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As reported by CBS Chicago, “One person was killed in a multi-vehicle accident after a school bus with nearly three dozen students on board collided with two other vehicles near north suburban Wadsworth.” Preliminary investigations revealed that the accident may have been caused because the school bus driver ran a red light, however as reported by the Chicago Tribune on April 30, 2013, Lake County prosecutors will not be pressing charges. Tragically, the driver of the motor vehicle which the school bus collided with suffered fatal injuries. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Lake County Coroner’s Office found evidence of prescription drugs in the deceased’s system, however the Coroner’s Office did not report which drug this may have been.
Although dozens of children were injured as a result of this accident, none of the injuries were reported to be life threatening. The bus accident attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C., recognize that the severe nature of this accident, in which a school bus carrying 34 children rolled over on its side, presented circumstance that could have potentially resulted in numerous deaths. Fortunately, this was not the case. Our team of injury and accident attorneys support Chicago parents who demand the safeguarding of their children as they are placed in the hands of school bus drivers each day. If your child was injured or killed as a result of a negligent bus driver or other motorist, it is imperative that you protect your legal rights. Contact a licensed Illinois bus accident attorney today for a free personal injury consultation at (773) 516-4100, or through our website at www.zneimerlaw.com.

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Pursuant to the Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act, all child passengers under the age of 8 years old are required to be restrained by a car or booster seat. However, use of a child restraint system is only the first step in protecting your most precious cargo in the event of a motor vehicle accident. As the National Institute of Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated, the key to safety is “the right seat, the right size, the right use.” Our injury and accident attorneys understand that it may be difficult for parents to determine if they are using the appropriate car seat in the proper manner. The foregoing is provided by the lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. to guide Chicago parents in protecting their child passengers, in hopes that it may aide in the reduction of child car seat injuries and fatalities that occur as a result of a car accident.

Choosing a car seat that is both age and size appropriate for your child can drastically decrease the likelihood of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Further, considerations as to age and size must be an ongoing process as your child grows. Our injury and accident lawyers recognize that although a car seat might be suitable for a child of a certain age, it may not be suitable for that child’s size. The safety risks involved encompass both car seats that are too large for the child, and therefore may not protect against injuries in the event of a collision, as well as car seats that the child has outgrown.

The NHTSA, and the injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. as well, urge parents to fill out the manufacturer’s registration form, and submit this form to the manufacturer immediately following the purchase of a new car seat. By submitting such registration, and keeping all contact information current, you can ensure that you will be notified of important safety recalls pertaining to your specific child restraint device.

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing a new Chicago ordinance that would increase fins for bicyclists that do not obey traffic rules and for motorists who open their car doors without looking according to a Chicago Sun-Times article. The proposed ordinance would increase the fines for bicyclists who break traffic laws from $25 to a range of $50 t0 $200 dollars. The fine for parked motorists who open their car door in front of a bicyclist would be raised from $500 to $1000 dollars.

The bicycle accident lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. know first hand how dangerous and how common “dooring” accidents are in the city of Chicago since we handle many of these cases for injured bikers. A “doored” bicyclist at best is thrown on to the pavement and at worse is knocked by the door into the path of moving traffic. Either way, serious injuries are likely to result. CDOT now gathers data about the frequency of dooring accidents. Out of 1,675 bike crashes in Chicago last year, 250 were dooring crashes.

In a further attempt to reduce dooring crashes, the city plans to distribute stickers to be placed in taxi cabs in view of taxi passengers, reminding them to look out for bicyclist before exiting a taxi cab.

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Recent tragic accidents, which took the lives of 15 teenagers, and numerous others, are a reminder to the Chicago attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. of the dangers of teen driving.

In one of the accidents, which occurred on March 12, 2012 in a small Illinois community in Will County, 4 teens ages 14 to 17 drowned after their vehicle plunged off a bridge. It is uncertain as to whether road conditions or speed played a role in this accident .

On the same day, another accident occurred in Ohio, which took the lives of 6 teens, ages 14 to 19, when the SUV, being operated by one of the victims crashed into a guardrail and flipped over into an adjacent pond. It was later discovered that the SUV, which was only equipped for 5 passengers, was carrying 8 passengers, none of whom were wearing safety belts. Investigators also reported that the driver was traveling faster than the posted speed limit.

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The bicycle accident and injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. know that with the inclement winter weather behind us, Chicago bicycle enthusiasts have begun to emerge once again. Unfortunately, the busy roadways of Chicago, and surrounding Illinois suburbs, often present dangerous circumstances for bicyclists sharing such roadways with cars, trucks, and buses. With motor vehicle accidents involving bicyclists on the rise in recent years, our bicycle accident attorneys were pleased to see our state address safety issues through The Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) launch of a Bike Transportation Plan Initiative.

Recommendations for the final plan, which is due for to be completed by December 2013 include:

• Bicycling related planning and policy recommendations,

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There has been a growing awareness of public safety concerns in Chicago, and other surrounding Illinois cities concerning child safety seats and the laws and regulations associated with their use. Although safe driving campaigns and heightened enforcement of child passenger regulations have led to increased use of child restraint seats, surprisingly, so have the occurrence of child car seat related injuries. This can be attributed to factors such as car seats that may be improperly used, or are unsuitable for a child’s particular age or weight, as well as in cases of defective or faulty child restraint devices. The Chicago injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. urge all parents to not only restrain their child passengers, but also ensure that such children are restrained properly.

