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The Chicago pedestrian accident attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers are committed to securing the most favorable outcome for pedestrians injured in Illinois. Our law firm regularly represents men, women and children who have been hit by cars and trucks in downtown Chicago and surrounding areas.
Given the severity of most pedestrian accidents, you understandably want a law firm who has experience with high-stakes injury cases. On numerous occasions our attorneys have secured seven-figure recoveries for injured pedestrians. One of our recent settlements involved a $3,000,000.00 recovery for a disabled man struck by a turning garbage truck.
When you are ready to hold a driver responsible for an Illinois pedestrian accident, contact our Chicago accident law firm for a free case evaluation. You will speak to an experienced pedestrian accident attorney who will only get paid when your case is resolved. While we are headquartered in Chicago, our office serves all of Illinois in pedestrian injury and fatality lawsuits.
Every eight minutes, a pedestrian is injured in an automobile accident (according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). In the course of a year, automobile accidents involving pedestrians claim almost 5,000 lives and result in 70,000 injuries.
Due to the mechanism of automobile accidents involving pedestrians, we tend to see some of the most severe injuries, ones that frequently result in life-long disability. Amongst the injuries commonly incurred by pedestrians involved in motor vehicle accidents include:
In a study conducted by the Division of Trauma in Los Angeles CA, over 5,800 pedestrian accidents were reviewed. The most common type of severe injury to pedestrians was head injuries, followed by injuries to the chest, abdomen and then extremities. The study linked both vehicle speed and age of the pedestrian to the severity and the survival outcome.
Dominique G.
In 2007 alone, 4,654 pedestrians were killed, and close to 70,000 people were injured in pedestrian-related traffic accidents. More than 170 of those fatalities were here in the state of Illinois, and 49 pedestrian fatalities were in Chicago. The Illinois Department of Transportation reported a dramatic increase in pedestrian deaths in Chicago, rising to 56 in 2008.
The majority of pedestrian accidents happen in urban areas, in fact the National Safety Council estimates that 85.7% of non-fatal pedestrian accidents happen in these areas. However, most likely due to the higher speeds that are often used in rural areas versus city streets, 27% of fatalities to pedestrians in 2010 happened in a rural setting.
The chance of fatality increases exponentially with the speed at which a person is struck by a vehicle. At 20 MPH, the chance of fatality is 5%. At 30 MPH, that chance increases to 45% and at 40 MPH, the chance skyrockets to 85%. Small increases in speed can cause much more serious injuries and even death. Speed is one of the factors that must be looked at when evaluating a pedestrian-motor vehicle accident case.
Pedestrian Accident Studies in ChicagoIn a study released by the Chicago Department of Transportation in 2011, the types of pedestrian-vehicle accidents in Chicago showed some alarming trends. The majority of accidents were caused by drivers refusing to yield or stop for pedestrians.
- 48% of these accidents were attributed to drivers not yielding. This was the highest ranked cause of pedestrian accidents in Chicago.
- 33% of all the accidents studied were hit and run. These also made up 40% of the fatal pedestrian accidents - double the national average. There was an average of two hit and run pedestrian accidents per day over a 5-year period in Chicago.
- Over 50% of the accidents involved a turning vehicle. Turning left, versus right, accounted for over double the turning accidents.
Unknown to many, a new Illinois law forces drivers to stop for pedestrians within the confines of a crosswalk. The new law is far more restrictive than the former law, which merely required drivers to “yield” to pedestrians within crosswalks. Similarly, the new crosswalk law applies to all intersections, not just those controlled by traffic signals.
In addition to the above, Illinois has an entire section of the Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/Ch. 11) dedicated to pedestrian rights and drivers' responsibilities. Understanding this portion of the code is essential for pedestrians injured in accidents with motorists.
While there are specific portions of the code which dictate to how a driver is to respond to a pedestrian in a specific circumstance, Section 11-1003.1 is the most comprehensive and is relied upon when drafting many of our pedestrian accident lawsuits. The Section states: "Notwithstanding other provisions of this Code or the provisions of any local ordinance, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding any any pedestrian, or any person operating a bicycle or other device propelled by human power and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused, incapacitation or intoxicated person."
Why You May Need a Chicago Pedestrian Accident Law Firm to Help You Get Financial Compensation for Your Injuries
Of course no one can anticipate getting injured in a pedestrian accident. However, the steps you take-- or fail to take following an incident can have a substantial impact on your ability to recover from the driver who may have caused the incident.
Like all accident cases, as the party injured, you have the burden of establishing the negligent conduct of a driver resulted in the collision and your injuries. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers knows the law related to Illinois accident cases and immediately gets to work to help in assembling the most favorable case for our clients involved in pedestrian accidents. Our attorneys regularly take the following steps on behalf of our injured clients:
- Ordering medical records and bills
- Obtaining witness statements
- Consulting with treating physicians to appreciate the significance of the injury
- Calculating wage loss information related to injuries
- Seeking court intervention in order to secure video footage of an incident
- Photographing the scene of an accident
- Communicating with medical insurance companies seeking subrogation payment from a case.
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers’ active involvement in both legal associations and consumer advocacy groups allows us to remain on the cutting edge with respect to new developments in the law and how they may impact our clients. Getting involved in the community not only allows our attorneys to stay up-to-date with legal developments, but allows us to help create policies that will improve the safety for everyone in our community.
If you suffered a pedestrian-related traffic injury in Chicago, you might have legal rights to recover for the injuries sustained. The Chicago pedestrian accident attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers represents pedestrians in all types of personal injury matters including car accidents, hit-and-run drivers and collisions with commercial vehicles. Our legal consultations are free, and we will give you a candid evaluation of your case.
Chicago Pedestrian Accident Resources:
http://safety.transportation.org/htmlguides/peds/types_of_probs.htm
http://www.cityofchicago.org
http://www.slideshare.net/phcworld/pedestrian-vehicle-accidents-common-injuries-patterns
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15325607
