. Even when dangerous materials are not spilled in a trucking accident any spill can hold up the traffic. In this accident the spill has of aluminum coils, and while these were not dangerous they blocked the highway and required the highway to be almost entirely closed while the spill was cleaned up. To read more about this Illinois trucking accident and the road closure caused by this accident, please click on this hyperlink.

Given all the construction that is done during the warmer summer months, it is important for drivers to be aware of all the workers present and to obey all posted signs that are intended to keep the workers and the drivers as safe as possible. According to Trucker News, there are certain tips for truckers and trucking companies to keep workers safe as well as save the company time, money, and help to avoid trucking accidents. One trucking company loss prevention director says that for their company they teach this safety in initial training, in refresher courses, and have signs and newsletters and other reminder handouts to help keep the truckers aware of the importance of construction zone safety and how to best insure this safety.

One big safety issue for truckers is to make sure to keep the speed at the construction zone speed limit. These limits are posted and are lower than the usual speed limit in the area and our intended to keep the area safer for workers. Speed is the biggest safety issue for truckers in construction zones and if truckers would obey the construction speed limits many accidents could be avoided. Additionally, truckers need to lookout for signage, workers and equipment. Being in a truck it can be hard to see all of this, so drivers need to make it a point to be constantly looking around and watching out for construction equipment. Another tip for drivers is to plan driving times to stay out of known construction areas during the prime time they are being worked on. This can be done by choosing to drive through that area during off peak hours. Following these simple tips can safe lives and avoid fatal accidents. Please click on this link for more information on how truckers can avoid construction accidents.