Chicago Car Accident Attorneys Blog

A Joliet teenager has died following a New Lenox car collision on Monday night. 16-year-old Emily A. Dukovac was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead at 6:34 pm.

The Will County car accident took place at New Lenox and Cherry Hill Roads when a Chevrolet Cavalier carrying Dukovac and two other 16-year-old girls failed to stop at a stop sign and was hit by a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The truck hit the Chevrolet on the passenger side, fatally wounding Dukovac, who was in the backseat. The other two girls sustained nonfatal injuries.

According to the Will County Sheriff’s Department, at the time of the Illinois car accident, the weather was clear, the road conditions were “good,” and alcohol, drugs, or speeding don’t appear to have been involved. The 49-year-old Joliet pickup trucker did not sustain any visible injuries. All three car crash survivors were taken to the hospital.

Will County Car Collisions
Our Chicago, Illinois car accident attorneys cannot stress enough the importance of obeying all traffic signs, signals, and laws. It is especially important that teen drivers learn Illinois’ driving laws. They already suffer from the disadvantage of lacking driver experience, which increases their chances of becoming involved in a teen driving accident. Failure to obey traffic laws can prove catastrophic. Not only is this tragic for any victims involved, but it is also a tragedy for the driver, who in many cases lacked the skills, knowledge, and maturity to avoid causing a car crash and made an irreversible mistake.

Common causes of teen driving accidents:

• Driver inexperience
• Speeding
• Easily prone to distraction
• Text messaging
• Talking on cell phones
• Drunk driving
• Drugged driving

Plainfield high school mourns Joliet girl killed in New Lenox crash, Chicago Tribune, March 9, 2010

Joliet teen dies, 2 other girls injured in wreck, Chicago Sun-TImes, March 9, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Teen Drivers, CDC

Illinois Graduated Licensing System, CyberDriveIllinois.com

Continue reading "Will County, Illinois Car Crash Kills Joliet Teenager and Injuries Two Others" »

The family of 17-year-old Cameron Godee is suing 18-year-old Onofrio J. Lorusso for Illinois wrongful death. Godee died in a Kane County car crash on June 14 while riding in Lorusso’s SUV. Now, the West Chicago victim’s family is seeking $6.175 M in wrongful death damages. Godee and Lorusso, a Wayne resident, had just graduated from St. Charles East High School.

According to police, Lorusso’s blood-alcohol concentration was almost three times the legal limit and he also had marijuana in his system when he lost control of his vehicle and struck two trees. Godee was riding in the front-passenger seat. The two teenagers riding in the back seat sustained injuries.

The Illinois car crash lawsuit is accusing Lorusso of negligent driving and willfully ignoring his passengers’ safety. In the criminal case against him, Lorusso has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence of drugs, aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, reckless homicide, and driving under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs. He is currently free on bond.

One of the passengers that survived the catastrophic Illinois car wreck is suing Lorusso for Kane County personal injury. 17-year-old Chelsea Mertz, a St. Charles resident, sustained a traumatic brain injury and broke her jaw during the June car wreck. Her Illinois car accident claims that Lorusso was driving over 40 mph above the speed limit, on the wrong side of the road, and was under the influence of pot and alcohol. Lorusso’s father is also a defendant of the lawsuit, which accuses him of neglecting to prevent his intoxicated son from driving the other teens home.

Mertz is undergoing rehabilitative therapy to treat her brain injury. Doctors had to surgically rewire her jaw. It is unclear whether the effects of her traumatic brain injury are permanent.

Driver in fatal crash sued for millions, The Chronicle, December 22, 2009

Survivor of fatal St. Charles crash sues driver, Daily Herald, August 7, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Teen Drivers, Motor Vehicle Safety

CyberDrive Illinois

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, the state’s new graduated licensing requirements appear to be working. Between January and October, 60 teen drivers died in Illinois car crashes. That’s a significant decrease from 2007, the last year before the GDL was enacted, when 127 teen drivers died.

Per Illinois’s GDL:

• Teen drivers must now have a learner’s permit for six month instead of just three.

• Teen drivers are not allowed to use cell phones while driving until they turn 19.

• Illinois’s graduated licensing program creates two young driver stages: the learner stage and the intermediate stage.

• The GDL prohibits both learner teen drivers and intermediate teen drivers from operating a motor vehicle after 10p during the week and after 11p on Fridays and Saturdays.

A teen who has just gotten a driver’s license can only have one teen passenger in the car with him or her during the first year.

Young drivers in general are known to be more easily distracted than older drivers. They also don’t have as much driving experience and are more likely to text while driving. Having a group of teens in the car can be distracting for the teen driver, who may forget to pay attention to the road and other vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 164 people died in Illinois car accidents involving a young driver last year. The NHTSA classifies people between the ages of 15 and 20 as young drivers.

80 of the victims were the young drivers. 39 of the people that died were riding in the young drivers’ cars. 37 of the Illinois traffic accident victims that died were riding in the other vehicles involved. 8 of the Illinois auto accident victims were not riding in or on a vehicle when the deadly teen driving accidents happen.

