Gone are the days of simple dashboards. What once was quite basic—climate controls, audio features, and a small handful of other options—has progressed into oversized sophisticated dashboards equipped with a multitude of features, including smart technology that allows the vehicle to interact not only with occupants but other devices as well. Although designed to improve safety, many question whether incorporating what is essentially a mini-computer mounted to the vehicle’s dash has actually done just the opposite—increase accident risk factors, rather than reduce them. As personal injury lawyers, we can’t help but ignore the dangers associated with the increase of vehicles equipped with these so-called ‘smart dashboards.’
Launch of Divvy for Everyone Program Raises Public Safety Concerns in Low-Income Neighborhoods
The City of Chicago announced the launch of a new program that will offer low-cost annual Divvy Bike Share memberships based upon ability to pay, according to a last week’s press release. The program, called “Divvy for Everyone,” or D4E, will allow residents, with incomes below 300% of the federal poverty line, to obtain a one-time one-year membership for $5, without having to use a debit or credit card. Although we generally support initiatives that make bike-sharing a more accessible and affordable transit option, the D4E program leaves us with concerns over whether the city is putting ‘the cart before the horse’ by expanding bike-sharing to targeted neihgborhoods without fully considering the safety risks it presents.
Remanufactured, Replacement, Refurbished and Recalled Airbags in Used Cars: Buyer Beware
Since their introduction in the 1980s, airbags have been identified as proven, effective safety devices that drastically reduce the risk of fatality and serious injury to vehicle occupants involved in automobile collisions. The protection offered by airbags is a factor that many car buyers take into consideration when purchasing a vehicle. What many fail to consider, though, is the potential for airbag safety issues associated with the purchase of a used vehicle. After all, airbags are only useful if they are correctly installed, properly functioning, and deploy in the manner in which they are intended to. The Chicago Injury Attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. discuss some important tips for consumers to keep in mind when purchasing a used vehicle equipped with airbags.
Keyless Ignition Safety Issue: Should Federal Regulators Intervene?
Keyless ignitions are typically associated with convenience or theft-deterrence, and not with a risk of fatality. However, consider the combination of a keyless ignition and quiet engine, along with an enclosed space and little forgetfulness. The potential consequences—carbon monoxide poisoning. Prompted in part by the tragic death of a Highland Park couple last week, the Chicago Injury Attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. comment on the dangers of keyless ignitions, and more importantly, the failure of federal regulators to take action to address a safety issue that they have been aware of for years.
Safety Concerns associated with Dogs along Trails and Pathways
While a small number of parks and trails prohibit dogs altogether, the overwhelming majority permit dogs in some form or another, with certain limitations. Where dogs are allowed, it is typically under the condition that the dog’s owner will adhere to leashing, permit, vaccination, and other dog-related restrictions and/or regulations. With so many pathways, trails, and parks that are currently open, scheduled to open, or set for future construction, in and around the Chicago area, the attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. have concerns over the risks that dogs present to the persons that occupy these multi-use spaces.
Vehicle-component Warnings and Instructions: Automakers’ Duty to keep up with Improved Technologies
With so much attention focused on vehicle-component issues in the auto industry, it can be easy for a victim to overlook a potential claim against an automaker based upon an alternate theory. In addition to design and manufacturing related defects, product liability claims can also be grounded upon a defect in warning(s) or instruction(s) provided. Indeed, automakers have become increasingly aware of the potential for exposing themselves to liability due to improper, inadequate, or lack of warning or instruction—the result of which has led to significant improvements in recent decades, as well as a decrease in failure to warn/instruct claims. However, as technology continues to improve, auto manufacturers must remember their ongoing obligation to warn/instruct consumers in accordance with changes and improvements to safety features offered in new vehicles.
Separate Lanes for Bicyclist and Pedestrians on the Lakefront Trail: How Practical, How Effective?
The Chicago Attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. first addressed this issue last June, specifically discussing the risk of injury along Chicago’s Lakefront Trail. Since last year, the controversy over whether to implement a more defined design approach, which divides paths and trails based upon user type has continued to be a highly debated topic. Ongoing concerns over trail congestion and user safety prompted the Active transportation Alliance’s December 2014 petition, urging Chicago leaders and officials to consider enhanced pavement markings and separate paths for bicyclists and pedestrians in the trail’s most congested areas.
Paths and Trails: To Divide or Not to Divide?
If you live in the Chicagoland area, you’d have to live under a rock, not to notice the variations and diversity amongst the types of road users that occupy communities. Traveling alongside cars, motorcycles, commercial trucks, and public transit vehicles, are commuting bicyclists and pedestrians; delivery/courier pedacyclists; and resident or tourist recreationalists, whether runners, joggers, walkers, moms with strollers, or children at play. Chicago has long recognized its need to account for its road-user diversity, the result of which has led to more marked and/or barrier separated bike lanes, increased enforcement in intersections and along sidewalks, as well as the construction of paths and trails that create throughways to increase accessibility and improve safety. However, as we push for more use of the pathways and trails, which are intended to protect vulnerable road users, another safety issue has begun to rear its ugly head, and increasingly so—that is, pathway and trail accidents.
Bestowing Trust in Your Legal Advocate: Attorney-Client Communications in Personal Injury Cases
As seasoned practitioners, the Chicago attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. have provided representation to Illinois residents in a diverse range of personal injury cases. During our decades of practice, we have continued to relay to our clientele that open and honest communication is a two-way street. On one side there is our promise to you, the client, which extends not only from our obligations as professionals, but from our personal desire to help persons harmed by others. On the other side there is your agreement to us, your legal advocates, to be as candid as possible in relaying any information to us that may be relevant to your claim, so that we represent you in the most effective manner possible.
Illinois Court Rules against Motorcyclist Injured in ‘Wind Shear’ Case
The Chicago Attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. take note of a decision handed down by the Illinois Appellate Court earlier this month, involving a claim for uninsured motorist coverage extending from a 2009 motorcycle accident that injured two. The case, State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. Co., v. Benedetto, 2015 IL App (1st) 141521, arises from the trial court’s entry of a ruling in favor of the injured motorcyclist. State Farm, filed its timely appeal, contending that both insurance and contract law warrant reversal.