Illinois State Police Launch Click It Or Ticket Program In Central Illinois Counties

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The Illinois State Police (“ISP”) announced there are launching Safety Traffic Enforcement Patrols (“STEP”) in Vermilion, Macon, and Champaign counties during the month of November. The ISP will increase daytime and nighttime patrols focused on enforcing impaired driving, occupant restraint, speeding, and distracted driving, with the ultimate goal of lowering traffic fatalities.

According to the ISP, alcohol and drug impairment are a factor in 47% of all Illinois traffic fatalities. Also,  nearly 50% of vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes were not wearing a seat belt. This extra patrols are being funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Halloween and the holidays are right around the corner, so I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to order an Uber or have a designated driver if you are out and about and have been drinking. Also, please always buckle up.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call the Chicago injury attorneys at the Bryant Law Group at 312-614-1076 or go to the website by clicking www.blgchicago.com.

Multiple Closures Will Tie Up Traffic In Chicago This Week

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According to multiple news outlets like ABC 7 and Blockclub, there will be multiple lane closures around Chicago this week.

The resurfacing of Dusable Lakeshore Drive continues this week as all but 2 southbound lanes will be closed from Irving Park Road and the LaSalle Street exit on Monday and Tuesday between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. Also, the shouthbound lanes will be limited to 3 between Hollywood Boulevard and Lawrence.

On top of this, the northbound Kennedy exit at Ohio Street will be closed all week.

These are 2 major closures that will disrupt commute times. This may be good week to take the CTA (bus or train) or the Metra, if you are someone to prefers to drive to work. This could definitely limit your commute time and be less of a headache getting too or from work.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago personal injury lawyers at The Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or go directly to our website at www.blgchicago.com.

Illinois Announces New Driver Safety Program

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Illinois Secretary of State, Alexi Giannoulias, announced this week that his office is launching a driver safety program focused on young drivers and distracted driving. This new program is part of National Teen Driver Safety Week.

The program, call “One Road, One Focus” will call for safety zones in areas where lots of crashes have happened. It will also ask lawmakers to fund new grants for local departments to start their own enforcement programs and remind prosecutors to get accused distracted drivers’ license suspended in the event of serious injury or death. Also included is a mandatory video teens will have to watch before they get a learner’s permit, which will start in 2025.

Giannoulias had this to say about the safety iniciateve: “No text or email is ever that important and certainly not as important as a child’s life. There is nothing that is more important than paying attention to the road.”

I applaud this new program as I believe many new drivers don’t understand, or at least forget, how dangerous it is to pick up your phone while driving. It only takes a second or two of looking away from the road before a car crash can occur.

If you have been injured in a Chicago traffic accident or a Chicago truck accident, the call the Chicago personal injury lawyers at the Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or click on the firm’s website a www.blgchicago.com to learn more.

Law To Lower Speed Limit In Chicago Passes Through Committee

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I wrote earlier this week that there was a new law presented in the Chicago city council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety that would lower the speed limit on city streets to 25 mph. According to multiple new outlets, including WGN News, the proposed law passed through the committee process and heads to the full city council for a vote.

The law would lower the speed limit on city streets only. It would not apply to streets owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”). It’s not clear from the research I’ve done how many Chicago streets are under the jursidiction of IDOT.

The chairman of the committee, Alderman Dan LaSpata, is adament that this is not a money grab by the city. He stated the following at the committee hearing: “The goal is not more revenue. The goal is to change behaviors and save lives.”

The city says that 70 percent of the traffic fatalities last year involved motorists traveling at high speeds. Data shows that a person struck by a vehicle traveling 30 MPH has a 60 percent chance of survival. That chance of survival increases to about 95 percent if the person is struck by a vehicle traveling 20 MPH.

A separate measure passed Monday would create a pilot program that would allow citizens to submit photos of vehicles illegally parked in bike and bus lines to the city through 311. The city’s Department of Finance would then issue citations to the vehicle’s registered owners after two warnings.

