Truck Accidents
After An Auto Accident: Why You Need An Experienced Injury Attorney To Win Your Case
After you have been injured in an auto crash, you must take steps to protect you and your case right away. The insurance company for the other driver and its adjustors and private investigators will immediately launch into defense mode to protect the insurance company and its money—not you. There are many things that you yourself can do protect you and your case, but, ultimately, you should hire an experienced attorney who can investigate, preserve the evidence, and build a winning case.
Contact and Hire an Experienced, Good Personal Injury Attorney
Consultations are usually free. Do not delay! Know how to interview and hire a good personal injury attorney.
Your attorney can act quickly to investigate the facts and obtain and preserve evidence to prove the other driver’s negligence. For example:
- Your attorney can quickly contact eyewitnesses and obtain recorded interviews. Over time, witnesses often forget the details of an accident. Obtaining an effective interview can be used to refresh the witness’s memory months later. A digitally recorded eyewitness interview may end up winning your case.
- Your attorney can have either your vehicle or the other driver’s vehicle inspected for physical damage patterns and points of impact between the vehicles. Digital images of the physical damage pattern to a vehicle can prove the nature and extent of the impact that caused your injuries. The deformation pattern to the frame of a vehicle can show severe impact. Digital photographs of the points of physical impact on a vehicle can prove which driver likely had the right of way. If there is minimal visible damage to a vehicle’s rear bumper, then your attorney may have an auto mechanic inspect for structural frame damage that occurred to the vehicle but was obscured by the high-impact bumpers.
- Your attorney may even download the event data recorder (EDR), also known as the “black box,” of the other driver’s vehicle to prove speeds before impact or distance travelled by a vehicle before the driver actually applied the brakes before impact.
- Your attorney may obtain traffic camera data from a camera which was located at or near the scene of a traffic accident which captured the collision and, most importantly, the color of the traffic light at the time of the accident. This camera footage can win your negligence case—but it must be requested and obtained before it is automatically erased. For a state-controlled highway or road this requires a Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) under Illinois law 5 ILCS 120/1 (1966 & Supp 2010). For a City of Chicago accident scene, this requires a FOIA request on the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). An experienced attorney knows how to obtain this camera data.
- A properly drafted FOIA request can result in obtaining documents that show:
- Video recording of the collision or traffic light control colors (i.e. red, yellow or green);
- What traffic controls were installed and why;
- Pavement markings for traffic control and direction of traffic; and/or
- Recent roadway construction at the scene and lane configuration.
The evidence obtained by an experienced attorney will be available throughout your case to prove that the other driver was negligent and caused your injuries. Again, don’t delay in this crucial step to preserving your case!
Why Kurt D. Lloyd Is the Personal Injury Attorney For You
As one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers for civil cases in the state of Illinois—15 years running—Kurt Lloyd has the knowledge and expertise to take your auto accident case all the way to trial and win big.
Other attorneys have rated him A+ for trial skills. He has won a national award for his jury trial skills. Kurt has even written a book On Jury Selection for young Illinois lawyers. With vast experience in auto accidents, chances are Kurt Lloyd has handled a case like yours. Call attorney Kurt D. Lloyd at Grazian & Volpe today. 773-838-8100 Or, fill out our online form for a free consultation.
The above article was written by Kurt D. Lloyd of Grazian & Volpe. Kurt Lloyd has been practicing personal injury law in the Chicagoland area for over 30 years and has helped his clients win more than $355 million in jury verdicts and settlements from insurance companies and corporations. Kurt helps his injured clients regain their lives after injury. The information provided comes from his extensive legal and medical research and years of experience trying injury cases in courtrooms throughout Illinois.
After An Auto Accident: What to Do to Protect You and Your Case
After you have been injured in an auto crash, you must take steps to protect you and your case right away. The insurance company for the other driver and its adjustors and private investigators launch into a defense mode to protect the insurance company and its money, not you. There are many things that you can do protect you and your case. You must:
1. Seek appropriate medical treatment
If you have been hurt, or don’t know if you have been hurt, then you should visit the local hospital Emergency Department right away. A trained medical professional should evaluate your head, neck, and back and obtain appropriate tests, such as x-rays and scans. If you don’t get evaluated right away, then the insurance company will later argue that you must not have been really hurt. When you are discharged from the Emergency Department, follow the recommendations. If you are supposed to follow-up with a physician, do so.
2. Make a Police Report for the Traffic Accident
If you are at the scene, call the police. If you left the scene, go to the local Police Department and make a report. If you don’t make a report, then an insurance company can deny insurance coverage or claim that the accident did not happen the way you say it did.
