Chicago Accident Lawyer BlogA 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.
Articles Posted in Auto Accidents
Chicago Texting Ban Passes
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.
Texting While Driving More Dangerous Than Drugs Or Alcohol
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 Proposing Fine For Texting While Driving
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 Considers Ban on Texting While Driving
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.
Woman Dies After Car Struck By Truck In Dolton
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.
Weird Traffic Facts about Drivers, Accidents, and Driving
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
Chicago Texters Get Hit By Cars
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.