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What Happens When Accident Involves an Uninsured Driver in Illinois?
While it is prudent to have insurance at all times to protect yourself and others when you are out driving in the event of a motor vehicle accident, some people end up driving vehicles that are uninsured or do not have adequate insurance. One of the worries or concerns immediately following an accident is who will be responsible for the damages caused by the accident or which insurance policy will cover the damage or loss suffered, including personal injuries.
Protecting Against Uninsured Motorists
Under Illinois law, all insurers are required to offer uninsured motorist insurance as well as coverage for underinsured drivers. This means your own insurance policy typically provides protection against damages or injuries caused by a negligent uninsured or underinsured driver.
If you are involved in an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver, and that driver is at fault, you have rights to seek compensation for any damages, injuries or loss suffered from the accident. You exercise these rights by filing a claim, which can be time-consuming and demanding as to specific requirements and complying with various timelines, if the claim is to be successfully considered.
How to Avoid Failure to Yield Accidents in Illinois
There are many reasons why motor vehicle accidents occur. Chief among them include driver fatigue, mistakes, distracted driving and driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. A common accident that occurs when under any of these circumstances is one where a driver fails to yield and causes an accident. The accident could involve another vehicle or other people using the road such as pedestrians or cyclists.
When to Yield
Under Illinois law, you are required to yield under the following circumstances:
- Stop Signs. You must yield to any pedestrian or traffic already on the intersection. If it is a four-way stop, the first driver arriving and stopping at the intersection is the one to move first. If all drivers arrive at the intersection at the same time, then the vehicle to the right should move first.
What Is Drugged Driving in Illinois?
Drugged driving occurs when someone drives a vehicle while impaired from the intoxicating effects of recent drug use. Illinois has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drugged driving, and it does not matter whether the drugs are prescribed or not. This is because drugged driving and related accidents is becoming worse in the state.
Drugged Driving Problem on the Rise
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a roadside survey in 2014 found that more than 22 percent of all participating drivers tested positive for illicit substances, prescription medications, or non-prescription over-the-counter drugs. Driving with drugs in one’s system puts the driver, passengers and other drivers at serious risk of injury, just like the use of alcohol and driving does.
The Dangers of Drugged Driving
What You Should Know About Accidents Involving Teenage Drivers in Illinois
A leading cause of death for teenagers in the U.S. is motor vehicle accidents. According to most recent available statistics, six teens between the ages of 16 and 19 die every day from motor vehicle-related injuries. Teens in the same age group are nearly three times more likely to be in a fatal crash than are drivers aged 20 years and older. Many of these crashes are entirely preventable, if parents and teenage drivers heed advice given by experts who have studied this issue.
Illinois State Laws on Teenage Driving
To curb this increasing problem of teen accidents, the state of Illinois, like many others across the country, has put in place restrictions intended to ensure that teen drivers have enough training and supervision to minimize or altogether eliminate serious injury caused by these accidents involving teenage drivers. The law in Illinois requires that a teenage driver must complete a state-approved education course. Additionally, the driver’s parent or guardian must certify that the teen has attended and completed at least 50 hours of driving practice, ten of which must be driving at night.
Can I Be Compensated for Injuries from an Accident Involving Emergency Vehicle?
We have all been there: a fire truck is barreling down the street at high speed with sirens and horns blaring, but we are not quite sure which direction the fire truck is coming from or heading. We then see it just as we move over as required under the law, but others are not quite so lucky, as the next thing they know, is they either have been hit by the fire truck or they have hit something while trying to avoid the first-response vehicle.
Passengers in Accidents Involving Emergency Vehicle
If an accident occurs involving a firetruck or other emergency vehicle and you are a passenger in a car involved in the accident, you may have a legal right to seek compensation. How you proceed in seeking that compensation will depend on who caused the accident.
The first thing to be determined after an accident involving an emergency vehicle—after taking care of those who were injured—is whether this was a failure to yield accident or one in violation of the Illinois “Move Over” law. That finding will then determine the legal consequences to follow, if any.
Obtaining Compensation for a Hit-and-Run Accident
It is the law in Illinois that a driver involved in an accident must remain at the scene, except if he or she needs immediate medical attention. It is also the law that the driver must provide specific information to law enforcement and to the other drivers and/or passengers involved in the accident.