Teen driving law appears to work, Galesburg.com, October 23, 2009

Young Drivers, Traffic Safety Facts 2008, NHTSA (PDF)

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Graduated Driver License, Cyberdrive Illinois

Illinois Department of Transportation

Continue reading "Graduated Licensing Requirements Lower Number of Illinois Teen Car Crashes, Says Department of Transportation" »

According to two studies by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researcher, teenagers who either own a car or are able to use one whenever they want have a greater chance of becoming involved in a car accident than teens who have shared use of a vehicle and/or whose parents monitor their kids’ driving activities and/or have specific rules about driving.

The studies’ research is based on a nationally representative survey of over 5,500 teens, grades 9-11. Students from 68 US high schools responded to the questionnaire, which was issued 2006.

Over 2,000 teens who said they drove unsupervised were at the center of the study. 70% reported that they either owned a vehicle or were the main driver of an auto. While 25% of “main” drivers had been involved in auto accidents, that figure was at 10% for teen drivers who had shared use of a car.

Flaura Koplin Winston, who is the study’s lead author, noted that when teenagers are given free use of or ownership of a car, they may develop a “sense of entitlement” that can make them less careful drivers. She said that teen drivers who shared driving access had a lower crash rate because having to ask for the car keys made it easier for parents to monitor their driving habits. Teens whose parents were more involved in their driving activities were 71% less likely to drive drunk and 30% less likely to talk on a cell phone while driving.

Considering that traffic accidents is the number one cause of teen fatalities, this information is good for parents to know. Just because a teen driver is now old enough to legally drive does not mean that he or she automatically has the skills, experience, knowledge, and judgment that is necessary for driving safely.

A teenager who causes a Chicago car crash risks not just his or her life but also the lives of others. In 2008, 4,400 teens were killed in US car crashes. In 2007, over 7,000 people died in US auto accidents involving teen drivers. Over 3,000 of the people who died were teenagers. Over 250,000 teen drivers sustained injuries.

Ken Ginsburg, associated pediatrics professor at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recommends that parents set “appropriate” rules and boundaries for teen drivers. His suggestions include establishing curfews, restricting driving during bad weather, and preventing their kids from driving passengers around for the first six months to one year.

The studies findings’ can be found in the October issue of Pediatrics. State Farm Insurance Co. funded the study.

Strict rules from parents lead to safer-driving teens, USA Today, September 25, 2009

Teens with own cars have more crashes, study finds, AP, September 25, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Teen Drivers, CDC

New Drivers, NHTSA

Continue reading "Owning a Motor Vehicle Increases Chicago Car Accident Risk for Teenagers" »

A 65-year-old woman was killed yesterday in an Illinois car accident on Route 13. Frances Koon, a seamstress, was going to work when her car was in a collision with a pickup just before 5am.

According to investigators, it was Nicholas Wilson, 19, who crossed the center line, causing the head-on crash with Koon’s motor vehicle. Illinois State Police have charged Wilson with DUI.

Three people were in the car driven by Wilson. The passengers, ages 19 – 21, were flown to hospitals.

Drunk Driving
Despite all the information available regarding the dangers of drunk driving, there are still many motorists that continue to drink and drive. Drunk driving accidents killed almost 13,000 people in 2007—that’s one drunk driving death every 40 minutes. In each of these instances, the driver who was drunk had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or more.

Drunk driving accidents destroy the lives not just of the person killed or injured in the Illinois car crash, but also the lives of the victim’s loved ones who now must spend years dealing with the fact that the person they care about is gone or catastrophically hurt because someone drank too much and decided to get behind the wheel of a vehicle.

On August 21, 2009, law enforcement officers throughout the US will begin an 18-day Drunk Driving crackdown until Labor Day. The initiative, called Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. Is meant to save lives and make it clear to motorists that if they are driving drunk, they will be arrested.

Drunk drivers that end up killing someone will likely face time in prison for committing this crime. The negligent motorist can also be held liable in civil court for Illinois personal injury or wrongful death.

Head On Collision Kills Woman from Lenzburg, Illinois, Fox2Now, August 17, 2009

Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest, NHTSA

Related Web Resources:
Underage Drinking, SADD

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Continue reading "Woman Dies in Illinois Head-On Car Accident on Route 13" »

Yesterday, the Illinois Senate approved a ban on text messaging and surfing the Internet while operating a motor vehicle. The measure would still let drivers pull over onto the shoulder of a road to search the Web or send and receive text messages without fear of reprisals from an Illinois law enforcement officer. A motorist would also still be able to use a cell phone for GPS purposes.

While some Illinois lawmakers, such as Sen. Kwame Raoul, are concerned the legislation would give locals cops an excuse to engage in racial profiling when pulling people over, others, including Sen. Martin Sandoval, who sponsored the legislation, says the ban would create safer roads. Text messaging has recently been cited as one of the reasons why car accidents happen.

