Monthly Archives: September 2021

IDOT Offering Free Child Car Seat Safety Check This Saturday

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The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) is offering a free child seat safety check throughout the state this Saturday September 25. If you have a child car seat that needs to be installed or if you want IDOT installation experts to check the safety of your seat, you can go to one of various locations this Saturday.

During Seat Check Saturday, technicians will provide instruction on how to install and use car seats correctly and help determine if your children are in the right seat for their age, height and weight. In Illinois and across the United States, an estimated four out of five car seats are installed incorrectly, contributing to traffic crashes as a leading cause of death of children. The latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research shows that more than one-third of children 12 and younger who died in car crashes were not properly restrained. 

State law requires children to ride in a child safety seat until age 8 and rear-facing until age 2.

You can go to  buckleupSaturdayillinois.org and search the map for a location near you.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or a Chicago truck crash, please call Chicago personal injury lawyers at The Bryant Law Group, LLC. for a free legal consultation at 312-514-1076.

Chicago Traffic Surges Past Pre-Pandemic Levels

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According to multiple news outlets, including NBC 5, traffic congestion has finally reached and now surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the Chicagoland area. If you live in or around Chicago, I am certain you have noticed the increase of traffic levels that started over the summer. Although, I do not believe that the downtown loop is back to it’s pre-pandemic levels, I do believe that traffic in the surrounding highways are back to “normal” and the data backs this up.

TrafficCarma, a mobile app that analyzes real-time traffic information and commuter data, found that during the late morning hours, 10 a.m. to noon, vehicle volumes rose as much as 31% compared to before the pandemic. Both the 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. hours saw significant increases during the five weeks that began in August, with traffic volumes up by at least 21% each week. Traffic in the 9 a.m. hour also exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with weekly increases ranging between 11% and 19%. During the first week of August, which started on the second of the month, traffic volumes during the 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. hours were down by at least 10% each hour compared to the onset of the pandemic. For the 7 a.m. hour, the volumes had decreased by as much as 23%.

Although the Delta variant has spread rapidly across the country (including Illinois) that has not kept people home. People are out and about and back to commuting to work and elsewhere at record levels. Although, the study does not provide details, I believe that a portion of this traffic is from summer travelers and, of course, schools opening back up in person.

I am going to continue to track these numbers, and will be interested to see if the number of traffic accidents increases along with the amount of traffic.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago car crash or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago accident attorneys at The Bryant Law Group, for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076.

Do Chicago Speed Cameras Promote Safety Or Are They Or A Money Grab

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I’ve written on this site many times in the past about read light cameras and speeder cameras and whether they actually make Chicago’s streets and intersections safer. The research has shown that red light cameras actually provide a net neutral benefit to Chicago’s streets. That is, studies have shown that overall intersections are not any safer or more dangerous when they have red light cameras. This is research that was done by Texas A&M University’s traffic safety department. I think it is fair to say that if the cameras do not make intersections safer, then they are clearly there to collect extra money for the city.

The same question needs to be asked about Chicago’s speeder cameras. As I wrote earlier this year, a new law went into effect on March 1 that fines drivers caught by these cameras for going 6 mph over the speed limit. Those tickets are $35 and $100 for driving 11 mph over the speed limit. It’s important to point out that these tickets are not moving violations. In response to backlash about this new law, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement that the lower-speed change was due to “an alarming increase in vehicle speeding and traffic fatalities.” Cameras affected are in “Children’s Safety Zones, which are operational near schools when they are in session and children are present, and in parks during hours when they are open.” The city said its goal is to not issue tickets, but to encourage safer driving behavior. 

According to Chicago’s ABC 7 News, over 1 million speed camera tickets have been issued since March 1, 2021. Again, we have to ask the question, after all the lost money during the Covid-19 pandemic, is this a money grab by the city? Is this a way for the city to make up for lost revenues? I think the answer is clearly yes. I won’t change my mind unless the city or some other outside group provides data that the areas with these cameras have shown a decrease in car accidents, pedestrian accidents and/or traffic fatalities.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago car crash or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago personal injury lawyer, Aaron J. Bryant, for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076.