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Articles Posted in Pedestrian Accidents

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Our Chicago pedestrian injury lawyers learned that a Chicago man was critically injured Saturday morning when he was struck in a pedestrian accident, while attempting 95th Street at 95th and Jeffery Boulevard on the South Side. The victim was crossing in the crosswalk when he was struck, according to the police. The man who struck the pedestrian with his vehicle stayed on the scene until the police came. The pedestrian was listed in critical condition and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

A city of Chicago study found that 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian crashes happen at intersections and involve pedestrians walking in a crosswalk. The CDOT study also found that the number one cause of pedestrians being hit by a motor vehicle is the motor vehicle fails to yield the right of way. There are over 3,000 vehicle pedestrian crashes a year in Illinois. Illinois law states that a motorist must stop, not just yield for any pedestrian who has already entered the crosswalk. Anyone living in Chicago knows that motorist rarely stop or yield for pedestrians in a crosswalk.

The Chicago law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. litigates many cases of pedestrians getting hit by motor vehicles while crossing in the crosswalk. Many of these crashes cause serious injuries such as traumatic brain injury and broken bones. The Chicago personal injury law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer will work for you to make sure that the injured plaintiff recovers the maximum compensation for their injuries.

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The city of Chicago unveiled its first ever pedestrian safety plan according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The “Zero in Ten” program would identify high risk intersections and then would implement safety changes to try to bring down pedestrian deaths down to zero. Safety changes could include “lagging” lanes for left turns which would make the cars wait for pedestrians to cross a street before a car could make its left turn. Red light cameras could also be added. Other changes include adding count down signals to intersections and increasing the amount of time to cross a street near hospitals and nursing homes.

Gabe Klein, commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation has set the goal of eliminating all pedestrian deaths. “We want to set an aggressive goal that forces us in every element of our job to look at pedestrian safety and make it everything we do….If at the end of the day, two people are killed, heaven forbid, vs. zero, I will still feel like we made huge, huge progress.”

The personal injury law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. handle many cases for injured pedestrians who were crossing in the cross walk with the light and were still injured by motorists who made left turns into them or made right on red turns into them. Even more sadly a high percentage of our case are minors going to or coming from school or going to or from a friend’s house. More needs to be done to protect pedestrians. One easy way would be to eliminate right on red turns. The law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer is currently handling cases for seriously injured pedestrians where the motorist is looking left for cars to attempt a right on red turn and never looks right to watch for pedestrians crossing from the right. When the motorist sees no cars coming from the left, he or she accelerates right into the pedestrian right in front of his or her car crossing from the right.

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Chicago pedestrian injury lawyers, Zneimer & Zneimer noted an article in the Chicago Sun-Times that reports that according to Chicago Department of Transportation, more than 3,100 pedestrians were injured in downtown Chicago since 2005. Of those, more than 400 of those or about 13 percent suffered serious injuries or fatal injuries. Strikingly, one out of every four pedestrian crashes involved a taxi cab.

According to the same article, so far this year, there have been 31 pedestrian fatalities in Chicago.

The same article also noted that in the highest crash areas in downtown Chicago, more than half of the pedestrians were hit while walking in a crosswalk with the signal. In the central business areas of Chicago nearly 28% of the crashes involved taxi drivers.

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Nikkii Bostic-Jones, 38, was struck while crossing California Avenue near 29th Street just before 11 p.m. Wednesday. According to police sources, she was hit by a navy blue van with stolen license plates and knocked into the path of a sheriff’s squad car, which pinned her underneath it.

After the occurrence, police issued an alert for the van, described as a navy blue full-size conversion van, possibly with blue and white stripes. The alert said the van may have damage to the headlights, front end, and right side.

Late Thursday afternoon, police found a van matching the description and took a 55-year-old man into custody. The man, who has a history of traffic violations, lives near the jail, a source said.