3. Take Photographs of Your Vehicle
A picture is worth a thousand words. A digital photograph taken with your smartphone will preserve evidence of the damage from the collision and prove how hard the impact was. Try to photograph the other driver’s vehicle at the scene, if you are able.
4. Keep All Your Medical Bills, Medical Appliances, Prescription Medication Bottles, and Medical Records
If your case goes to jury, all of these can be used as compelling evidence of your injury and rehabilitation.
5. Contact and Hire a Good Personal Injury Attorney
Consultations are usually free. DO NOT DELAY! Call us now at 773.838.8100.
Want to learn more? Click here to learn how to interview and hire a good personal injury attorney.
An experienced attorney can act quickly to preserve evidence to prove the other driver’s negligence:
He can obtain interviews of an eyewitness and record it. This interview may make or break your case.
He can inspect your motor vehicle or the defendant’s vehicle for physical damage patterns and points of impact between the vehicles. Digital images of the physical damage can prove the nature and extent of the impact. If there is minimal visible damage of an impact, then the attorney may have an auto mechanic inspect it for structural frame damage that occurred but was obscured by the high-impact bumpers.
A good attorney may even download the event data recorder (EDR), also known as the “black box,” from one of the involved vehicles to prove its speed before impact and its braking distance before the defendant actually applied the brakes before impact.
Often, a municipal controlled traffic camera was located at or near the scene of a traffic accident and it captured the collision or the color of traffic light controls. This could ultimately win your negligence case. These include the request on the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) or Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). But obtaining this data requires an Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request under Illinois law 5 ILCS 120/1 (1966 & Supp 2010), which a good attorney knows how to request and obtain.
A FOIA document response may show:
- Video recording of the collision or traffic light control colors, i.e. red, yellow or green;
- What traffic controls were installed and why;
- Pavement markings for traffic control and direction of traffic; and/or
- Recent roadway construction at the scene and lane configuration.
While there is a lot you yourself can do to protect your case after an accident, there is no substitute for competent and experienced attorney who has handled such accidents before. So, while you should do all you can to preserve the evidence in your case, you should also consult an attorney soon after the accident.
Why Kurt D. Lloyd Is the Personal Injury Attorney For You
Other attorneys have rated him A+ for trial skills, and he has won a national award for his jury trial skills. Kurt has even written a book On Jury Selection for Illinois lawyers. With vast experience in auto accidents, chances are Kurt Lloyd has handled a case like yours. Call attorney Kurt D. Lloyd at Grazian & Volpe today at 773.838.8100, or fill out our online form for a free consultation.
The above article was written by Kurt D. Lloyd of Grazian & Volpe. Kurt Lloyd has been practicing personal injury law in the Chicagoland area for over 30 years and has helped his clients win more than $355 million in jury verdicts and settlements from insurance companies and corporations. Kurt helps his injured clients regain their lives after injury. The information provided comes from his extensive legal and medical research and years of experience trying injury cases in courtrooms throughout Illinois.
Auto Accident: How Do You Find A Good Personal Injury Attorney
After you have been injured in an auto crash, your life can feel upended—even desperate. So how do you find a good Personal Injury Attorney to help you get your life back again?
Watch out for the smiling attorney on highway billboards with big $$$ signs, or the sharply dressed attorney on a TV commercial of promising big money. Did you know that some of these personal injury attorneys have never won a jury trial for a client in their careers? In fact, they have never been involved in a jury trial. Some of these TV lawyers don’t even know where the courthouse is!
Keep in mind: an attorney does not need to have a winning success rate in and out of court in order to buy a Billboard Ad or Smile on a late-night TV commercial. What is being advertised is quick cash. The defense attorneys know who these “TV talkers” and Billboard boys” are and, most important, so do the insurance companies which write the checks and decide for how much.
Instead, you need to find and hire an experienced, good Personal Injury Attorney who actually obtains well-earned settlements and wins jury trials.
Finding A Personal Injury Attorney: Know What to Ask
Personal Injury Attorneys offer a free consultation on your case. This is where and when you can determine whether the attorney is worth your case. You should ask:
- What’s the attorney’s win rate in court for auto crash cases?
Make sure the attorney goes to court when necessary and that he wins more cases than he loses. Insurance defense lawyers know who these attorneys are and will often settle for the full value of your case with these injury attorneys.
- How many auto injury cases does the attorney handle “hands-on” every year?
Make sure the attorney doesn’t hand-off his cases to paralegals and secretaries to be processed for a quick cash settlement.
- How many cases did the injury attorney settle last year and for what average value?
Make sure that the attorney did not settle each of his cases for the cost of medical care. You want to know that the attorney settled each of his client’s cases for at least two or three times the value of his medical bills.
