Chicago Car Accident Lawyer Blog

The basic elements of road safety have remained remarkably similar for a century: follow all signs and signals, drive at a reasonable speed for conditions, ensure proper restraint of children, do not drive impaired, etc.

But with technical development also comes changes in how we think about vehicle safety. For example, seatbelts were much less used (and installed) in the past than they are today. Air bags were certainly not included in the first cars that were manufactured.

One of the latest developments in the automotive industry that will affect how we travel on the nations’ roads is the electric car. Concerns over the use of gasoline have made electric cars a booming market—the wave is about to build even more as automobile manufacturers are making a large push to encourage consumers to buy the new cars. In fact, the National Fire Protection Association projects that more than a million of these vehicles will be on the road in five years, by 2015. With the expected surge in use, it is important to understand the possible hazards posed by these vehicles when they become involved in auto accidents.

Specifically, while traditional cars often pose fire risks following crashes because of gasoline spillage, these new non-gas vehicles will present electric shock problems. WMAQ TV reports that Chicago firefighters are already being trained on the ways to handle these vehicles when responding to car emergencies. Firefighters must be trained in the proper way to disengage electrical power systems to alleviate the risk of shock after a crash.

Also, the high-strength steel used in many of these new vehicles cannot be cut open with traditional saws. Even then, with a several hundred volt charges surging through the car, an ill-places cut in the metal could shock the responder. Therefore, if attempting to rescue a passenger trapped in a car, firefighters must be trained on the exact location to cut to get through the metal.

The Chicago Fire commissioner noted, “Every year they are coming out with something new. Firefighters have to stay on top of new technologies to save civilian’s lives, but it can also save ours.”

Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti applaud our city’s emergency personnel who save lives every day following tragic vehicle accidents on our roadways. We also urge all Chicagoans to understand the unique risks that new vehicles may pose and take appropriate steps to guard against the dangers.

Accidents on our roadways occur in a myriad of forms, at different times of the day, caused by various errors, and occurring between many different types of vehicles. The most damaging accident in terms of both physical injury and property destruction typically involves crashes where there is a clear size difference between the two moving objects. That damage is compounded as the speed of the crash increases. It is for that reason that truck accidents are particularly harmful. Also, for the same reason, damage skyrockets when smaller vehicles like motorcycles or bicycles are involved.

A recent bicycle accident struck on the north side of the city late on Sunday night that took the life of the bike rider. The Indiana Gazette reported on the tragic accident. Around 9:15p.m. that night, Christopher Hippchens was on his bicycle heading home from Soldier Field where he worked as a cook. He traveled about three miles north, around the 5200 block of North Sheridan and began trying to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Unfortunately, while trying to make the crossing, Hippchens was struck by a fast-moving vehicle. Emergency personnel pronounced Hippchens dead at the scene.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti encourage all users of the roadways—whether in cars, trucks, bikes, or pedestrians—to take extreme care when traveling near other fast moving vehicles. Our city is filled with bike riders who use many of our roadways as their primary means of travel. Because of the size difference and exposure of the individual rider, the risk of injury is drastically increased when a bike rider is involved in a road accident. It takes only a split-second mistake to cause lifelong damage. If you have suffered at the hands of another driver who has made the mistake, please contact a Chicago accident attorney to learn about your rights.

The posts on this blog discuss car accidents, particularly in the Chicagoland area, analyzetheir causes, recommend practices to ensure road safety, and advise victims on their legal rights following those crashes. Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti have decades of experience advising families after terrible accidents. Those crashes are quite often the result of negligent drivers who fail to take basic precautions to ensure safety on the road.

With all of the analysis of bad drivers, it is often easy to forget that the roadways are also filled with millions of Americans who diligently drive with care and caution. Severe accidents always cause intense pain and suffering. But at times, those accidents also bring out the very best in everyday citizens who attempt to help others in the wake of the tragedy.

Chicago Breaking News recently reported on one such situation following a tragic car accident yesterday on the south side of the city. Shortly before 7pm last night in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood, a young woman and two young children were driving east on 130th Street. Witnesses say that the car abruptly veered off the road, crossed the median, and smashed into a pole.

Several people who saw the accident stopped their own vehicles and rushed the scene to provide help. When they reached the car they saw flames beginning to build underneath the car. In an amazing act of bravery, four men reached into the wreckage and managed to pull the two children out of their car seats and into safety. One man was injured in the effort. Unfortunately, they were unable to pull the female driver out of the car before it was engulfed in flames. She died in the accident. The two children were flown to a nearby hospital where they remain in serious condition.