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The bill’s goal is to reduce the risk of injuries to people already involved in an accident and emergency personnel that are attending to the crash. There have been several cases where emergency personnel have been injured by careless drivers too engulfed in a phone conversation to notice an accident scene ahead of them. With this initiative the flashing lights of any kind of parked emergency vehicle will mean Illinois drivers must hang up their phones.

Whenever a careless driver causes an accident the victim should not have to pay for the damage suffered. If the driver is using a company telephone and is carrying out a business-related conversation, the driver’s employer may be vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence. It is important to know your legal rights. If you have been involved in an auto accident contact Chicago personal injury attorneys Zneimer & Zneimer P.C for a free personal injury consultation.

The legislation would make it illegal for drivers to make calls with a hand-held phone within 500 feet of an accident scene where emergency vehicles have flashing lights, except for reporting emergencies. It also bans sending picture and video messages while driving at any time. The last thing could be logical because sending messages implies drivers looking at the cell phone instead looking at the road.

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Chicago Department of Transportation proposed plans to increase pedestrian safety according to a Chicago Sun-Times article. Among the proposed changes include a reduction of the residential speed limit to 20 mph and walk signals could be 3 seconds longer. The stated goal of the Chicago Department of Transportation is to eliminate all pedestrian, bicycle and overall traffic crash fatalities within 10 years. Chicago also plans to install 300 countdown pedestrian signals at intersections this year and 100 more in 2013 in a further effort to increase pedestrian safety. The City also plans to increase the time given to pedestrians to cross by 3 seconds at 100 intersections.

These changes would be important given that 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian accidents occur at or near intersections and commonly involve people crossing with the walk signal. The personal injury law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer are currently handling many cases for pedestrians injured by drivers who failed to yield to the pedestrian in the crosswalk as the law required. However, the most common cause of injuries seem to be caused by drivers making right turns on red lights and not looking for pedestrians. The Chicago law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has recently settled a case in which the motorist who was making a right turn on red was looking left the whole time to see if cars were coming and never looked right until after she struck our client who was in the crosswalk and was crossing with the walk signal when he was hit. An easy and cheap way to make intersections safer for pedestrians would be to prohibit all right on red turns by motorists in Chicago.

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Early in February in “Children’s Safety Will Hit Your Wallet,” we brought to your attention Governor Quinn’s signing of bill S.B. 965, that allows speed enforcement cameras to be placed in Chicago within 1/8 of a mile from city schools and parks each weekday. Mayor Rahm Emanuel insists that this measure is all about improving safety around schools and parks. The Chicago Sun-Times now reports changes to the mayor’s original proposal. The mayor presented his proposed speed-camera ordinance to the City Council on Wednesday. Alderman as well as city residents are questioning whether the ordinance is really about creating a new way to get money for City Hall. Originally Mayor Emanuel said there would be speed cameras at 79 locations that already have a red light camera. The speed cameras would start recording on school days between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 9 p.m. on Friday. On Tuesday Emanuel’s aides didn’t acknowledge that there would be speed cameras placed where there currently are red light cameras. Also the hours the speed cameras would be tracking drivers was scaled back from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. speed cameras will also be up and running in park safety zones during hours when parks are open. Usually parks are open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. Emanuel insists his priority is safety, “We’re gonna make sure it achieves the goal, which is to keep our kids safe near schools and parks.” Children’s safety is important, especially when it deals with the possibility of a pedestrian accident. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an auto accident contact Chicago personal injury attorneys Zneimer & Zneimer P.C for a free personal injury consultation.

The mayor’s aides said that the speed cameras would be installed first at only “a handful” of dangerous intersections within 1/8 of a mile of schools and parks. The amount of speed cameras will slowly expand until a cap has been reached at no more than 360 locations. Drivers caught speeding between six and 10 miles an hour near schools and parks would face $50 fines and an additional $50 if the payment is late. The fine would increase to $100 for motorists caught going more than 10 mph over the limit. It’s possible drivers who speed through red lights could be hit with fines for both speeding and running a red light.

