Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In 2007, Illinois passed a law taking away driving privileges from uninsured motorists. However, the threat of having your license suspended for three months, doesn't appear to have an affect.

Since the law took affect in 2007, over 115,000 Illinois drivers had their licenses suspended after being convicted of driving without insurance. In 2008, 68,000 people had their licenses suspended and so far this year, about 31,000 drivers have lost their driving privileges.

According to Representative Bill Black, R-Danville, the law was intended to try and stop people from driving with no insurance. While he was happy to see that people driving without insurance were punished, it bothers him that there are still drivers out there getting caught driving without insurance.

Continue reading " Uninsured drivers: Can Illinois authorities stop them from dirivng? " »

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Federal authorities do not know if the high standing water along the northern Illinois rail line was the cause of a freight train derailment on Friday. The derailment caused a fiery explosion killing one person.

Zoila Tellez, 41, was waiting at a crossing when the train exploded. She made it out of her car and walked 20 feet before she collapsed and died.

The freight train was carrying 18 car loads of ethanol which exploded into flames.

According to the National Weather Service, the Rockford area experienced as much as 4" of rain on Friday.

Federal investigators spent most of Sunday at the scene of the derailment. The burning cars kept investigators away from the accident site for much of the day on Saturday.

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At approximately 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, an Amtrak train headed for Chicago, struck a car stopped on the tracks in Romeoville.

Unconfirmed reports state that two people were killed. Amtrak train 22, the Texas Eagle, struck the car at the crossing located near 135th Street and New Avenue. None of the passegers or crew members on the train were injured.

The Texas Eagle originated in San Antonio on Wednesday and had stopped in Joliet before going to Romeoville.

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Across the US, the makers and sellers of tires are promoting the importance of proper care and maintenance of your car tires.

Duirng this year's Tire Safety Week, auto related merchants will be distributing "Be Tire Smart" brochures. The brochures are designed to inform the consumer about taking care of your tires. They are in conjuction with the Rubber Manufacturers Association's (RMA) "Be Tire Smart, Play Your PART campaign. PART is an acronym for Pressure, Alignment, Rotation & Tread.

According to Hugh Pace, chairman and CEO at Pireli tire makers, "using RMA's tire care tips, consumers can maximize their vehicle safety, achieve better fuel economy and get the most wear from their tires."

Continue reading " Tire Safety Importance " »

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A drunk driver who is responsible for severely injuring an Alton police officer in a car crash in 2005, is facing a new misdemeanor charge of driving on a revoked license. Sherwood was recently stopped and ticketed on June 1, as he was driving down Route 100 near an Amoco gas station in Grafton.

Sherwood is to appear in court on June 30, on the charge.

Jersey County State's Attorney Ben Goetten, said that the charge, in all likelihood will be upgraded to a felony. "We have every intention of upgrading this to a felony charge."

According to Goetten, the State's Attorney's Office examines such charges after reviewing reports of officers' responding to the accident in addition to reviewing the offender's driving and criminal histories.

Orval L. Sherwood, 28 of Brighton, was driving under the influence when his SUV slammed into an Alton's police officer's car seriously injury the officer.

On Dec. 19, 2005, Sherwood, was driving a Chevy Tahoe, in the wrong direction on the northbound side of Fosterburg Rd near Storey Lane. His SUV hit an Alton police patrol car head on after he passed a pick-up truck.

Sam Riney, a rookie with the Alton Police Department was on duty but not responding to a call, hen he was struck by Sherwood's vehicle.

Rescuers worked for over an hour to remove Riney from the wreckage. He sustained serious injuries including a fractured skull, brain injury, fracture nose, wrists, legs and ribs. Officer Riney was in a coma for several weeks following the accident.

Doctors did not know his progrnosis for months after the accident. Riney was able to go back to his full duties on Dec 18, 2006.

In 2006, Sherwood was sentenced to five years in prison. He entered an open plea to aggravated driving under the influence in which a personal injury is involved.

Sherwood served only 18 months of his five year sentence.

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Smile for the camera! On Tuesday, the Illinois House passed a bill to the Senate which would allow the State of Illinois to install cameras that would monitor motorists speeds and ticket those drivers speeding across the Martin Luther King Bridge at East St. Louis.

The bills was passed in the house by a 68-41 vote.

The cameras will track a car's speed using radar and take a picture of the license plate of the speeding car and then mail the ticket to the owner of the car

Legislators opposing the bill believe that the driver of a speeding vehicle should receive a speeding ticket, not the owner. "My kid is going to speed down the highway, and the parent is going to be the one on the hook for the ticket," warned Rep. Jim Durkin, R-Countryside. Opponents also believe that using the cameras to catch speeders is a little too "Big Brother."

Continue reading " Illinois cameras would ticket speeders on King Bridge " »

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