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In a new study conducted by Transportation for America, the Chicago-Naperville-Joilet area ranked 41st most dangerous for pedestrians out of 51 cities studied. The top five most dangerous areas for walking were Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Memphis. The fact that Orlando is number one is probably no surprise to anyone who has been there. Even though there are tons of tourists walking around many areas around hotels do not even have sidewalks so people are forced to walk on the side of the road.

The Illinois Department of Transportation reports that in 2008, 52 pedestrians were killed and 3,225 were injured in Chicago pedestrian accidents. As Personal Injury attorneys in Chicago, Zneimer & Zneimer can testify from experience that auto against pedestrian accidents almost always produce injuries to the pedestrian. We also see many of the same types of accidents over and over again. One of the most common pedestrian accidents in Chicago is where a left turning vehicle plows into a pedestrian in the crosswalk of the street that the driver is turning on to. Drivers are probably looking for on coming cars and forget to look for pedestrians.

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Two Lane Tech High School students were injured on Wednesday outside of Lane Tech High School in Chicago when 61 year old man lost control of his car and crashed into the side of a sandwich shop at the intersection of Addison and Western Ave. Lane Tech has an open campus and there were a number of students walking around the area. A huge crash was felt inside Hero’s Sandwich Shop. Both girls had been crossing West Addison Street when they were struck. Police said that one girl suffered a broken ankle and was treated for minor injuries. It was not determined why the drive lost control of his car.

Lane Tech has many students crossing Western Ave. and Addison Ave. in Chicago during school hours. Its important that drivers drive slowly and watch out for students who cross in the middle of the block. The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Zneimer & Zneimer have handled cases for injured students and injured bicyclist injured right outside of Lane Tech so we know from experience that this is a dangerous area and drivers need to exercise caution when driving in this area.

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As of January 1st, 2011, Illinois drivers face tough penalties for crowding and tailgating a bicyclist. A driver who seriously hurts a bicyclist could face two to five years in prison and fines up to $25,000.00. As a Chicago personal injury attorney and an avid bicyclist, I appreciate how dangerous it is to bike in the city of Chicago, even without motorists tailgating and driving too close to bikers. The summer of 2010 also brought biker horror stories of drivers in a rage intentionally driving close to bikers and in some cases intentionally ramming them. The new law is a first step in protecting bikers. What is really needed however are separate bike lanes for bicyclists that motorists cannot drive in like they have in cities like Portland, Oregon. I have seen even police cars drive in the bike lanes that Chicago has painted along side the road, along with taxi cabs and every other motor vehicle, creating many opportunities for collisions with bicyclists. When there is a collision between a bicyclist and a motorist, it is never a real contest, the bicyclist always loses.

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Beginning January 1, 2011, a driver found guilty of driving 40 mph or faster over the speed limit in Illinois will no longer qualify for court supervision, which keeps moving violations off a driver’s driving record. The maximum penalty for driving 40 mph or more over the speed limit is up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The toughest penalty for going at least 30 mph over the speed limit is six months in jail and a $500 fine. As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I know from experience that speed causes injuries and sometimes kills. The law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. has handled numerous cases for individuals injured by persons driving in excess of the speed limit, especially on residential streets. For too long in the Chicago area speeding has not been taken as seriously as it should be, given the injuries and deaths that speeding has been responsible for. A Chicago Tribune study of state police tickets, license data and court records demonstrated that Chicago area judges gave supervision to about two-thirds of drivers who were driving over 100 mph. Senate President John Cullerton D-Chicago who sponsored the new law specifically cited the Chicago Tribune’s article as inspiration for the tougher law.

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A hit-and-run driver cut through a gas station on Chicago’s south side on Monday to avoid a traffic light when he hit a pedestrian and fled according to WGN news. The pedestrian accident occurred in the 6200 block of South California at about 10:15 pm. The hit-and-run vehicle was a red SUV with a roof rack and it was headed north bound.