The cause of the accident remains unclear. But there is no doubt that the men who rushed to the scene and saved the lives of two young children deserve immense praise for their selfless sacrifice. Even with repeated examples of negligent driving, it is important to remember the many drivers among us who are willing to stop at a moment’s notice and lend a helping hand.

A southern Illinois man died yesterday following a motorcycle accident in Greene County, southwest of Springfield. As reported by KSDK News, the man was driving his motorcycle in the Illinois Route 108 around 3p.m. when the accident occurred.

The victim was driving behind a tractor on the two-lane roadway. He attempted to pass the slower moving farm vehicle and entered into the left hand lane before speeding forward. However, just as he was attempting to drive past, the tractor made a left hand turn into a farming area near the road. The motorcyclist was unable to stop in time, ultimately slamming into the front side of the tractor. The impact sent the driver flying off the motorcycle. Unfortunately, he was not wearing a helmet. He was pronounced dead at the scene by arriving emergency personnel. The driver of the tractor was uninjured.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti send sincere condolences to the victims of this accident. Our years of legal work have repeatedly shown the consequences of these car crashes—the suffering it causes is staggering. For that reason, we encourage all drivers to take every possible precaution when traveling. Simple steps like wearing safety helmets and belts and driving at safe speeds for the conditions can truly be the difference between life and death. Risk on the road can never be fully eliminated, but simple steps decrease it tremendously. With the cost of injury so high, those steps are worth taking.

Anyone who has taken a walk in or around Chicago knows that Chicagoans love their pets. Dogs of all shapes and sizes can be seen traveling on the sidewalks alongside their owners in virtually every neighborhood at all times of the day. However, a new WGN TV article mentions that the friendly animals are now frequently making their way off the sidewalks and into cars.

The results can be deadly.

It is not surprising that many dog owners travel with their animals in the car. After all, car travel is often the only way to move the pet long distances. However, what is alarming is that 21% of owners who travel with their pet admit to holding the animal on their lap while behind the wheel. A majority of owners—even those who do not drive with the dog in the driver’s seat—admit to petting the dog while moving in the vehicle.

As with any other distraction in the car, these interactions with dogs while moving at high speeds could very well lead to tragic accidents. When accidents strike both the people in the car and the animals are likely to be hurt. The risk of harm increases with animals in the car, because in many crashes they act as projectiles. A design company confirmed that a large dog, around 80lbs, exerts 2,400 pounds of force if involved in a 30mph crash.

In the end, the risk and potential harm make travelling while distracted by pets an ill-advised choice. Be sure to contact a Chicago car accident lawyer if you have been involved in any car crash with a distracted driver.

NBC Chicago reported on another deadly car accident south of Chicago yesterday on Interstate 57.

Joseph Nestor was walking southbound along I-57 near 183rd Street late in the evening with his brother. The two were walking along the shoulder of the road, but at one point Nestor accidentally veered into the left lane of the roadway. It was then that an Infinity slammed into the back of him. Obviously the impact of a highway-speed traveling vehicle and a pedestrian causes extreme physical injury. Nestor was dead when police arrived at the scene, suffering multiple injuries from the collision.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident. They are not yet sure if speeding was involved (the limit is 55 mph at that location). It is also unclear exactly how Nestor and his brother were walking along the highway. Authorities mentioned that for a pedestrian to reach that point of the road, they would have had to scale a fence. Nevertheless walking anywhere near a highway lane or shoulder should be undertaken only when absolutely necessary in emergency situations.

This marks the end of a particularly deadly weekend on I-57, with 4 deaths occurring in three separate incident s on that particular freeway. These large, well-traveled, high-speed roadways offer particular risks to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians alike. The speed of the vehicles often makes highway crashes more frequent and deadly than other accidents. It is for that reason that our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti urge particular care be taken when using these highways. It takes virtually a split-second of error to create a chain reaction of events that destroy property, cause emotional havoc, and destroy countless lives.

Car accidents can occur virtually anywhere, from parking lots to freeways. Most of the time the damage from these events occurs instantly from the physical impact on the vehicles. Protection from the physical jolt and collision is what most safety experts protect against in vehicle manufacturing. It is for that same reason that seat-belt laws swept the country, requiring all drivers and passengers to be strapped into the car to limit harm following an impact.