A driver who leaves the scene without meeting these requirements may be found guilty of a felony and have his or her driver’s license revoked. The consequences are more severe if the accident results in death.
Reasons Why Drivers Leave Scene of Accident
One reason drivers flee an accident scene that they have caused is intoxication—they may fear being charged with a DUI. Another reason is already being in violation of other laws such as driving without a license, registration or insurance. It may also be the case the vehicle is stolen, and the driver takes off before the cops come. A driver may also flee because he or has arrest warrants for other, unrelated alleged crimes.
Can a Social Host Be Held Liable for Serving Alcohol to a Minor in Illinois?
For more than a century, the law in Illinois was such that a person who provided alcohol to a guest could not be held legally responsible for any damage caused by the guest’s intoxication, such as a car accident or assaulting someone in a drunken stupor causing serious injury. It did not matter whether the guest was an adult or minor. Neither did the circumstances matter under which the alcohol was served.
Social Host Liability in Illinois
However, after more than one century of resisting, Illinois relented to pressure and adopted social host liability laws. Social host liability mandates that anyone who gives alcohol to others must exercise care to avoid allowing any of their guests to become drunk.
In the past, a homeowner in Illinois could not be held for the actions of any of their guests who became intoxicated and caused harm to people or damage to property. The rationale behind this was that it was the person who drank the alcohol that was responsible for their actions, not the homeowner or host.
When ATV Accidents Occur in Illinois
All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are popular throughout the United States, especially in rural areas where they are used for recreation and farm work. Illinois is no exception to this trend, but along with the increased popularity of these motorized vehicles, there has been an increase in the number of serious and even deaths from accidents involving ATVs.
ATV Accidents by the Numbers
According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, there are about 650 deaths and 100,000 injuries every year involving ATVs and in 2014, the most recent year where reporting is considered complete, there were 588 reported ATV-related fatalities in the country in that year alone and 73 (12%) were children younger than 16 years old. In Illinois alone, there have been 283 ATV related deaths between 1982 and 2014.
Causes of ATV Accidents
There are many causes of ATV accidents but the most common are:
Is Lake County, IL Home to America’s Worst Drivers?
When you drive on 94 or 41, do you ever feel like you are dodging terrible drivers right and left? You may think your city has the worst drivers in America, but you would be wrong. The rates of car accident claims and hard-braking events are relatively low in most of the Chicago metropolitan area relative to the rest of the country, according to the Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report 2019. Five Chicago cities were included on this year’s ranking of 200 American cities, and you may be surprised to learn how they placed.
Among Illinois Large Cities, Rockford Has the Safest Drivers
Four Chicagoland cities placed in the top third for driver safety. Rockford ranked 32nd, with the average driver making an auto insurance claim every 10.9 years and experiencing 23.7 hard-braking events per 1,000 miles driven. For perspective, the national average is 10.6 years between claims and 19 hard-braking events per 1,000 miles driven.
Is a Driver At Fault for an Accident Caused When Their Car Hydroplanes?
Summer thunderstorms can be dangerous, and not just because of the risk of being hit by lightning. Heavy rainfall can result in reduced visibility, slippery pavement, standing water, an/or driver fatigue on Lake County roadways. Not surprisingly, storms generally cause the number of car accidents to rise. According to the US Department of Transportation, one in seven motor vehicle accidents and injuries can be traced to wet pavement.
Who Is At-Fault in a Weather-Related Accident?
In order to claim compensation for injuries sustained in a car accident, you have to determine which driver was at fault and prove that their negligent behavior caused the accident.
For example, if you rear-end the car in front of you on the road on a clear-weather day because you were looking at your phone or got drowsy and were not paying enough attention to the surrounding traffic, you will generally be deemed at fault.
Contact a Lake County Vehicle Accident Attorney Who is Ready to Help You
If you or a member of your family has been injured in a motor vehicle accident, contact our office. Call 847-662-3303 to set up a free initial consultation at one of our four convenient locations. There is no risk because we only collect fees if you collect compensation. With offices in Libertyville, Waukegan, Richmond, and Chicago, we represent clients in Lake County, Cook County, DuPage County, and McHenry County.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
