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Why Are Speeding Trucks More Likely To Cause Accidents? | IL
Truckers often have tight delivery schedules, which may motivate them to break speed limits or drive faster than they should for road or weather conditions. While any speeding driver can cause an injury accident, large trucks have specific factors that increase the likelihood of crashes due to excess speed. Were you injured in a speeding truck collision? The knowledgeable lawyers at Salvi & Maher, LLP can help.
What Factors Make Speeding Trucks So Dangerous?
Did you know that a fully loaded semi can weigh 80,000 pounds? This is more than just an interesting fact; it is also a contributing factor to why speeding trucks often cause collisions.
Longer Stopping Distance
Although passenger vehicle weights vary, the average is around 4,000 pounds. Under ideal conditions, a car traveling at 65 mph needs approximately 316 feet to come to a stop. Under the exact same conditions, a fully loaded big rig traveling at the same speed needs around 525 feet to stop. Speeds higher than 65 mph mean the truck needs even more distance.
Why Should You Take Photos at Your Injury Accident Scene? | IL
There are countless articles detailing steps you should take after an accident. The advice varies, but most lists include taking photos at the scene of your personal injury accident. Have you wondered why this is advised?
The photos you take can serve as vital evidence to support your claim for compensation. Your experienced lawyer from Salvi & Maher, LLP can use them in various ways when building your case.
What Kinds of Photos Should You Take?
The purpose of taking pictures and making videos is to capture several details surrounding your accident and resulting injuries accurately. Whether you are involved in a car crash, truck accident, slip-and-fall accident, dog bite, or other incident that injures you, you should record:
What Is Apportionment in Workers’ Comp Claims?
With few exceptions, Illinois law requires employers to provide workers’ compensation insurance policies for their employees. These policies offer benefits to workers injured on the job or while doing job-related tasks. Unlike personal injury claims, a workers’ comp claim is not fault-based. That means you do not have to prove how and why your accident happened to receive benefits.
Most insurance companies are reluctant to pay claims, and those providing workers’ comp policies are no different. They may try to use apportionment to reduce your compensation. Unless you have an experienced lawyer from Salvi & Maher, LLP on your side, they may get away with it.
What Is Apportionment?
When referring to workers’ comp claims, apportionment is a division of benefits based on proportional liability. Although you do not have to prove the cause of your accident, liable insurance companies may try to manipulate the circumstances and state that either your injury did not happen at work or that your work injury is not totally responsible for your condition. If the latter happens, they will likely pay you only for a portion of your benefits.
Why Is Distracted Driving So Dangerous?
Any person who gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle assumes a legal obligation to drive safely and use care to avoid harming others. Distracted driving violates that duty of care, potentially causing injury or fatal car collisions. Because distracted driving is a form of negligence, injured accident victims may be able to obtain compensation from the at-fault driver.
Why are distractions so dangerous? What is negligence, and how does it affect your claim? The personal injury lawyers at Salvi & Maher, LLP will explain and help you pursue your legal options.
What Is Distracted Driving?
Driving distractions can be audible (sounds), cognitive (thoughts), manual (hands), or visual (sights). Driving safely requires that a driver’s attention is focused on driving, his hands on the steering wheel, his eyes on the road, and that sounds like music are not so loud that the driver cannot hear sirens or horns blaring.
Can You Get a Personal Injury Payout from the Government?
You probably know that when someone else causes an accident that injures you, you might be eligible to obtain compensation. This fact can apply to drivers, business and property owners, and other responsible parties. What if a federal, state, or local government agency plays a part in causing your accident? Can you file a personal injury claim and collect a settlement for your damages? These cases have unique challenges, but an experienced lawyer from Salvi & Maher, LLP can help you overcome them.
Can You File a Personal Injury Claim Against Government Agencies in Illinois?
Various government agencies are responsible for providing proper design and maintenance of things like:
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Government buildings, including offices, libraries, courthouses, and post offices
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Public parks, parking garages, swimming pools, playgrounds, and other similar spaces
How Can Fatigue Affect Driving, and Why Should You Care?
Anyone who gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle has a legal duty to use reasonable care to avoid causing injury accidents. You probably know that things like speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving often lead to collisions, but did you know that excessive fatigue can also result in crashes?
Fatigue can cause impairments that increase the risk of causing an accident. If a fatigued driver causes a truck accident, car crash, or other kind of motor vehicle accident that injures you, you may be entitled to compensation. Working with our skilled Lake County, IL personal injury lawyers can increase your chances of a favorable outcome.
Why Is Fatigued Driving Dangerous?
Everyone gets tired after a long day, but being tired is different from being fatigued. Fatigue is a deeper level of exhaustion. Frequent causes of fatigue include:
Can I Claim Wrongful Death With Pre-Existing Conditions?
If someone dies as a result of another person’s willful act or negligence, it could be classified as a wrongful death. The victim’s family may be able to bring a wrongful death claim against the defendant and collect significant compensation for damages. The damages claimed in a wrongful death case are usually higher than those claimed for other personal injuries. This is because the loss of a relative can cause other losses, like the loss of intimacy and companionship a wife experiences when her husband dies. Such damages are referred to as non-economic damages.
But what if the victim suffered from a pre-existing condition that may have contributed to the death? Is it still entirely the defendant’s fault? Can the deceased’s relatives still claim compensation for damages? Read on to find out the answers to those questions below. Keep in mind, however, that an Illinois personal injury attorney is the best legal resource for questions about your specific wrongful death case.
Can I Sue a Restaurant for Giving Me Food Poisoning?
Nearly 50 million Americans contract food poisoning, or foodborne illnesses, each year. Almost 130,000 of those people are hospitalized, and more than 3,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the last week alone, the CDC has warned of a listeria outbreak associated with deli meats that left 12 people hospitalized and two dead.
If you have contracted a foodborne illness, the manufacturer of the food may be liable under product liability laws. If you became ill from food you ate at a restaurant, then the restaurant is considered the food manufacturer and may be liable for damages. This is due to a legal principle known as strict liability.
Can I Get Workers’ Comp if I Work From Home?
Working from home has ballooned in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 22 million Americans — or about 14 percent of adults — work from home, while 41 percent do so on at least a part-time basis. By 2025, over a quarter of Americans are expected to work remotely. Remote work is so popular, in fact, that 42 percent of office workers say they would take a 10 percent pay cut just to do so.
This new increase in remote work, however, has also led to increased questions about workers’ compensation. Can you claim compensation for a work injury suffered at home? Is your employer responsible for your safety if you work remotely?
The answer is that your employer may still be liable for certain injuries if you work from home, which this article will explore. If you were injured while working remotely, consult an Illinois workers’ compensation attorney to discuss your legal options.
What Can I Do If I Was Injured at a Concert in Illinois?
Imagine you attend a concert in Illinois. During the event, a metal pipe falls from the ceiling and hits your head, causing an injury. Or, suppose one of the concertgoers assaults and seriously injures you. These incidents might fall under an area of personal injury law called premises liability.
Premises liability means that whoever owns or manages a property is responsible for taking reasonable care to avoid injuries on that property. Otherwise, he or she is considered negligent. If someone sustains an injury due to that negligence, the owner or manager can be liable to pay for damages resulting from the injury.
This article will discuss examples of negligence at a concert and who is responsible. If you or someone you know has sustained an injury at a concert, be sure to consult an Illinois premises liability attorney.
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.
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