However, a much less common, but still deadly risk occurs following these accidents, in the moments when those involved let their guard down. Cars are complicated, heavy machinery that include countless heavy movable parts and combustible substances. When these machines are torn and smashed in an accident, the after-effects can never be fully known. Most dangerously, fuel spillage after a crash has the potential to seep far away from the initial site and ignite. The potential damage from a fire after the accident is high.

For example, the Lincoln Courier published a story today on an Illinois car accident that struck I-55 on Thursday. A twenty year old driver attempted to change from the right lane to the left while on the highway. However, she misjudged the lane change and hit the end of a trailer, bounced off a guardrail and then smashed into the truck yet again. The semi’s gas tank ruptured during the incident, spilling nearly 130 gallons of diesel fuel onto the roadway and into a creek below.

Fortunately, rescue crews, including hazardous material teams, were able to arrive on the scene quickly enough to keep all onlookers away from the dangerous location while clean-up was underway. No further injuries were reported.

The lesson to be learned from this crash and similar accidents is that the scene of any car wreck may pose many hidden dangers. As our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti know, extreme care should be taken at all time at or near these scenes to protect against lurking risks.

A young Chicago preschool student is dead and a 24 year old woman is in police custody after a deadly car accident last weekend on the north side of the city.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that shortly before 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, Leticia Medel was driving eastbound on Fullerton Avenue in her Dodge Avenger with her husband in the front seat and her two small children in the back, a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Eventually her vehicle rear-ended a Honda Civic that was stopped at a traffic light. The force of the initial crash caused the Civic to hit another vehicle in front of it before stopping against a building. After the first impact the Avenger then crossed over into the second eastbound lane, striking a Chevy Tahoe. All told, four vehicles were involved in the car accident.

Following the wreck, Medel and her husband grabbed the two children from the back of the Avenger and ran from the scene. The two children were eventually brought to nearby Children’s Memorial Hospital. Jonathan, the four year old, had suffered a lacerated liver and multiple contusions. Doctors did everything that could to save the young child, but he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m. that afternoon.

The causes of the car crash that led to Jonathan’s death are varied but all involve extreme negligence of the part of Leticia Medel. Perhaps most damaging of all, Medel was drunk at the time of the crash. She had a blood alcohol level of .151, nearly twice the legal limit. Two beer cans were also found by police inside the vehicle. On top of that, Medel was driving between 15 and 20 miles over the speed limit at the time of the impact, significantly contributing to the seriousness of the accident. Those factors combined with her failure to properly buckle-in her two young children created the tragic accident that claimed the life of the innocent 4 year old.

It is difficult to read these car accident stories and comprehend how anyone could engage in this type of extreme, reckless driving. However, the sad reality is that our roads are filled with many drivers who continually engage in conduct that places themselves, their children, and all other drivers at extreme risk. Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti encourage everyone to not only operate their own vehicles with caution but to also vigilantly monitor all other potentially negligent drivers.

An 80 year old Chicago area man was taken into police custody yesterday after a bizarre act of felony driving that led to a serious car accident involving three vehicles and resulting in severe injury to an innocent driver.

As Fox News Chicago reports, a week and a half ago, George Smith, a St. Charles resident, was driving east on Illinois Route 38 when he suddenly veered his car onto the other side of the road, directly into westbound traffic. Mr. Smith was driving a large SUV, and the vehicle collided head-on with a Volvo, which subsequently hit another smaller car.

The driver of the third car was uninjured, but the Volvo driver remained stuck in his vehicle with severe injuries following the crash. It took emergency crews using special extrication equipment to release him. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital where doctors are still treating his injuries. The intentionally reckless driver, Mr. Smith, was also injured in the car accident. He broke several vertebrae, both legs, shattered his hip, and suffered head trauma leading to bleeding on the brain.

The shocking circumstances of the car crash symbolize in the most egregious way the sad reality that even the more careful drivers are not completely safe while on the road. The decades of legal experience of our car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti have shown that often the most severe vehicle accidents involve one negligent driver who takes other innocent drivers and passengers in their wake.

Rarely will someone come upon a driver so suicidal that they are willing to drive head-on into oncoming traffic. However, virtually everyone will share the road with drivers who go too fast for conditions, become distracted while on the phone, or make risky lane changes in an effort to save a few seconds.

There is only so much care that a single driver can take to avoid deadly car accidents, because no one can control the negligent drivers around them. All it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and a risky fellow driver may cause untold destruction. If you or someone you know has been the unfortunate victim caught in the crosshairs of a negligent driver, please contact our office today to learn more about your rights.

A fatal Chicago area car crash this week took the life of woman in her 20s and left three others in very critical condition.

