Were you injured in a Dan Ryan truck accident and believe you are entitled to receive compensation for your damages? Contact our Chicago office at (888) 424-5757 to schedule a free consultation.
The Illinois semi-collision accident lawyers at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, help victims get the maximum recovery they are entitled to receive under state law. Discuss your compensation claim with Chicago, IL truck accident attorneys who will protect your rights and obtain the compensation you might be entitled to receive.
Dan Ryan Expressway
The 7.4-mile Dan Ryan Expressway runs north and south through the Chicago metropolitan area, beginning at the Kennedy Expressway and Eisenhower Expressway Circle Interchange. It ends at W. 98th Pl. and E. 100th St., becoming the Bishop Ford Freeway.
The Dan Ryan Expressway junctions with a Chicago highway just south of 66th St. traveling Southeast, carrying hundreds of thousands of vehicles every day. The highway was named for a former Cook County Board of Commissioners president Dan Ryan, Jr.
Traffic planners initially called it the South Route Expressway before renaming the first section after the recently deceased commissioner president. The county opened the initial segment in December 1961 between 71st St. and 95th St.
A major reconstruction of the elevated bridge was completed in 1989, and by 2007, the entire 7.44-mile stretch was rebuilt from the Illinois Department of Transportation funds.
The Dan Ryan conjunction with numerous freeways, including interstate:
- 55 (Stevenson Expway/St. Louis/Lakeshore Drive)
- 57 (Memphis)
- 90 (Kennedy Expway/Wisconsin border/Indiana toll road)
- 94 (Kennedy Expway/Wisconsin border/Bishop Ford freeway/Indiana)
- 290 (Eisenhower Expway/Western suburbs)
What Truck Accident Victims Should Know
Many local companies and long-haul truckers use Chicago’s freeways and expressways, hauling tons of products, goods, and fuel every day. The truck’s sheer size and weight could create catastrophic consequences when colliding with passenger vehicles and pickup trucks.
Many local area freeway accidents result from negligence by the trucker, trucking company, and others.
Contributing factors for severe crashes usually involve:
- Exhausted truckers failing to obey Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations to take mandatory breaks and follow “hours of service” regulations
- Truckers driving at excessive speeds or making illegal/unsafe lane changes
- Improperly loaded or overloaded trucks cause cargo to shift and raise the center of gravity
- Tailgating, resulting in rear-end crashes
- Truckers driving distracted while operating navigation/radio (electronic devices) or talking on cell phones
- Driving under the influence of alcohol, prescription medications, or illegal drugs
The federal government has heavily regulated the interstate trucking industry since 1939. However, trucking companies still fail to follow the best hiring practices, employing inexperienced drivers who lacked training and experience.
Recent Dan Ryan Truck Accidents
Heavily congested traffic and fully loaded semi-tractor-trailers traveling at high speeds create hazardous conditions for all motorists on Chicago’s freeways. The area experiences severe weather conditions, increasing the risk of catastrophic injuries when visibility is low and snow/ice accumulates on city streets and freeways.
Many accidents involving 18-wheelers, semi-tractor-trailers, long-haul truckers, and commercial vehicles involved distracted driving, DUI, and illegal maneuvers. Truckers are often distracted while texting/talking on their smartphones, illegally merging into another lane, and failing to see vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists when turning due to their blind spots.
The 2018 Illinois DOT truck crash statistics revealed over 13,000 crashes resulting in 122 deaths and 2035 injuries. Recently reported accidents on Chicago’s expressways and freeways include:
Englewood, Illinois, February 2021 – Illinois State Police and local law enforcement closed all eastbound and westbound lanes around 11:00 P.M., to deal with a fatal crash on the Dan Ryan near 65th St. on Tuesday night. The accident killed two people, including a thirty-five-year-old Chicago Heights man and a seventeen-year-old boy dead.
A sixteen-year-old child was also seriously hurt in the overnight crash. The one-vehicle accident occurred when the man was speeding, lost control, and crashed into the Expressway’s concrete barrier before flipping and hitting a median pole.
The local fire department extricated the driver and both passengers. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) transported all victims to local area hospitals. Two of the decedents were pronounced dead at St. Bernard Hospital Tuesday night.
Chicago, September 2020 – Illinois State Police said all Dan Ryan Expressway lanes were closed while they responded to a Friday morning fatal accident involving two people near the CTA Red Line tracks on Chicago’s south side. The motorcycle crash killed one person and left another severely injured after midnight.
A preliminary investigation by the Illinois State Police revealed that the forty-year-old motorcyclist was speeding in an Interstate 94 Express Lane before striking a concrete median. The impact threw both riders on the CTA Red Line tracks near 47th St.
The motorcyclist and his fifty-five-year-old female passenger were both from Country Club Hills. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) transported the motorcyclist with life-threatening injuries to the University of Chicago Medical Center. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene.
The state police said the closed freeway lanes and the Red Line Service reopened around 7:30 A.M. About the time that the accident occurred, a passenger vehicle on the Dan Ryan southbound lane near the 63rd St., Skyway ramp was involved in multiple shootings.
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) transported that victim with severe injuries to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Chicago, March 2014 – Illinois State Police closed southbound lanes to investigate a crash on the Dan Ryan near 87th St. The Monday morning accident involved a female driver killed after hitting a tow truck and crashing into a divider wall near the CTA Red Line.
A preliminary investigation report revealed that the female was speeding in the freeway’s center lane before losing control of her passenger vehicle and hitting a semi-tractor trailer in the right lane. The forceful impact caused the vehicle to roll over, striking the concrete median that separates the CTA Red Line Tracks and the Expressway.
Officials pronounced the woman who had not been wearing a seat belt dead at the scene. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) transported the truck driver to Roseland Community Hospital. No other people were involved in the crash.
The accident impact threw concrete debris from the southbound lane onto the Red Line tracks. Crews cleared debris and reopened the street and tracks at about 11 A.M.
Hire a Personal Injury Attorney to Resolve your Truck Accident Claim
Were you injured, or was a loved one killed in a Dan Ryan truck accident? Call our personal injury lawyers at (888) 424-5757 to schedule a free consultation to discuss your legal rights.
Our interstate injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC will advise you on your best financial options in filing a personal injury claim. Our law office does not charge legal fees until after the compensation case is successfully resolved.
Did the negligence of another take the life of your loved one? You can file a wrongful death lawsuit to pay for your monetary damages, lost earnings, grief, pain, and suffering.
All information you and your loved ones share with our personal injury lawyers remains private and confidential through an attorney-client relationship. Our Chicago truck accident attorneys currently follow CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines on Covid-19 social distancing to maintain everyone’s well-being.
Our practice areas include workplace injuries, car crashes, premises liability, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, product liability, and wrongful death. Our attorneys currently represent injured clients throughout Illinois in Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, Peoria County, Sangamon County, Will County, Winnebago County, Aurora, Joliet, Schaumburg, and Waukegan.