The legislation now goes to the House for approval. Also on Tuesday, the Illinois Senate approved legislation that banned cell phone use in school zones and construction areas unless the motorist is using an earpieces with the phone.

Illinois Cell Phone Driving Laws
Currently, Illinois lets localities determine their own cell phone driving laws. Chicago has a ban on handheld cell phone use while driving. Statewide, teen drivers younger than age 19 cannot use a cell phone or any other hand-held communication device and drive a vehicle at the same time. School bus drivers cannot use a cell phone while there are children riding the bus.

A new study by Vlingo, the maker of mobile phone speech-recognition technology, found that 26% of people surveyed say they still text while driving even though they know that the habit can lead to fatal motor vehicle accidents. This is just a slight decline from the 28% of drivers that took the survey last year that admitted to text messaging while operating a vehicle. Also, among those surveyed:

• Almost 60% of teen drivers say the text while they drive.
• 49% of 20- to 29-year-olds confessed to texting while in the driver’s seat.
• 13% of drivers in the over 50 age group say the send, receive, and read texts while driving.

Illinois Senate OKs ban on texting or surfing while driving, Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association

Driving While Texting Still Popular Despite Bans: Survey, VOXEO, May 20, 2009

Continue reading "Chicago Car Accident Lawyers: Illinois Senate Approves Ban on Text-Messaging and Internet Surfing While Driving" »

In Adams County, 19-year-old Matthew Ruble has been charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence and two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of two 18-year-olds. He also was charged with not wearing a seat belt and leaving a deadly crash site. If convicted of all charges related to their Illinois car crash fatalities, he could face up to 50 years in prison.

According to Illinois State Police, at around 2am on Sunday, Ruble was driving his vehicle on the wrong lane on Illinois 104 close to Five Points when his car collided head-on with the vehicle driven by 17-year-old Ashley Graves. Graves sustained serious injuries, while her two passengers, Alissa Zornes and Jordan Schieferdecker, died of their injuries. Graves, Zornes, Schieferdecker, and Ruble are all from Quincy. Ruble sustained facial injuries during the Illinois car accident.

Police say that Ruble tried to flee the crash site but was apprehended. He reportedly admitted to be drunk while driving and was more concerned about his pickup truck. Two witnesses who had also been riding on Ill 104 that night said that a pickup truck had nearly struck the vehicle they were in.

Prior to this deadly Adams County car accident, Ruble was a “person of interest” in an Illinois hit-and-run collision that occurred in Payson when a house was hit by a truck fitting a description matching the one that the 19-year-old was driving. He also had received a number of traffic tickets in Pike County and in 2008 was convicted of misdemeanor consumption of alcohol by a minor.

Not only can negligent Illinois drivers be held liable in criminal court for causing deadly car crashes, but they can be sued for wrongful death.

Matthew Ruble faces up to 50 years in prison after being charged in fatal crash that killed two Quincy teens, Whig.com, April 21, 2009

20-year-old Quincy man faces prison time, Connecttristates.com, April 19, 2009

Related Web Resources:
2009 Rules of the Road, Cyber Drive Illinois

Continue reading "Chicago Car Accident Law Firm: 19-Year-old Quincy, Illinois Man Charged With Drunk Driving Deaths of Two Teenagers" »

According to Illinois state officials, there were 62 less teen driver deaths in 2008 than the year before—a 40% decrease. This decline is being attributed to a group of laws focused on keeping teenagers safe when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.The state’s graduated driving laws mandate that teenagers earn their full driving privileges. .

Some of Illinois's Teen Driving Laws:

• Drivers, age 15, must obtain the consent of a parent or a guardian to get their instruction permit.
• They have to take a driver education course and pass written and vision tests.
• Permit must be used for at least 9 months.
• No driving convictions must occur during this time.
• A minimum 50 hours of drive practice time is required while under the supervision of an adult (age 21 or older).
• 10 of these hours must take place at night.
• Driving while using a cell phone is prohibited.

Drivers, ages 16 to 17
• This is called the initial licensing phase.
• The consent of a parent or guardian is necessary to get a driver’s license.
• The teen driver must not have any driving convictions for six months until turning 18.

For a complete list of Illinois teen driving laws, click on the related resource link below.

While Illinois teen driver deaths were at 155 in 2007, the number of teen motorist fatalities went down to 93 deaths in 2008. So far, in 2009 (through March 15), 16 teen drivers died in Illinois car accidents—compared to the 20 teen deaths that occurred during the same time period last year.

If you or someone you love was injured in an Illinois car crash because another driver was negligent, it is important that you speak with an experienced Chicago personal injury law firm so you can consider your options for financial recovery.

Teen driving deaths: 40% fewer teen deaths reported last year than 2007, Chicago Tribune, April 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
CyberDriveIllinois.com

Teen Drivers: Fact Sheet, CDC

Continue reading "Number of Teen Driver Deaths in Illinois Motor Vehicle Crashes Went Down by 40% in 2008" »