As reported in My Fox Chicago, the accident occurred near Antioch very early Thursday morning, around 2 am. On a country road outside of town, an SUV collided head-on with a Mitsubishi hatchback. As is virtually always the case in high-speed head-on collisions, the damage was daunting.

The female driver of the hatchback was pronounced dead on the scene and had to be extricated from the car. The driver of the SUV was ejected from the vehicle following the impact, and both of his passengers required emergency personnel assistance to be removed from the wreckage. All three survivors were airlifting to a local hospital where medical professionals continue to work to save their lives.

Experts are still piecing together the cause of the deadly collision. However, they suspect that alcohol and speed are two likely factors. The accident occurred on a curve in the road, where the speed limit lowers to 40 mph. The location of the vehicles and the outcome of the collision makes is a virtually certainty that the accident occurred at speeds well over the legal limit.

Authorities may never know for certain what caused the tragedy of this accident. However what remains clear is that all dangerous speeds on dangerous portions of roadway under the influence of alcohol is a lethal combination. All it takes is one driver willing to risk these conditions to cause a deadly accident like the one here. In fact, the tragedy of many of these accidents is that one party is often driving with perfect care and caution. They just happened to be caught in the crosshairs of a negligent fellow driver.

Nothing can be done to fully fix the damage caused by these vicious car crashes. However, the legal rights of the injured parties can still be respected and honored. That is where our car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti come in. We are committed to helping victims of these accidents receive the compensation possible to best preserve their legal benefits. Please contact our office if you have suffered at the hands of a car accident.

The Chicago Tribune reported on the end of a Chicago lawsuit connected to tragic drunk driving accident that led to the death of the driver’s passenger, another innocent driver, and the unborn child that she was carrying.

The lawsuit involved Diamond’s Gentleman Club, an adult club located in West Chicago. The drunk driver, John Homatas spent the evening at the club before leaving drunk in January 2006. Mr. Homatas was found vomiting in the bathroom of the club by bouncers. After being found, the bouncers ejected him from the club and placed him in his car. He subsequently drove the car onto Illinois Highway 25 before driving head-on into a car driven by twenty-seven year old April Simmons who was eight months pregnant at the time. Mr. Homatas’s passenger, Mrs. Simmons, and her unborn child were all killed in the accident.

The club argued that they were not at all responsible for the crash, because Mr. Homatas brought his own alcohol into the club. However, the Illinois Supreme Court disagreed in a ruling that preserved the logical right of injured victims to hold all responsible parties accountable.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti offer sincere sympathies to all the individuals whose lives were destroyed by this tragic accident.

Everyone understands the dangers of drunk driving, but many continue to risk that harm. That risk-taking ruins lives. Traveling by car involves many natural risks even when all drivers are alert. Any lowering of senses dramatically increases the risks. On top of that, all third parties (like the dance club) need to understand the role that they play in these deadly accidents. Placing an obviously intoxicated individual behind the wheel of the dangerous machine is never acceptable. Mr. Simmons lost his wife and unborn child on that tragic night. Even slightly more responsible behavior by the employees of the club might have saved those lives.

If you have similarly suffered at the hands of irresponsible conduct on the road, please contact ourcar accident lawyers today.

Chicago city officials have finally admitted that a dangerous train/road intersection is too risky to remain in place and will be improved this month. The Chicago Tribune reported on the planned changes to the crossings in the Union Pacific Railroad Corridor on Nagle Avenue between Avondale and Northwest Highway.

This particular crossing near the Kennedy Expressway is a high-volume location, presenting many opportunities for car accidents. An earlier report by the Tribune uncovered how this intersection was one of the most dangerous on all of Chicago's roads. The set-up around the road/train track crossing makes it common for cars to build up while waiting for the light in front of them to change. Many vehicles end up getting caught on the tracks, unable to move until the light changes. That means that many drivers find themselves in the predicament of hoping for a light change before a train comes down the line.

A bridge appears to be the ideal way to remove the danger from the railroad crossing. However, the current plan is simply to improve signage, add concrete panels, and a few other smaller changes in the upcoming month. The more expansive measures (like bridge building and improved electronic circuitry) are too expensive for the city.

Our Chicago car accident attorneys at Levin & Perconti encourage all drivers not to take unnecessary risks in order to save time on the road. The potential harm is simply too high to take ones chances while waiting on a live train track. As this report suggest, all across the city there are driving locations that offer particularly high chances of getting in a vehicle accident. It is not possible to eliminate risks of the road completely, but no one should increase that risk unnecessarily.