Tag Archives: Chicago traffic accident

Illinois Ranks 36th For Roads In Annual Highway Study

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The Reason Foundation released their 28th annual highway study this week, and Illinois ranked number 36 out of 50 for the quality of roads throughout the state. Last year Illinois was ranked 29th. This is a surprisingly low ranking despite having the second highest gas tax (66 cents per gallon) for highway infrastructure.

The foundation’s highway study  grades state roadway conditions on several factors, including pavement conditions, urban congestion, structurally deficient bridges, fatality rates, and cost. This is what the report specifically had to say about Illinois:  “In safety and condition categories, Illinois’ highways rank 37th in urban Interstate pavement condition, 29th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 34th in urban arterial pavement condition, 42nd in rural arterial pavement condition, 38th in structurally deficient bridges, 21st in urban fatality rate, and 16th in rural fatality rate.”

Illinois ranks 46th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 65 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion, the report said.

This is ranking is discouraging based on the amount of money taxpayers pay is gasoline tax. I will play a little devils advocate and say that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for Illinois drivers. The final phase of the Kennedy expressway construction project in Chicago will be completed this fall. Once completed, one would hope that some of the traffic congestion in the Chicagoland area will decrease, and will hopefully move Illinois up in the rankings. We will have to wait and see.

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

Lake County Adding Traffic Safety Measures For St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

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St. Patrick’s Day is a little over a week away but the festivities begin next weekend throughout the Chicagoland area. The Lake County Sherrif’s Department is planning ahead as they announced extra traffic safety and enforcement for the entire weekend.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Transportation for the “St. Patrick’s Day Traffic Safety Campaign,” which includes the strict enforcement of seat belt use, speeding, distracted driving and all traffic laws.

The St. Patrick’s Day traffic safety campaign is funded by federal traffic safety funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and administered by IDOT, which provides law enforcement to add extra patrols to work high traffic weekends like St. Patrick’s Day. As I have written multiple times, this is part of form president Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill passed back in 2022.

If you are going out to celebrate for St. Patrick’s Day, please have a sober driver or call a rideshare company to get you to and from your parties. If you are driving please take extra care and be aware of your surroundings.

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

Honda Announces Recall Of 290,000 Vehicles For Engine Issue

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (“NHTSA”) announced this week that Honda is recalling 294,612 of their vehicles in the U.S. to rpair an issue that may cause engines to stall or suffer a loss of power. A software error in the fuel injection electronic control unit (FI-ECU) may cause an engine stall or a loss of power, increasing the risk of a crash or injury, the U.S. auto safety regulator said.

The vehicle models affected include certain 2022-2025 Acura MDX Type-S, the 2023-2025 Honda Pilot, and the 2021-2025 Acura TLX Type-S vehicles. If you own once of the types of vehicles, please take to your local dealer for the appropriate repair. The software program will be updated and repaired by dealers free of chagre.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident involving a Chicago auto defect, then call the Illinois personal 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.

Chicago City Council Considering 25 MPH Speed Limit

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Multiple news outlets, including NBC 5 and WTTW, reported last week that Chicago’s City Council is discussing lowering certain city street speed limit’s from 30 MPH down to 25 MPH.

The proposal was supposed to go to a vote last week, but the bill’s sponsor, Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward), withdrew the planned vote at the last minute. It is not clear why the vote was withdrawn, but I think it is safe to assume he did not have the enough support from his fellow Aldermen. The push to lower speed limits comes from concern about a recent surge in Chicago pedestrian fatalities in the past few years. La Spata said the push to reduce the speed limit on most city roads was an effort to make the city’s roadways safer after a surge of deaths in recent years.

Reducing a car’s speed by just a few miles per hour significantly increases the chance of surviving a crash and reduces serious injuries, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.

The City Council voted 49-1 to create a working group to devlope ways Chicago can change its traffic ticketing system so Black, Latino and low-income residents are no longer disproportionately hit with fines. La Spata said the working group would address concerns that reducing the city’s speed limit would give city officials a way to ease Chicago’s financial crunch by hitting drivers who refuse to slow down with fines and fees.

It will be interesting to see if the City Council decides to revisit this proposal sometime later this year. With more and more workers returning to work in the office downtown since the pandemic, we are seeing much more foot traffic around Chicago, especially in the downtown loop.

If you or someone you know has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call for a free legal consulation with the Bryant Law Group at 312-614-1076 or go directly to the firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.

IDOT Announces Delay In Kennedy Express Lane Opening

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I wrote earlier this fall that the Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) was expected to complete the construction on the I-90/94 (“Kennedy”) express lane construction by the “late fall.” Unfortunately they did not meet their own deadline as they announced this week that the express lanes would not open back up until mid-January 2025.

IDOT blames the delay on “software issues.” In their press release they stated, “Due to the complexity of the overall Reversible Lane Access Control system, additional time is needed to ensure the safety components are fully integrated and their functions operating seamlessly.”

This means continued gridlock on the Kennedy, especially from O’Hare airport down to the loop. The entire Kennedy construction project is $150 million project is expected to be completed next year. Phase 3 of the project includes construction on the outbound lanes.

Although discouraging that the express lane project was delayed, I think this is the safest and most prudent way for IDOT to proceed. It could be incredibly dangerous if there are any glitches with the entrance and exits of the express lanes. Let’s hope they actually meet this deadline.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call the Chicago accident lawyers at the Bryant Law Group, LLC., for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076 or click here to go to the firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.  

Illinois Tollways Launch New Traffic Managment Technology

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The Illinois Tollway Highway Authority announced this week that they were activating SmartRoad technology on the northern section of the 22-mile Central Tri-State Tollway (1-294).

SmartRoad, which recieved funding from President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation, will provid eal-time, lane-specific information on message boards detailing traffic incidents and lane closure notifications. It will aim to provide improved travel time information through upgraded traffic sensors, which will also be installed on ramps to monitor for potential backups. The technology will also provid inside lane and shoulder flex lanes, enabling the tollway to shift traffic around incidents and reduce backups. There will also be new high-definition roadway cameras and upgraded weather stations.

The technology will be placed placed every half mile between 95th Street and Balmoral Avenue on I-294. This will hopefully ease traffic in the area which will hopefully improve traffic congrestion on adjacent highways such as I-90/94. According to Illinois Tollways, more than 220,000 vehicles use the Central Tri-State Tollway daily.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call the Illinois personal injury lawyers at the Bryant Law Group, LLC for a free legal consultation or go directly to firm’s website at www.blgchicago.com.

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.

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.