Monthly Archives: August 2012

IL Police Stress Safety For Drivers Over Labor Day Weekend

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Labor Day weekend is
upon us and there will be increased number drivers on the road in Chicago and
around Illinois. The Illinois State Police, along with local police
departments, are once again launching their safety campaign: “driver sober
or get pulled over.” Police are focusing on DUI enforcement and seat-belt
usage.  Enforcement
efforts are concentrating on the deadly nighttime hours. According to data from
the Illinois Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, the midnight-to-3 a.m. timeframe is the deadliest time
on Illinois roadways. The data also shows this time of day has the highest
percentage of alcohol-involvement incidents and the lowest seat belt-usage
rate.

The
Illinois state police made the following recommendations for drivers before
they hit the road over this long weekend:


·         Plan ahead. Designate
a sober driver before going out and give that person your keys;

·        
If you are impaired,
call a taxi, use mass transit or call a sober friend or family member to get
you home safely;

·        
Promptly report
impaired drivers you see on the roadways to law enforcement; and

·        
Wear your seat belt
and make sure all passengers are buckled up. It is your best defense against an
impaired driver.

I like this initiative
and I hope it decreases the number of car accidents this weekend, but to be
honest, I would like to see the police crackdown on drivers who are texting or
using their phones while driving. We are no longer living in a world where
drunk drivers are the most dangerous type of driver out there.
 Regardless, be safe and enjoy the holiday weekend.

 If you or someone you
love has been injured in a Chicago car accident or Chicago truck accident, then
call Chicago personal injury attorney Aaron Bryant for a free consultation at
312-588-3384 or go to the firm website at www.blgchicago.com.

Luxury Cars Coming Up Short On Crash Worthy Tests

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The Chicago Tribune recently
reported than many luxury automobiles such as BMW, Mercedes and Lexus have
received poor grades on recent crash tests. According to the Insurance
Institute on Highway Safety, only 3 of 11 luxury
cars from the 2012 model year passed the new car crash test, which looked at
front-corner impacts, which are not well protected by vehicles’ crush-zone
structures.

In the insurance
group’s test, 25% of a car’s front end on the driver’s side is rammed into a
5-foot-high rigid barrier at 40 mph. The insurance institute plans to
incorporate the same kind of car crash in tests of other vehicles.

“Nearly every new car performs well in
other frontal crash tests conducted by the institute and the federal
government, but we still see more than 10,000 deaths in frontal crashes each
year,” said Adrian Lund, the institute’s president. “Small overlap
crashes,” which include the type of car accident examined by the new test,
“are a major source of these fatalities.”

The Acura TL and
Volvo S60 earned “good” ratings, while the Infiniti G was rated
“acceptable.” The Acura TSX, BMW 3 Series, Lincoln MKZ and Volkswagen
CC all received “marginal” ratings. The Audi A4, Lexus ES 350, Lexus
IS 250/350 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class were rated “poor.”

Why are these higher end vehicles
performing so poorly?  I would assume the
automakers are designing these vehicles for optimum performance and speed,
which could mean they are cutting corners on safety. This has been a perpetual
problem with automakers over the last 60 plus years – – beginning the slow but gradual implementation of seat-belts. It will be interesting to see if the government
intervenes if we see a drastic increase in traffic deaths that can be blamed on
these lack of safety design features.

If you or someone you love has been
seriously injured in a Chicago car accident or Chicago truck accident, then
call Chicago personal injury attorney Aaron Bryant for a free consultation at
3122-588-3384 or go to the firm website at  

Motor Carrier Safety Bulletin Issued Following Megabus Crashes

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The Chicago Tribune reported last week about a bulletin issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration cautioning motorcoach companies to prevent tire failures by properly loading passengers and cargo and increasing pressure in tires on the rear wheels to the maximum marked on the tires when buses are carrying heavy loads.

This warning comes as a result of two Megabus crashes that have taken place this summer. The most first occurred outside Litchfield, Illinois, that killed one Megabus passenger and injured dozens of others when the bus carrying 70 passengers from Chicago crashed into an overpass. Illinois State Police said the bus accident may have started with a blown tire that caused the bus driver to lose control.

Another bus accident involved a Megabus that caught fire Aug. 8 after a tire blew out on Interstate Highway 85 near Lavonia, Ga. No one was hurt in that incident, police said.

“A tire on a motorcoach loaded beyond its weight rating and operated at highway speeds for a significant period of time is more likely to overheat and fail, potentially placing the safety of passengers and other motorists at risk,’’ the motor carrier agency said in a statement. “Under specific circumstances motorcoaches ultilizing the double-deck design may be susceptible to exceeding the tire weight limit when loaded with passengers and luggage at full capacity.’’