By asking these questions you will get a sense of the attorney’s competence and success and what his or her firm is like. This will enable you to make a more informed decision about who you will allow to represent you.
Why Kurt D. Lloyd is Personal Injury Attorney for You
Other attorneys have rated him A+ for trial skills. He has won a national award for his jury trial skills. Kurt has even written a book On Jury Selection for Illinois lawyers. With vast experience in auto accidents, chances are Kurt Lloyd has handled a case like yours. Call attorney Kurt D. Lloyd at Grazian & Volpe today at 773.838.8100, or fill out our online form for a free consultation.
The above article was written by Kurt D. Lloyd of Grazian & Volpe. Kurt Lloyd has been practicing personal injury law in the Chicagoland area for over 30 years and has helped his clients win more than $355 million in jury verdicts and settlements from insurance companies and corporations. Kurt helps his injured clients regain their lives after injury. The information provided comes from his extensive legal and medical research and years of experience trying injury cases in courtrooms throughout Illinois.
Bicycle and Large Truck Accidents and Deaths Rise Suddenly and Sharply
Deaths of bicyclists and occupants of large trucks rose sharply last year even as total traffic fatalities dropped to their lowest level since 1949 according to federal safety officials. Bicyclists deaths jumped 8.7 percent and deaths of occupants of large trucks increased 20 percent while overall traffic fatalities dropped 1.9 percent.
The increase in bicycle deaths may reflect more people riding bicycles to work and for pleasure according to Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association which represents state highway safety agencies.
For example, in Washington D.C. there has been at 175 percent increase in bicyclists during morning and evening rush hours since 2004.
The increase in large truck accidents in death may be more difficult to ascertain. The NHTSA is working with the Federal Motor Carrier Administration to gather more information to better understand the reason for the increase. Industry officials suspect there may be a connection between states increasing their speed limits and the increase in deaths. Texas has increased the speed limit to 85 mph on Highway 130 between Austin and San Antonio with a correlating increase in accidents.
Grazian and Volpe cannot stress enough the need for bicyclists to obey safety laws. where protective gear and use equipment and clothing that is lighted and/or visible in all weather conditions.
Remember-it is always better to stay safe and avoid accidents but if you can’t stay safe stay with Grazian and Volpe – Chicagoland’s Injury Lawyers for over 30 years.
New Weapon in the Prevention of Truck Jacknifes and Truck Accidents
While driving my daughter to college last week we were stopped in each direction for over 2 hours while troopers cleared truck accidents caused by jack-knifed trucks. As a personal injury attorney with many years of experience one would think I would be unfazed by accident. However, truck accidents make my blood run cold and simply seeing the aftermath of these truck accidents conjures up graphic pictures of the horrible personal injuries and fatalities suffered by those involved.
It is especially tragic when the truck driver was driving while fatigued or distracted and the accident was preventable. However the injuries are no less severe than when the accident was not preventable has in the case of a jack-knifed truck. Truck accidents involving tractor-trailers are especially dangerous.
Anti-lock and electromagnetic brakes can help, and some trucks have devices that limit the angle between the tractor and trailer at higher speeds. Now engineers at the University of Patras in Greece have created a new kingpin (where the trailer is hitched to the tractor) than can slide parallel to the tractor’s rear axle so the trailer won’t swing out into the road during a truck crash. The sliding pin would only be activated during an emergency.
Grazian and Volpe applaud all new devices aimed at making our roads safer-let’s hope this new tool finds quick implementation. Remember it is always best to stay safe but if you can’t stay safe stay with Grazian and Volpe, your Chicagoland Injury Lawyers for over 30 years.
New Tool in the War on Texting and Driving
Your Chicago Injury Attorneys at Grazian and Volpe make a good living from the negligence of those who text and drive and cause car accidents and truck accidents. However, we would certainly prefer our clients and the general public stay safe and avoid personal injury. We may be lawyers but we still are humans!
I just spent 20 hours driving cross country to get my youngest daughter off to her first year of college. My wife and I witnessed many car drivers of cars and trucks who were texting while driving at speeds well over 60 miles per hour. The majority of these drivers were truck drivers. It was so prolific that we started a car game competition to see who could spot the most truck drivers texting. Unfortunately, we found most truck drivers were texting and the competition was to find the drivers that were not texting! Studies show that this is more dangerous than drinking while driving and more likely to cause serious personal injury and wrongful death. Yet texting while driving appears to be on the increase.