Again, I will be watching this closely to see if this passes the full city council vote and is signed by the mayor and will update as soon as news is released.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago car crash or in a Chicago pedestrian accident, then call the Illinois injury attorneys at The Bryant Law Group, LLC at 312-614-1076 or go directly to our website at www.blgchicago.com.

IDOT Announces Completion Date For Kennedy Expressway Construction

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According to NBC Chicago, the Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) will complete phase 2 of the Kennedy Expressway construction by late fall of this year. They did not provide an exact date.

Phase 2 of the Kennedy construction has included updating all of the Reversible Lane Access Controls (“REVLAC”) in the express lanes. IDOT provided the following statement on the construction so far: “The REVLAC system controls the gates and changes the direction of traffic in the reversible lanes. The work includes installing 120 gates, controls (local and remote), cameras, electrical components, fiber optic cables and terminal blocks along the 7.5 miles. Additionally, new overhead sign structures and signs were installed. While the pavement in the express lanes is drivable their use is extremely limited. The REVLAC work is ongoing, and the system currently is not functional.”

This is welcome new for those in the Chicagland area. Commutes from O’Hare airport in the city can take up to an hour depending on the time of day you are traveling. The Kennedy construction not only ties up the expressway but makes traffic throughout the northside of the city much worse and drivers look for alternate routes. Opening up the express lanes again will hopefully ease up traffic and shorten commute times. Hopefully the better technology and improvements made to the express lanes will make commutes on the Kenndey much safer. The completion of this project cannot come soon enough.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then please contact the Chicago injury lawyers at The Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or click on the firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.

Chicago City Council Considering Lower Speed Limit For City Streets

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According to WGN News, the Chicago city council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety could be taking up a vote this week that would recommend lowering the speed limit on city streets to 25 mph (down from 30 mph).

The new speed limit has the support of traffic and bicycle safety advocates. According to the committee, proposed change is purely a safety measure which would help protect pedestrians and bicyclists. According to the city’s data, a person struck by a vehicle traveling 30 MPH has a 60 percent chance of survival. That chance of survival increases to about 95 percent if the person is struck by a vehicle traveling 20 MPH.

“If you think about it from a logic standpoint, when a car is going faster it takes longer to stop. So when a car is going 30 miles an hour it takes about 120 feet to stop and just a 5 mile reduction it can stop at 85 feet. It gives cars a chance to stop,” said Audrey Wennink, the senior director of the Metropolitan Planning Council, which supports the change.

The commitee is also considering a new law that would permit Chicago residents to submit photos of parking violations. This new law would allow citizens to submit photos of vehicles illegally parked in bike and bus lines to the city through 311. The city’s Department of Finance would then issue citations to the vehicle’s registered owners after two warnings.

I will be watching the results of this committee hearing closely and will update the results. It will be interesting to see if this is eventually passed by the entire city council and signed by the mayor.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in Chicago pedestrian accident or Chicago bike accident, then call Chicago personal injury lawyers at The Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076. Or go to the firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.

City of Danville, Illinois Given $9 Million Grant For Traffic Safety

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The bipartisan federal infrastructure bill that passed back in 2022 continues to pay off for the state of Illinois. CNHI News reported this week that the city of Danville and Vermillion County will recieve over $9 million from the federal department of transportation to help improve traffic safety in the area.

It was announced that the funds will be used to promote safety and improve the overall quality of life for residents in the community in and around Danville. Work will take place on Seminary Street and Bowman Avenue and will include the installation of bike lanes and sidewalks.

The grant will also fund efforts to improve lane departure safety in eight high-risk areas, including Catlin-Homer Road, Westville Road/Forest Glen Road, Perrysville Road, and Kickapoo Park Road. These targeted improvements aim to enhance roadway safety for all users.

It has been incredible to see the federal infrastructure money at work improving roads and bridges around the country. More importantly, the investments I have seen in streets and highways have all been aimed at improving traffic safety in all communities including urban and rural or large and small.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Illinois truck accident, please call the Illinois personal injury attorneys for a free legal consultation at The Bryant Law Group at 312-614-1076 or go to the firm’s website a www.blgchicago.com.