As stated in the Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act:

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children of every age from 4 to 14. The General Assembly further finds that the safety of the motoring public is seriously threatened as indicated by the significant number of traffic accidents annually caused, directly or indirectly, by driver distraction or other impairment of driving ability induced by the movement or actions of the unrestrained passengers under the age of 8 years.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports a 9% increase in bicyclist fatalities between 2010 and 2011. The bicycle accident injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. take note of this alarming increase in bicycle fatalities in recent years. However, statistics show that bicycle accident fatalities currently account for only approximately 2% of all fatalities sustained during motor vehicle traffic fatalities. It is actually far more common for a bicyclist to sustain a severe head injury, rather than death, during an accident with a motorist. Our team of experienced injury attorneys represent residents of Chicago and surrounding cities, who sustained severe injuries, as a result of an accident occurring between a motorist and bicyclist.

Because bicyclists lack the protection that vehicles provide, injuries sustained in bicycling accidents are often much more severe than the injuries that may be sustained by a motorist during the same accident. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “The most serious injuries among a majority of those killed are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet.” As reported by numerous studies, use of a bicycle helmet can reduce the risk of a head injury by 85%. Our bicycle injury attorneys wish that all bicyclists would reduce their risk of injury through use of bicycle helmets, however this is not always the case, partly due to lack of state regulation requiring helmet use.

Although Illinois does not currently have a statewide regulation requiring the use of helmets while riding a bicycle, some cities within Illinois have enacted ordinances, such as Cicero, Inverness, and Skokie, which require that bicyclists under the age of 16 to use helmets. Barrington bicyclists under the age of 17 must also utilize helmets. Also, bicycle messengers in Chicago, regardless of age, are required to wear helmets while performing their messenger duties. Our team of experienced bicycle accident attorneys understand, that in the absence of regulation requiring helmet use, severe injuries resulting from bicycle accidents, often time involving traumatic brain injury, will continue to increase.

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A 50 year old Chicago man from the Northwest Side side neighborhood of Lawndale was struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Pulaski Ave Sunday morning the Chicago Sun-times reports. Witnesses say the man was hit by a gold or orange Pontiac traveling approximately 50 mph. The vehicle failed to stop. The man was thrown 30 feet as a result of being hit. The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and is in critical condition.

Hit-and-run accidents are a common occurrence in the city of Chicago. A study commissioned by the Chicago of Transportation has found that Chicago averages two hit-and-run crashes that cause injury or death everyday. Hit-and-run vehicle-pedestrian crashes account for 33% of all vehicle-pedestrian crashes according to this study. The Chicago personal injury law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer know the damage these hit-and-run drivers do. Many injured pedestrians do not have any insurance coverage so they are not only hurt by the hit-and-run driver but they are also stuck with the medical bills and the consequences of not being able to work while they recover. Hit-and-run drivers are a major problem in Chicago with 5,534 incidents of hit-and-runs over a five year period resulting in 3,683 injuries or deaths according to the study.

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The attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. recognize that a lot has changed since the 1961 establishment of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and the subsequent initiation of Medicare in 1965. Continuing acknowledgement of the rising population of individuals over the age of 65, subsequently led to policy reform under the Reagan administration with the 1987 enactment of the Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA). Although there has been some policy reform affecting standards of nursing home care since the NHRA, many argue that only minimal improvement has occurred. Our nursing home liability attorneys understand that significant policy reform addressing matters concerning our nation’s elders should occur more than every couple of decades.

As reported by the Illinois Times, “A Chicago Tribune investigative series stretching from 2009 to 2011 uncovered several problems in nursing homes in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Problems included rapes, beating deaths, unnecessary dispensing of drugs, corruption, theft, and a state practice of housing mentally-ill patients in nursing homes instead of mental hospitals.” In response to this investigation, Illinois Governor placed into action a Nursing Home Safety Task Force, aimed at addressing continuing problems of abuse and neglect affecting Illinois nursing homes. This Task Force provided recommendations which assisted in reform of the outdated Nursing Home Reform Act, which until such recent amendments, arguably reflected only minimal improvement since its 1979 enactment. Our team of nursing home injury attorneys feel that modifications in Illinois regulations concerning nursing homes was certainly well overdue.

With such a profound increase in our nation’s elderly population, our nursing home attorneys are concerned over the manner in which these individuals are being cared for. According to a 2010 study, Illinois ranks the fifth highest in our nation’s population of elderly residing in nursing home facilities. Based upon the same survey data, provided by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it was determined that in 2010, 95.4% of nursing home facilities presented evidence of deficiencies, is a term “given to nursing facilities for problems which can result in a negative impact on the health and safety of residents. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services define “actual harm” as a “deficiency that results in a negative outcome that has negatively affected the resident’s ability to achieve the individual’s highest functional status. “Immediate jeopardy” is defined as a deficiency that “has caused (or is likely to cause) serious injury, harm, impairment, or death to a resident receiving care in the nursing home.” For more information providing nursing home data for Illinois, and other states, please visit http://www.statehealthfacts.org/compare.jsp.

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The Chicago trucking accident attorneys of Zneimer &Zneimer, P.C. take note that accidents involving massive equipment such as heavy trucks and tractor trailers have become a commonplace. Increasingly, such accidents are found to be the result of a truck driver’s violation of federal regulation concerning, as was the case in the accident discussed herein.

On March 21, 2013, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), pursuant to the Federal Regulations, and through the delegation of authority provided to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), issued an “Imminent Hazard Operations Out-Of-Service Order” to Highway Star, Inc. commanding that all operations cease immediately.

The Chicago trucking accident attorneys of Zneimer &Zneimer, P.C. take note that accidents involving massive equipment such as heavy trucks and tractor trailers have become a commonplace. Increasingly, such accidents are found to be the result of a truck driver’s violation of federal regulation concerning, as was the case in the accident discussed herein.

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