Six people were critically injured in a car crash Saturday night at the intersection of Ashland and Lake in Chicago. A Chevy Impala and a Dodge Durango collided at the intersection, sending the Durango into an "L" support base.
Four people from the crash were taken to John H. Stroger Hospital and two people were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. All were in critical condition.
Two children were critically injured in a car crash Sunday morning outside of the Art Institute in Downtown Chicago. The crash involved two vehicles, one being an SUV.
The children were taken to Children's Memorial Hospital.
A south side of Chicago car crash killed two people at the intersection of 87th and Michigan Avenue. The car crash took place at 4:15 AM early Sunday morning.
This was one of a number of fatal car crashes that took place in Chicago in the early hours of Sunday morning. People should be extra careful driving in the early hours and be watchful of other drivers coming from bars and parties where alcohol may have been consumed.
One person was killed and two persons were critically injured in a South Side of Chicago car crash. The car crash took place at the intersection of 111th and Western Avenue at 3:20 AM early Sunday morning.
This crash was just one of a number of fatal crashes that took place in Chicago early Sunday morning.
Sergio Correa, 35, was driving northbound on Milwaukee Avenue near Devon Avenue in Chicago when his vehicle was struck from behind by a vehicle being driven by a woman who appeared to be drunk. The auto crash took place at 2:57 AM Sunday morning.
Both drivers were taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where Mr. Correa was pronounced dead. The apparently drunk woman's injuries were not life-threatening.
A speeding Chicago driver crashed into parked cars near Midway Airport on Saturday critically injuring all three occupants in his car. Edger Figueroa, the driver of the car, was cited for failure to reduce speed and for operating an uninsured vehicle. Figueroa and his passengers were hospitalized.
A driver of an automobile that blew a stop sign and smashed into another vehicle, killing a mother and her two children had two previous DUI's on her record dating from 2001 and 2002.
Ann Marie Getz is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol when she crashed into a car being driven by Amanda Jahn. The crash caused the Jahn vehicle to roll several times in a field. Amanda Jahn and her two children, Kaitlyn, age 11 months and Ryan, age 3, died in the crash.
Ann Marie Getz, of Streator, Illinois, is charged with four counts of aggravated DUI and is now in Grundy County Jail with a $1 million bond.
Two cars crashed at the intersection of North Avenue and Wells Street in Chicago Wednesday morning sending one vehicle into the Starbucks coffee shop on the corner of the intersection.
No one inside the Starbucks was injured but a plate glass window was shattered.
The drivers of both vehicles were taken to Northwestern Hospital in stable condition.
A recent State Farm study found that teen auto accidents spike in October. State Farm found that claims for teen drivers go up 20% in October. Larry Williams, a State Farm agent in Chicago, speculates that the auto accidents are a result of the days getting shorter and darkness coming faster. Also he notes that the roads are slicker with weather changing.
A new study shows that the wide spread use of child safety seats and safety belts and the practice of putting children in the back seat has resulted in an 18 percent reduction in overall fatalities among children ages 0-12 since 1996. The findings were reported in the National Safety Council's Journal of Safety Research.
Chicago City Council unanimously passed a proposed ban on sending text messages while driving in Chicago. Violators could face a $75 fine. The fine would increase to $200 if the violations occur at the time of a traffic accident.
Researchers from the Transport Research Laboratory report that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis.
Drivers reaction time slowed 35% when they were writing or reading text messages while driving. In comparison, reaction time slowed by 21% for those smoking cannabis and 12% for those at the legal limit of alcohol the study found. The study also found that steering control worsened 91% for texters compared with 35% for cannabis smokers.
Chicago Alderman Edward Burke is proposing a $75.00 fine for texting while driving in the city. Despite the obvious dangers inherent in texting while driving, currently only five states ban it: Alaska, Washington, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
Chicago Alderman are considering passing a law prohibiting drivers from text messaging or surfing the internet while driving on Chicago streets. The proposal is backed by Mayor Richard Daley.
A woman was killed in Dolton, Illinois near the Bishop Ford Freeway in a trucking accident when her car was struck by a Mack Truck.
The woman, Zina Kidd, was attempting to make a left turn when her vehicle was struck. The driver of the truck was given a ticket for failure to reduce speed to avoid another vehicle.
In his new book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do" Tom Vanderbilt uncovered a lot of surprising information by digging into driving studies. For example:
- Drivers honk less on weekends.
- Pedestrians on cell phones take longer to cross the street, and look at traffic less often
- More people are killed legally in crosswalks than jaywalking.
- Half of all traffic fatalities happen at impact speeds of less than 35 mph.
- 350 people die every year entering the freeway the wrong way; at least 50 are killed by cars in driveways
- "Children at Play" signs do not reduce speed or accidents
- Car drivers drive closer to helmeted cyclists (and further from cyclists who appear to be
women).
Northwestern Memorial Hospital emergency room in Chicago sees about one pedestrian accident victim a day because they or someone else was walking and texting at the same time according to Dr. James Adams, the hospital's chair of emergency medicine.
Distracted texters fall down stairs, run into objects, and it is not unheard of for bicycle riders and rollerbladers to end up in the emergency room after crashing while texting.
Facial injuries are common since a texter is typically using both hands to text and is less likely to break his or her fall with their hands according to Dr. Adams.
Source: Monifa Thomas, Chicago Sun-Times, July 28, 2008
