At grocery stores, shopping centers, and business parks throughout the region, it is not uncommon to see drivers scrambling to find convenient parking spaces. In most parking lots, you can expect the constant movement of cars and pedestrians—the combination of which can easily lead to an injury-causing accident.

Accidents in a parking lot are often caused by drivers not paying attention for various reasons. For example, drivers may distracted by their phones or by small children in the car. Regardless of the cause of distraction or inattentiveness, the outcome is too often an accident involving another car or a pedestrian.

Determining Who Is at Fault for a Parking Lot Accident

The popular belief is that fault in a parking lot crash is equally shared by the drivers involved. However, this is not always the case. A parking lot accident is handled the same way as any other accident on the road would be. This is because parking lots have right-of-way rules that must also be followed and obeyed. A driver who did not yield to another driver or pedestrian with the right of way is likely to be found liable if an accident were to occur.

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In the early morning of April 2, police located a missing man involved in a late-night car crash in Des Plaines. The vehicle, which carried two occupants, was traveling at excessive speeds when the driver lost control and hit an electrical box and utility pole before ultimately skidding across the road into a ditch. Both passengers sustained injuries and are now in stable condition.

Throughout 2015, well over 300,000 motor vehicle accidents occurred in the state of Illinois. According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, nearly one in every three vehicular collisions involved drivers traveling at high or excessive speeds. Driving at speeds higher than the speed limit endangers both the driver and others on the road.

A recent study conducted by the US Department of Transportation found that the vast majority of American drivers commonly disregard speed limits. If you or a member of your family are injured in an automobile collision, contact our experienced team of Waukegan personal injury attorneys today.

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Every car accident is different, but as experienced car accident attorneys, we see that our clients often suffer from the same types of injuries. A skilled car accident attorney should be able to assess your injuries and talk to you about the value of your case.

Common Car Accident Injuries

Car accident victims have been known to experience:

• Soft Tissue Injuries. This injury is caused by stretched or torn ligaments, tendons or muscles.
• Broken Bones. This injury can leave a victim with months of healing and rehabilitation work to do.
• Neck and Back Injuries. This type of injury includes conditions such as herniated discs, strains, sprains, and whiplash.
• Head and Brain Injuries. This category of injury includes everything from mild concussions to traumatic brain injuries. It also encompasses lacerations, skull fractures, and internal bleeding.
• Spinal Cord Injuries. These are typically very serious injuries that can result in lower-body or neck-down paralysis and loss of sensation. The severity of the injury depends on where on the spine the injury was inflicted and whether the spinal cord was totally or partially severed.

Severity of Injuries

According to the Center for Disease Control, for every person killed in a motor vehicle accident, eight people are hospitalized and 100 people are treated and released from the emergency room. The CDC also reports that Americans spend one million days in the hospital annual from collisions. These injuries are costly to treat. The CDC states that car accident injuries in 2012 required $18 billion in lifetime medical costs. Over 75 percent of these costs were incurred in the 18 months following the injury. When you are speaking to the insurance company and to your attorney, it is important to keep in mind that any settlement will have to cover all future medical costs. If you settle your claim too quickly, you may not fully comprehend that scale of your injuries and what lifetime treatment costs will be.

Contact a Lake County Auto Collision Lawyer

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An alarming new study shows that drowsy drivers are four times more likely to get into a car accident than their well-rested counterparts. The research conducted by AAA found that missing just two or three hours of sleep quadruples the risk of getting into a car accident when compared to drivers who get at least seven hours of sleep. This means that one night of bad sleep can jeopardize the safety of the driver and everyone else on the road.

Drowsy Driving vs. Drunk Driving

Many car safety advocates believe that driving drowsy is just as dangerous as driving drunk. Driving with either impairment can mean that the driver will:

• Be inattentive;
• Use poor judgment;
• Have slower mental processing; and
• Display poorer reflexes.

Drowsy Driving Is a Prevalent Problem

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As the state of the economy improves, gas prices decrease, and more Americans head back to work, morale throughout the country rises. Unfortunately, there is something else rising as well – traffic fatalities. In fact, statistics suggest the state of Illinois is experiencing the highest number of traffic deaths since 2008. What does this mean for drivers and other road users? The following explains.

The Trend of Rising Traffic Fatalities in Illinois

Records obtained by the Chicago Tribune show that traffic fatalities in Illinois have been rising for some time now. In 2013, crashes raised by 4 percent, reaching an average of 782 incidents per day and just a little more than 1,000 deaths for that year (1,043). Numbers decreased slightly in 2014, but not by much (898 deaths for the year). This year, the number of deaths has already reached 958 and is expected to exceed the 2013 total. Only time will tell, though, if the deaths will surpass those from 2008.

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