I was very pleased to see a recent article in Investor’s Business Daily which reported the invention of a new deivice designed to prevent this dangerous practice. Anna University researchers in India have found a way to detect when someone is texting, and then jam the phone. The device uses a radio-frequency identification chip to find out if the vehicle is moving and whether the driver is texting. Unlike similiar devices, this technology can tell the driver from a passenger and jam only the driver’s phone.
On the highways and in South Chicago we have a huge amount of truck traffic. Your Chicagoland Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe beg that you drive defensively and be aware of drivers who are texting while driving. Remember, it is always better to stay safe, but if you can’t stay safe, stay with Grazian and Volpe, your Chicago and South Chicago accident lawyers for over 30 years!
Government Behind On Preventing Truck Accidents
The Chicago and Cicero Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe are sorry about and frustrated by the failure of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to provide the data to Congress necessary for the implementation of tougher safety regulations fort he commercial carrier industry.
Highway crashes involving large commercial trucks and buses caused the death of over 3,600 people in the U.S. in 2009. The FMCSA began along with various state partners began a compliance, safety and accountability (CSA) program in 2004. This program is intended to identify and evaluate carriers and drivers posing high safety risks. The FMSCA expected to fully implement the CSA program by late 2010.
In late 2011, the GAO report found the new safety measurement system (SMS) promulgated by the FMSCA is still not in effect to get unsafe carriers off the road. The GAO found that the FMSCA has not completed the rule-making needed to implement the program and that the technology needed for implementation will not be ready until mid to late 2012.
In essence, the FMSCA has not provided the necessary information to Congress needed to make statutory decisions based upon the program despite the initiation of the program over 7 years ago!
The Chicago and Oak Lawn Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe are frustrated by the lack of urgency exhibited by our government in addressing remedies for a serious and growing number of truck accidents due to poor standards, regulation and enforcement. We invite all to write or call their elected representatives and let them know that we value the safety of our highways!
Final Government Report on Tragic Truck Accident a Call to Action
The Chicago and Berwyn Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe feel that the final report in the Kentucky truck accident that occurred last March is a positive message and call to action for the implement of tougher government safety regulation of the trucking industry.
Last September we reported that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had instituted an investigation of the 2010 truck accident wherein 11 people were killed including the driver of the truck and ten members of a Kentucky Mennonite community riding in a van on their way to a wedding.
The report found that the truck driver was using his cellphone at the time of the crash and issued further admonitions that all bus drivers and truck drivers be barred from using a cell phone while operating a vehicle. The implementation of this recommendation would be the most significant highway safety measure since mandatory seat belt usage.
The Chicago and South Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe applaud the recommendation of the NTSB and hope that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and all 50 states will take swift action in implementation of newer and tougher safety regulation on the commercial trucking industry.
More Interesting Statistics on Trucks, Truck Drivers and Truck Accidents
The Chicago and South Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe are on a never-ending quest to promote highway safety and awareness. Accidents involving commercial vehicles can be tragic and often fatal. We hope the second in a series blog will help entertain and educate about the facts and hazards of sharing the road with commercial vehicles.
Of the 41,000 to 45,000 traffic deaths each year – 9% involve commercial vehicles. Remember this statistic is for deaths only – truck accidents involving serious personal injury are not included;
- There are nearly 500,000 truck accidents each year
- More than 4% of truck accident fatalities involve truck driver fatigue
- Nearly 5000 people are killed each year in a truck accident. Nearly 98% of the time, the drivers of the other vehicle are killed.
- 68% of truck accidents occur in rural accidents and 68% during the day time. 78% occur on the weekends.
- Someone is killed in a truck accident every 16 minutes!
The Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe hope that all drivers remain rested, cautious and aware at all times. It is not just you but those with whom you share our roads and highways. Remember-it is always better to stay safe but if you can’t-stay with Grazian and Volpe, your Chicago Accident Lawyers for over 25 years!
A person is injured or killed in a truck accident every 16 minutes!
Some Interesting Statistics on Trucks and Truck Accidents
The Cicero and Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe are dedicated and strong advocates for truck safety. To that end we hope that the following statistics can educate you and your family on truck accidents, causes and prevention:
- There are nearly 3.5 million commercial truck drivers in the United States operating an estimated 15.5 million registered commercial trucks
- In 2006, the commercial trucks logged 432.9 billion miles!
- 9% of traffic deaths each year are attributable to commercial vehicles
- In 1896 there were only four cars registered in the whole United States and two collided in St. Louis!
- As of 2009, we were close to 8 million motor vehicle accidents and current records indicate that most American driver’s will have a near motor vehicle accident 1 to 3 times per month and will be in a collision of some type every 5 to 8 years.
Join us Wednesday when the Chicago Truck Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe report more facts and points in the war on truck accidents and motor vehicle crashes!
