Most Common Types of Car Accidents in Illinois

Each car accident is unique, and they can happen for any reason, at any time or place. However, most causes and types of accidents can be broken down into a number of distinct categories. Those include:

• Backup Accidents — According to the National Safety Council, one out of four collisions can be blamed on poor backing techniques, and those crashes cause more than 500 deaths and 15,000 injuries every year, many of them to pedestrians, especially children in parking lots.

  If another vehicle backed into your vehicle, the insurance company will likely fight back against your claim, as the vast majority of rear to front accidents are the fault of the rear driver. Experienced car accident attorneys can find the evidence needed to prove the other driver's negligence.

• Carpool and Rideshare Accidents — In general, accidents involving drivers from companies like Uber or Lyft are not substantially different from most auto accidents. However, while policy limits tend to be higher, when making a claim you will be going up against a large insurance company instead of just an adjuster. A car accident lawyer can help level the playing field.
• Distracted Driving Accidents — Distracted driving causes over 3,000 deaths per year. Looking at a phone for just under five seconds at highway speeds takes a driver's eyes of the road for the equivalent of the entire length of a football field. Common distractions include:
  • Texting and driving
  • Eating and/or drinking
  • Looking for items in the car
  • Adjusting a radio, AC or navigation system
  • Grooming
  • Participating in an avid conversation
  • Daydreaming
• Drunk Driving Accidents — Drunk driving causes about a third of all traffic fatalities, killing about 32 people a day, or one person every 45 minutes. Every injury caused by drunk driving is preventable. Because of negligence per se, a drunk driver is automatically assumed liable for your injuries, but you will still need someone to fight for you to ensure all your damages are paid for.
• Fatal Car Crashes — There is no nightmare once can face than having a loved one taken away too soon. While no lawyer can bring back your loved one, a wrongful death claim can bring a sense of justice, and ease the financial burden their loss placed on you.
• Head-on Collisions — Head-on collisions are especially dangerous because both vehicles are usually moving at full speed, and the driver and front passenger are exposed to flying glass and debris. They make up just two percent of all car accidents, but account for 10 percent of all driving fatalities. Beyond fatalities, they can lead to incredibly serious injuries.
• Intersection Accidents — According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations's report on intersection-related crashes, 40 percent of all motor vehicle accidents occur at intersections. Intersection accidents are often caused by distracted driving and drunk driving, failure to yield, and illegal or unsafe U-turns.
• Multi-Vehicle Accidents — Multi-vehicle accidents are often "chain reaction" accidents where more than one driver is at fault. Because of that, each driver's insurance will try to point the finger at the others. Burger Law's Illinois car accident attorneys will ensure that every liable party is held accountable.
• Rear-End Accidents — These are the most common auto accidents, making up about 29 percent of all auto accidents. Common injuries include whiplash and traumatic brain injuries.
• Road Construction Accidents — Construction companies are obligated to ensure their construction sites are safe for drivers, meaning there are proper warnings and dangerous locations are cordoned off. In addition to another driver, we can sue a construction company if they failed in that duty and you ended up injured.
• Speeding Accidents — In Illinois in 2020, speeding contributed to 31.9 percent of all crashes, 44.9 percent of fatal crashes and 37.3 percent of personal injury crashes. Speeding is dangerous because it increases the likelihood of a driver losing control of their vehicle, reduces their reaction time and dramatically reduces stopping distance.

Burger Law's Illinois car accident attorneys have seen claims involving any conditions and circumstances imaginable — and won them. We know how to investigate them and prove liability on the part of the negligent driver.

How Is Compensation Calculated in Illinois Car Accident Claims?

Financial recoveries in car accident claims generally compensate you for two things: economic damages, such as your cost of treatment and lost wages, and non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and mental anguish. An important aspect of any car accident attorney's job is properly calculating the full extent of someone's damages. We will make sure the other side understands just how much their negligence has affected you, and demand they compensate you for all of it.

To calculate your damages, we will first add together all of your economic damages. This includes:

• Lost wages and lost earning potential
• Any medical appointments, surgeries, medications and/or testing
• Assistive devices such as wheelchairs
• Future medical expenses, such as additional surgeries, replacement wheelchairs, or eventual replacement of artificial joints
• Out-of-pocket expenses like help with household chores while you were recovering

In the event of future economic damages, we work with economic experts to value how much those will cost in the future, and adjust our settlement demand to incorporate expected inflation.

After we have calculated economic damages, we will put a monetary value on the less tangible ways your life has been affected. Usually, that is done by multiplying your economic damages by a number between 1.5 and five.

For example, say you have $30,000 in economic damages, and your injuries caused you to be in pain for two weeks. Your car accident attorney might demand a multiplier of three. Therefore:

$30,000 X 3 = $90,000

Your total damages would then be $120,000.

Three is the most common multiplier used, and multipliers of four and five are usually reserved for more serious injuries that greatly affect someone's physical comfort, state of mind and their independence.

What Kind of Things Affect How Much My Claim Is Worth?

The more your injuries affect your life both financially and personally, the more your financial recovery will be. Factors that help determine what your claim is worth include:

• The type and severity of your injuries
• The extent of your medical care, if you will need more treatment in the future
• If your injuries resulted in scarring or disability
• The amount of time spent off work
• If you can no longer work as you used to and have lost earning capacity damages
• If your injuries affected your quality of life and independence
• If you contributed to the accident in any way
• The at-fault party's policy limits

Often, insurance adjusters try to devalue claims by saying they only have to six weeks of treatment, you waited too long to get treatment, they do not need to pay wage loss damages if you had sick leave available or by saying your injuries were your fault. We will not let them get away with that. In over 30 years of experience fighting back against insurance adjusters, and to date have recovered over $200 million for our clients.

How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Illinois?

Each state has its own statute of limitations for injury claims. Under 735 ILCS 5/13-202, Illinois' is relatively short at just two years. There are three notable exceptions:

1. If you are making a wrongful death claim for the loss of a loved one, you have two years from the date of that loved one's death – not the date of the accident.
2. If you or your loved one was a minor when the accident occurred, you have two years from the date of their 18th birthday.
3. If you or your loved one was under a "legal disability" at the time of the accident, you have two years from the date the disability was removed. If you came under a legal disability after than accident but within the two-year time limit, that time does not count against the statute of limitations. In Illinois, "legal disability" means:
   • Someone who, either by mental or physical impairment, is not able to manage their person or estate
   • A person with a mental illness or developmental disability that keeps them from managing their person or estate
   • Someone who, because of "gambling, idleness, debauchery or excessive use of alcohol or drugs," cannot manage their estate to the extent that it causes them or their family to "want or suffer"

Two years may sound like a long time, but the clock starts ticking the second your accident happens. Do not hesitate to call a car accident attorney immediately. If you are wondering if any of the exceptions apply to you, speak to an attorney at Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT to go over the specifics of your case.

Burger Laws car accident attorneys are dedicated to getting each of our Illinois clients the best possible results in their claims. You did not ask to be injured, and you should not have to pay for another person's mistakes. We will stand by your side throughout the duration of your claim and fight back against bullies like resistant insurance companies. To start on your true road to recovery, call our Illinois car accident attorneys today at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online for a free consultation.