The bulletin said bus operators should reduce passenger and cargo loads, seat passengers evenly throughout the bus and increase tire pressure when appropriate, to ensure the tires remain within the allowable tire weight rating and state vehicle weight limits.

It appears that Megabus did something wrong, which caused these bus accidents to occur. Or they were using faulty tires that do not have the load bearing capabilities that they were believed to have.  Several lawsuits have already been filed in Illinois on behalf of some of victims of the crash.

In my eyes, actions like those described above, are some of the positive results from lawsuits filed by personal injury attorneys. Not only are the attorneys attempting to compensative those who have been injured and the families who have lost loved one, but hopefully industry changes occur which will prevent an accident like this from happening again. Hopefully Megabus takes the necessary precautions and makes appropriate changes so another bus crash like this never occurs again.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Chicago bus accident or Chicago car accident, then call Chicago personal injury attorney Aaron Bryant for a free consultation at 312-588-3384 or go to the firm website at www.blgchicago.com. 

Study Outlines Key To Decreasing Number Teen Car Accidents

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The Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety (“IIHS”) recently published an article which
outlines the best way for every state to decrease the number of car accidents
and traffic fatalities. The IIHS looked at the 5 best graduated driving laws for
teen drivers in each state, and concluded that if combined, it would provide
the maximum amount of driving safety. Below are those 5 different laws that
would best promote teen driver safety:

1. Minimum
intermediate license age of 17; 2. A minimum permit age of 16; 3. At least 65 supervised practice hours for
new drivers; 4. During
the intermediate stage, a night driving restriction starting at 8 p.m; and 5. Ban
on all teen passengers.

Graduated licensing
enables new teen drivers to gradually build up driving experience as they
mature and develop on-the-road skills. The system has three stages: a
supervised learner’s period, an intermediate license (after passing a road
test) that limits driving in high-risk situations except under supervision, and
a license with full privileges. Teens with learner permits should get lots of
supervised driving practice, and once they have intermediate licenses they
should be subject to limits on night driving and teen passengers. The longer
the restrictions last the better. The IIHS’s research has shown that
states with the strongest laws enjoy the biggest reductions in fatal car crashes
among 15-17-year-old drivers and the biggest reductions in collisions reported
to insurers among 16-17-year-old drivers, compared with states with weak laws.

This is excellent data
provided by the IIHS and provides meaningful solutions that could lead to less
car accidents on the road. The problem is convincing legislatures in each state
to adopt all of these measures. None of the 5 restrictions listed above have
been adopted by a single state. What if the federal government intervened. I
can almost guarantee you that if the federal government promised and/or withheld
federal highway funding based on states adopting these laws, it would dramatically
effect whether this could be done. The same approach was taken when Bill
Clinton was in office 15-20 years ago with drunk driving laws. The federal
government withheld highway construction funding to states until states lowered
blood alcohol content (BAC) laws to .08. States did not receive funding from
the federal government until they lowered BAC requirements to .08. Maybe the
same approach could be used for teen driving requirements.  

If you or someone you
love has been injured in a Chicago car accident or Chicago truck accident, then
call Chicago personal injury attorney Aaron Bryant for a free consultation at
312-588-3384 or go to the firm website at www.blgchicago. com. 

Ford Recalls 485,00 Escape & Maverick SUVs

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The Associated
Press reported last month that Ford Motor Company has recalled nearly
500,000 of its Escape and Maverick sports utility vehicles. The announcement
from Ford stated that the recall is based on sticking gas pedals that can cause car accidents.  The worldwide recall affects the 2001 through 2004
model years that are powered by 3-litre V-6 engines with cruise control.

The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received 68 complaints about the
problem, including 13 crashes crashes, nine injuries and one death. A teenage girl
died when an Escape crashed in Arizona in January. It’s the third recall
in two weeks for the Escape, which was the top-selling SUV in the U.S. last
month. A week ago Ford recalled 11,500 of the all-new 2013 models with
1.6-litre engines because the fuel lines can crack and leak gasoline, causing
fires. A few days before that, it recalled 10,000 2013 Escapes to fix carpet
padding that could interfere with braking.

NHTSA said investigators would look into whether
the sticky throttles could have been caused by repairs made as part of a 2004
recall of the same vehicles. About 590,000 of the vehicles were recalled in
December of 2004 to fix an accelerator cable defect, and NHTSA documents say
the repairs could have damaged the cruise control cable.

This is similar to the type of auto defect and
recall that Toyota made two (2) years ago, which involved sticky pedals, pedals
being caught in the carpet and sudden acceleration. This is good to see this
recalls as there are already a reported 68 complaints and 13 car accidents. Hopefully
this will prevent any future car accidents.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Chicago car accident or believes they have aChicago auto defect case, then call Chicago personal injury attorney Aaron Bryant for a free consultation at 312-588-3384 or go to the firm
website at www.blgchicago.com.