Articles Posted in Pedestrian Accidents

A new city of Chicago study shows that 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian crashes occur at intersections and mostly involve pedestrians walking where they are supposed to, in a cross walk. The study also shows the number one cause of pedestrians being hit by cars is drivers failing to yield the right-of-way. Most pedestrians are hit by turning vehicles while the pedestrians are attempting to cross the street in the crosswalk. There are about 3,000 vehicle-pedestrian crashes a year in Chicago. The pedestrian always gets the worst of such an accident and some end up with serious injuries . The Chicago injury law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer handles many cases of pedestrians being injured while in a cross walk. Many of these crashes involve serious injuries such as broken bones. Unfortunately, many drivers are only carry the minimum insurance coverage of $20,000.00 or, even worse, no insurance at all so the injured person is forced to pay his medical bills out of his own pocket if he or she does not have health insurance.

New Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein has suggested a number of ways to make streets safer for pedestrians in Chicago. He has suggested reducing the number of right on red intersections, giving pedestrians more time to cross the street, narrowing streets and reducing speed limits. Another idea he suggested is to have all directions of motorist traffic stop for 14 seconds every other cycle to allow pedestrians to cross. The goal, of course, is cut down on pedestrian injuries in Chicago and to give as much consideration to pedestrians as is given to motorists. The Chicago personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer are aware of the fact that many pedestrians are injured after being hit by drivers making a right turn on a red light because of the injured pedestrian cases we handle. The Mayor’s office plans a big pedestrian safety initiative to begin later this summer. The program will include an education outreach and intersection crash analysis to determine which intersections are most dangerous for pedestrians.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed changes in Chicago ordinances in an effort to make streets safer for pedestrians. Currently the law requires motorists to “yield” to pedestrians in a crosswalk. Mayor Emanuel proposes changing the ordinance language to require drivers to “stop” for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The goal is to make it 100 percent clear what a driver is supposed to do when a pedestrian is in a crosswalk. The Chicago injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer have handled numerous cases of persons hit and injured in crosswalks by motorists that did not yield the right-of-way. Anybody living in Chicago probably knows that motorists do not yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and any who assumes that a car will stop for them as they cross in a crosswalk risk serious injury or death. Police vehicles will not even stop for pedestrians. The only way a new ordinance can work to change motorists habits is if police enforce it and to give tickets to drivers who do not stop.

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.

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.

A man in his late teens or early 20’s was struck by a motorist early Sunday morning in the the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago.

The man had been struck by a black SUV around 4:40 a.m. while he was walking near the 2400 block of North Ridgeway Avenue in Chicago. The SUV did not stop.

As a personal injury attorney in Chicago, I have had more than one case of pedestrians being hit by motorists in vans or SUVs late at night with the van or SUV then speeding away. Walking in alleys is especially dangerous at night. Some of the hits almost seemed to be intentional in that there was no horn sounded and no attempts to stop. So it is prudent not to trust the drivers of any vehicle driving around late at night or in early morning hours in Chicago.

A new law has just passed the Illinois Senate that would require drivers to come to a complete stop if a pedestrian enters a crosswalk. The old law only required drivers to slow down or stop only when necessary. In 2007, 172 pedestrians were struck in crosswalks in Illinois prompting the Illinois state legislature to act. This is welcome news for Chicago pedestrians who are aware that no one even slows down at cross walks, not even the police. It will be interesting to see if the police actually enforce this law.

Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) is teaming up with the Chicago Police Department to implement a new nighttime pedestrian accident reduction program. This innovative effort will focus on areas of the city that have had a high number of pedestrian accidents.

Analysis of Chicago nighttime pedestrian accident data for 2005-2007 found four areas of the city with high numbers of accidents: River North, Austin, Wrigleyville, and 79th Street (Ashland to the Dan Ryan Expressway). Several factors were involved in these accidents including speeding, alcohol use, and inattentive drivers. In the Wrigleyville neighborhood, alcohol use and driver inattention were the two main factors in pedestrian accidents. These four areas of the city will be targeted in the nighttime pedestrian accident campaign.

Efforts to reduce the number of nighttime pedestrian accidents include increased speed limit enforcement, education outreach to bars, restaurants and taxi companies, and continuation of the crosswalk enforcement initiative. Undercover police officers posing as pedestrians will be making sure that motorists yield to pedestrians in crosswalks as required by law. Motorists who fail to yield to a pedestrian in crosswalk can face fines from $50 to $500. Pedestrian safety-related improvements include speed humps and curb bumpouts to slow vehicles, pedestrian-countdown signals that let a person know how much time they have to finish crossing the street, and new pavement markings.