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20-year old Melissa Lech was killed by a hit and run driver in 2008. Police didn’t have leads as to the identity of the driver of the vehicle that struck and killed Melissa as she was walking on the side of the road. Melissa was returning from a night out with friends. Melissa and her friends were returning from a White-Sox game and had gone into a Joliet sports bar. Since Melissa wasn’t of age she walked home and was struck and left on the side of the road to die. Sunday morning David H. McCarthy, 27, of Naperville showed up at Michelle Lech’s Joliet home and confessed to driving the vehicle that killed Melissa Lech. Michelle Lech is Melissa Lech’s older sister. Joliet police arrested David McCarthy Sunday night. “It appeared he was expecting them,” said Joliet police Cmdr. Brian Benton. McCarthy confessed to killing Lech’s sister at her kitchen table and as he was talking Michelle Lech spoke to her husband in polish and told him to get McCarthy’s license plate number. During the years since 2008 the Lech family offered a reward for any leads and the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup to participate in efforts to find Lech’s killer. It is unfortunate that a young woman would lose her life in such manner. Although McCarthy shouldn’t be regarded as brave, it is a relief that Melissa Lech’s killer was finally caught. If you or anyone you know have been involved in a pedestrian accident contact attorneys at Zneimer & Zneimer p.c. for your free personal injury consultation.

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Drivers in Chicago are aware that there is a ban on using cell phones while operating a vehicle and now that could extend to anyone operating a bicycle. If House Bill 3849 gets approved by state lawmakers police officers across Illinois will be able to hand out tickets to anyone caught either talking or texting on their mobile device while riding a bicycle. “This addresses beyond the road, this addresses the bike path as well,” Said Representative Kelly Cassidy of Chicago. Cassidy also says this bill is the result of bicycle safety groups calling for such a law. This law would be similar to the law already enforced on Illinois motorists. There was a 5-4 vote on Wednesday, February 8th where the House Transportation Committee endorsed the texting while biking ban with a goal of reducing accidents. If you or a loved one has been involved in a bicycle accident contact expert attorneys Zneimer & Zneimer p.c. for a free personal injury consultation.

The Bill needs to be approved by the full House, the Senate, and signed by the governor to go into effect. The bill will allow bicyclists to use hands-free devices while biking. With this Bill bicyclists can easily avoid a ticket if they pull over on the side of the road or path to text or make a phone call. Opposition to this law claims there are already enough laws. It seems that even with laws already in place car accidents and bicycle accidents still occur.
Victims of bicycle accidents should know their rights. Texting impairs motorist’s ability to focus on the road and can also have the same effect on bicyclists. When motorists and bicyclists take the necessary precautions and avoid distractions such as mobile devices, while operating either a vehicle or a bicycle, accidents can be avoided.

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Earlier this week Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill allowing the City of Chicago to use cameras to catch speeding drivers near schools. The bill known as S.B. 965 will go into effect on July 1 and allows speed enforcement cameras within 1/8 of a mile, or one city block, around schools and parks between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. each weekday. The speed enforcement cameras are to be used within 1/8 of a mile around parks from one hour before the parks open to one hour after they close, which means cameras will be shut off only between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. It also allows using existing red light cameras and mobile cameras to catch speeders within 1/8 of a mile of schools and parks in Chicago.

The Expired Meter website issued a Freedom of Information request on all calls, emails and letters from the public to the governor’s office to learn about the response to the legislation. So far it has been negative; of the 224 calls, letters, and emails about the speed camera bill, an overwhelming 91 percent were opposed to it. Governor Quinn’s response was, “You may get letters, perhaps emails. You know, you study each communication, but… I’m not sure that’s a scientific sampling of all the people of Illinois, I think there are some people who are for the bill and some aren’t for it and, you know, that happens in a lot of situations.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement on Monday morning thanking Quinn.

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