Illinois State Police Partake In Traffic Safety Enforcement Along I-57

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According to Southern Illinois Now news outlet, the Illinois State Police (“ISP”) announced the results of the their traffic safety enforcement program that took place on I-57 from October 2 through October 7. The program covered I-57 from northern Champaign county all the way down to the southern tip of the state.

During this enforcement period the  599 speeding citations, 484 speeding warnings, 198 motor carrier safety inspections, 16 Move Over ‘Scott’s Law’ Citations, six criminal arrests and 46 suspended, revoked, no driver’s license citations.

More importantly there were zero (0) traffic fatalities and only five (5) car accidents reported. The Patrol officers from Troops 7, 9, and 10 with assistance from ISP center and south Special Operations Group’s Fatal Four team saturated the interstate, enforcing Illinois Vehicle Code violations, especially speeding.

State Police say speeding is a contributing factor in nearly one-third of all fatality crashes.  Officers also focused on Motor Carrier Safety Inspections for commercial motor vehicles.  Over a quarter of all fatal crashes involving large trucks occur on the Interstate highways.

The purpose of this operation was to encourage safer driving and decrease aggressive and unsafe driving behaviors. The program seemed to have work. The question will be whether intensive operations like this will affect drivers when the ISP is not out on full force.

If you or someone you know has been seriously injured in a Chicago car accident or Illinois truck accident, then call the Illinois accident attorneys at The Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or go to our website at www.blgchicago.com.

Street Closures For 2024 Chicago Marathon

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It’s that time of year where we see multiple street closures throughout the city of Chicago for the annual marathon, which takes place on Sunday October 13. Plan ahead so you do not get caught in traffic.

The main downtown closures include Jackson Drive, between Columbus and DuSable Lake Shore drives, starting 10 a.m. Wednesday. Jackson is expected to reopen Monday morning.

Sections of Columbus Drive will close beginning Thursday at Roosevelt Road, north to Ida B. Wells Drive. The closure will extend to Monroe Street on Friday morning and to Randolph Street on Saturday morning.

There are several dozen more street closures throught the north, west and south sides. You can see all of the closures by clicking here and so you can plan ahead if you live or plan on being in Chicago this weekend.

Good luck to all the runners this week and plan ahead if you need to navigate the city starting today through sunday.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident, then call the Illinois injury attorneys at The Bryant Law Group for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or go to the firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com to learn more.

Illinois State Police & Governor Announce New Traffic Accident Notification System

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The Illinois State Police (“ISP”) and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced this week that the state will be using a new emergency notification system when there are car accidents that involve emergency personnel.

Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology and ISP partnered with Google Public Sector to develop a real-time, GPS-based alert system to tell drivers about upcoming ISP traffic activity.

The process begins when ISP sends their GPS coordinates to the Google Cloud. Waze transforms the information into an alert message that’s distributed to approaching drivers. A police crash or disabled vehicle icon will appear on their map screen and an alert to slow down and move over. Google maps will show similar icons in the coming weeks.

Brad Hoffman, the director, State & Local Government and Education, at Google Public Sector, had this to say about the partnership with the state of Illinois: “By routing incident information through Google Cloud to populate in Waze and Google Maps, we can help ensure drivers are better informed and attentive when approaching road incidents. We applaud the Illinois State Police and Gov. Pritzker for taking a proactive approach to preventing ‘Move Over’ crashes and safeguarding the lives of those who serve and protect communities across the state.”

This is a positive sign that shows the type of public private synergy that improves traffic safety for everyone. This is helpful to oncoming drivers where a car accident already occurred but also protects the always vulnerable emergency response workers. This included state troopers, police, EMS workers and firefighters.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago car crash or Illinois truck accident, please call the Chicago injury attorneys at the Bryant Law Group, LLC for a free legal consultation or go to our firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.