Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Kane County grand jury indicted 24 year-old Edward Cook of Aurora in the death of a dog walker last week.

Cook is facing 15 counts of aggravated DUI and 11 counts of first degree murder. He was also indicated on 10 counts of burglary and 1 count of driving a stolen car.

On August 21, Cook was dirving a stolen car while under the influence. He lost control of the car, went onto a sidewalk, where David Long, 57, was taking his dog for a walk. He struck and killed Long.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti made the announcement of the indictment just 72 hours after Cook was arrested.

The grand jury decided on the murder charge due to Cook's actions leading up to and including the accident. However, absence the presence of premeditation, in may be difficult to get a conviction.

Prosecutors believe they can show premeditaiton based on the fact that Cook knowingly was driving a stolen vehicle after he had been drinking.

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Posted In: Wrongful death

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A 7 year old Troy boy was killed over the weekend while riding on an ATV. Austin Henry died while operating a four wheel 110cc SunL Cool Sport all terrain vehicle at his home.

Austin was wearing protective gear including a helmet, when the ATV's throttle stuck causing the ATV to accelerate. The boy could not control the ATV. The vehicle hit a tree, tossing the young boy from the ATV.

Austin died of blunt trauma to his head and chest. Although the ATV caught fire, Austin did not suffer any burns.

Continue reading " ATV's : Are they safe? " »

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The Village of Schaumburg, in a widely publicized move, removed their two red light cameras at Meacham and Woodfield roads. Village officials have decided not to renew their contract with Red Speed Illinois.

Since the installation of the cameras, about 10,000 tickets were issued resulting in approximately $1,000,000 in fines. That was until the village decided to stop enforcing right- turn-on-red violations.

Deputy Chief Paul Rizzo says that since the removal of the cameras, the number of violations issued has gone done. In June, the last month that the cameras were operational, only 14 violations were issued.

Schaumburg decided not to renew their contract with Red Speed Illinois due to the dwindling tickets and additional studies that showed that the cameras did little to reduce accidents.

Continue reading " Right on red: Should you get a ticket " »

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It has been three years since Chuck and Gloria Wilhelm formerly of Champaign, IL, lost their son when he was struck by a car while riding his bike on Illinois 130.

After the death of their son, Matt 25, in Sept 2006, The Wilhelms, along with their family and friends and scores of others, pushed the Illinois legislature to toughen the penatlies for drivers who were distracted while driving.

Today, Governor Quinn, will sign into law, a ban on texting while driving. "This is a big stride," says Chuck Wilhelm. Both him and his wife have campaigned for new laws to restrict the use of cell phones by drivers since the death of their son.

On Sept 6, 2006, Matt, then 25, was a U OF I graduate in mechanical engineering. He was riding his bicycle along 130 east of Urbana, when Jennifer Stark hit him from behind with her car. She confessed to downloading ringtones at the time when she hit Matt.

The legislature had problems with making texting while dirving a misdemeanor or felony. This new legislation makes texting while driving a petty traffic offense. Drivers caught texting while driving will be fined.

Wilhelm said that Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State, was instrumental in getting the legislation passed. White formed a task force that investgated distracted driving. They issued their report in 2008 which revealed the negative affects on area roadways of distracted drivers.

"This is a major starting point in saying you can't do it," Chuck Wilhelm said.

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It seems that sending a text message is the preferred method to cummicate for millions of cell phone users. More and more people on the road are texting while driving. This has lead to an increase in accidents.

In a recent accident, that killed a 17 year old girl from Eureka Illinois, the data recovered from her cell phone revealed that she had been texting when she lost control of her car.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number one cause of death for teenagers between the ages of 16 and 20 is auto accidents. Accidents take the life of more than 5000 teenagers annually.

The Virgina Tech Transportation Insitute found in a recent study that drivers who were texting while behind the wheel had a risk of being in an accident 23 times greater than a driver who was not texting. The study revealed that texting is much more dangerous than other activities that distract drivers. Drivers who texted spent about 5 seconds at time looking at their phones while texting.

Car and Driver editor Eddie Alterman conducted an experiment which showed that texting while behind the wheel impacted drivers more negatively than being drunk. Alterman found that being intoxicated required an additional four feet of stopping distance at 70 mph. However, reading a cell phone message required 36 more feet of stopping distance while texting required 70 more feet of stopping distance.

In the US, 14 states and Washington DC have banned texting wihle driving.

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