As personal injury attorneys in Chicago, the law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has noted that this type of accident is common in Chicago, unfortunately. It is all too common for drivers to cut through gas stations, putting pedestrians who are either walking in the gas station lot or on the side walks adjacent to the gas station at risk. Chicago police should do more to end this practice. One idea is to stake out gas stations where this activity is common on certain days so offenders know the police are cracking down on this dangerous and stupid behavior.

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As personal injury attorneys in Chicago, concentrating in representing victims of serious car crashes, we are surprised by the results of a AAA study which found that one in eight car accidents where someone went to the hospital was caused by a sleepy driver. The study also found that sixteen percent of car accidents resulting in a wrongful death were caused by sleepy drivers. The AAA study was conducted for a ten year period ending in 2008.

Sleepy drivers, according to medical professionals, have impaired judgment and reflexes. Many experts compare driving while sleepy to the effects of driving while under the influence.

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In a consolidated case that involved six drivers that drove cars that were insured by Founders Insurance or Safeway Insurance, the issue was whether Founders and Safeway should pay for injuries caused by a driver that drove the car without a license. Founders and Safeway argued that they did not have to pay because their policy excluded drivers who do not have a drivers license. Five of the drivers had no license, while the sixth driver had a suspended license.

The Founders insurance policy had several exclusions to its liability coverage. One of the exclusion stated that coverage does not apply “to bodily injury or property damage arising out of the use by any person of a vehicle without a reasonable belief that the person is entitled to do so.” Founders argued that a person without a drivers license or a person with a suspended drivers license cannot have a reasonable belief that they are entitled to use the vehicle.

The Safeway insurance policy had a similar exclusion. The policy excluded any person “operating an automobile without a reasonable belief that he or she is entitled to do so.”

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According to bicyclinginfo.org 716 people in the USA were killed and 52,000 suffered personal injuries in collisions involving a bike against a motor vehicle in 2008. The website bicyclesafe.com identified common situations that cause personal injuries to bicyclists. The most common ones our Chicago personal injury firm has encountered are:

The left cross

This is a common Chicago bicycle accident ,especially at the 6 corner intersections. Bicyclists do not register for some motorists in Chicago, and the motorist will proceed to make their left turn at an intersection directly into the path of a bicyclist. Perhaps this is because they are only looking for other motor vehicles and forget about the fact that bicyclists are also using the roadways. The way to avoid this accident is to enter intersections slowly and to never assume that the left turning motorist sees you on your bike. It is also a good idea to try to make eye contact with any driver ready to make a left turn to determine if the driver sees you or not. The Chicago personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. has handled of number of these cases and from experience it appears that most of these accidents happen at high congestion intersections like Western & Diversey in Chicago or at Western and Logan Blvd. in Chicago.

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A study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated sending text messages while driving led to accidents that killed approximately 16,000 people from 2001 to 2007. The same study concluded that deaths because of “distracted driving” surged from 4,572 in 2005 to 5,870 in 2008. With more people texting all the time, distracted driving is becoming a bigger safety hazard.

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When a person suffers injuries as a result of a slip and fall on negligently maintained property, it is important to establish who is responsible to maintain the property that caused the slip and fall.

In the recent decision Gilmore v. Powers, the Illinois Appellate Court determined that homeowners are not responsible for injuries on public property abutting their house, even if the homeowners maintained the property by cutting grass, watering, spreading salt on the property. The plaintiff in this case was a mover that was helping the property owners move their belongings from California to their home in Evanston, Illinois. As the moving company was finishing its work, one of the movers fell on a stone walkway which straddled the city-owned parkway in front of defendants’ house.

The mover sued the homeowners for negligence claiming that the homeowners should have maintained “their property” in a condition that was safe for people such as herself. The mover specifically asserted that the homeowners violated this duty by failing to inspect “their property” for hazardous conditions, permitting the walkway to remain in a dangerous condition, failing to fix the walkway after becoming aware of its dangerous condition, and failing to properly maintain the walkway on the property.

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