Posted on January 11, 2012 in Car Accidents

If you have been driving in Illinois recently, you may have begun seeing yellow dots on cars in the lower corner of rear windshields. These yellow decals are part of a statewide initiative to provide important medical information about vehicle occupants to first responders.

In the event of Illinois motor vehicle accident, the yellow dots alert first responders that vital medical information about a vehicle's drivers or passengers is located in the vehicle's glove compartment. The medical card in the glove compartment gives the participant's name and provides a photo identifying them. The card also lists their emergency contact, physician, and medical information including allergies, current medications and health conditions, and recent surgeries.

This type of information can be crucial to a victim's survival after a serious auto accident. Victims have the best chance of survival after a catastrophic injury if they are properly treated within the first hour, the so-called "golden hour". The Yellow Dot Program gives first responders the tools they need to quickly and effectively treat accident victims.

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 Posted on December 07, 2011 in Firm News

In July of 2010, two grain bin workers tragically lost their lives. The preventable Illinois grain handling accident occurred at Haasbach LLC, located in Mount Carroll. Now, after paying almost $270,000 in fines, the grain operator is closing its doors.

The fatal accident occurred when workers went into the grain bin while the machinery was working to aid in the flow of corn. None of the workers were using life lines or had safety harnesses, and the workers became trapped in 30 feet of corn. Rescuers attempted to free the workers by releasing several thousand pounds of corn through holes they cut in the bin. In the end, two teenage workers suffocated and lost their lives and another was injured.

Unfortunately such accidents are not entirely uncommon in Illinois. Between 1998 and 2008 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported the state had 16 grain bin accident fatalities.

The recent deaths have impacted the grain industry nationally, with OSHA beginning grain bin safety programs in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio. "We hope that the deaths of these two young men send a profound and unmistakable message throughout the grain industry that loss of life can and must be prevented," explained David Michaels, OSHA assistant secretary of labor.

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 Posted on December 01, 2011 in Articles

We've all been there: When we're young, we believe that we're invincible and the rules just don't apply to us. Unfortunately, this kind of thinking usually got us into a lot of trouble - and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this kind of thinking may contribute to teenagers refusing to use seat belts. In fact, these agencies report that teen drivers are the least likely to use seat belts when they're driving a car, as well as when they are the passenger of a car.

This trend is no different in Illinois, despite the fact that failing to wear a seat belt has been against the law for about 25 years. In order to strengthen the state's seat belt laws, Illinois will soon make it mandatory for the backseat passengers of a vehicle to also buckle up.

But the state's teens may need a little bit more convincing than a fine - which is currently $25, plus court fees and penalties, for drivers who are caught not wearing a seat belt.

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 Posted on November 21, 2011 in Car Accidents

As winter gears up, driving becomes more treacherous. To ease the transition into the icy season, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Illinois State Police have launched a safe-driving campaign called "Ice and Snow - Take It Slow."

Illinois car accidents can cause severe injuries, in addition to financial difficulties that may arise from the accident. The "Ice and Snow - Take It Slow" campaign offers tips that could help keep you and your family safe in Illinois' frigid winter conditions.

According to IDOT, winter drivers should:

• Plan the trip in advance, including considering whether the trip is truly necessary. If it is, check the weather on the route and tell someone where you are going.
• Ensure the vehicle is ready for winter. This means keeping up with required maintenance and checking whether items like windshield wipers, lights, tires and fluids need to be replaced.

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 Posted on November 08, 2011 in Articles

Amendments to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act in 2011 have implications for several aspects of the system that awards benefits for work-related injuries. These changes include new guidelines for determinations of permanent partial disability, limitations on recovery for hand injuries and reductions in the duration of wage loss differential awards.

One particularly important change is a new limit on a worker's choice of medical providers to assess a workplace injury or illness. Under the new law, employers and workers' compensation insurance providers will be able to provide a list of doctors available for the employee's first of two available choices under the existing "two doctor rule." If a worker declines to choose from that list, the first choice will effectively disappear.

One stated objective of the implementation of preferred provider organizations (PPOs) for workers' comp care is to lower the cost of awarding benefits by guiding injured employees toward providers who specialize in assessing work-related injury claims. The state Department of Insurance has yet to finalize provider network rules, but this new practice should be fully implemented by early next year.

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 Posted on October 27, 2011 in Firm News

The haunted houses and scary costumes are not the only things frightening about Halloween. For pedestrians, the night of October 31st is the deadliest of the year, according to AAA.

"Whether walking or driving AAA urges all road users to utilize extra caution, be mindful of their surroundings and celebrate responsibility," explained a spokeswoman from AAA. The organization provided several safety tips to prevent pedestrian accidents during the upcoming holiday.

Road Safety Precautions During Halloween

• Watch your speed: A pedestrian accident is over twice as likely to be fatal if a vehicle is going 35 mph instead of 25 mph. Slowing down, just a little, can make a big difference.
• Keep an eye out for kids: Eagar trick-or-treaters, many in dark costumes, may quickly run out of driveways and into streets. Be alert for children everywhere, including on curbs, medians and behind parked cars. Also be aware that masks may restrict kids' visibility, making them less likely to see oncoming traffic.

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 Posted on October 21, 2011 in Articles

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled this spring that the presence of any trace amount of illegal drugs in a person's body is sufficient to charge and prosecute the crime as an aggravated DUI, even if the person was not impaired at the time of the accident.

The case that brought about the ruling arose from a motor vehicle accident in December of 2004. The defendant left a bar in Peoria. On his way home, while rounding a curve on a two-lane state highway, his car crossed the centerline and struck an oncoming car.

The accident killed the driver and the passenger of that car. The defendant was injured, and he was taken to a nearby hospital. Tests revealed that the defendant's blood contained no alcohol or controlled substances, but his urine contained methamphetamine and amphetamine. He was charged with one count of aggravated DUI.

According to the State's forensic scientist, controlled substances initially enter the bloodstream and are eventually eliminated through the urinary tract. She testified she was not surprised to find methamphetamine in the urine samples, but not the blood samples.

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 Posted on October 12, 2011 in Articles

This August, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill into law that will help truckers make informed decisions about the safest, most efficient route through Illinois' municipalities. Potential benefits of the new law may include reductions in Illinois truck accidents and less road maintenance and repair costs.

Authored by Representative Michael Zalewski, D-Summit, and Senator Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, the bill requires local governments to regularly update the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) on their designated trucking routes, or report to IDOT that there is no designated trucking route through a municipality. IDOT will use the information supplied by local governments to create a website that truckers can refer to when making decisions on what route to take through towns. The law will go into effect January 1, 2012.

Benefits of the New Law

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 Posted on October 10, 2011 in Articles

In August, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill into law that will give law enforcement more power to confirm a driver's state of intoxication and make arrests in the field. New legislation will also increase the penalties for driving a school bus under the influence of alcohol.

Driving under the influence is a serious problem in America. Government studies find that close to one third of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime. About 310,000 people are injured in alcohol-related accidents each year, or one person every two minutes.

Unfortunately, Illinois is not immune from the tragic consequences of drunk driving. In 2002, 51,649 people were arrested for DUI in the state. Illinois' legal blood alcohol concentration limit is .08, and the state's legal drinking age is 21. Unfortunately, this does not stop some teenagers from getting behind the wheel after drinking. Young people ages 18 to 24 represent 15 percent of all licensed drivers in Illinois, but are involved in almost 39 percent of all Illinois drunk driving accidents. In 2002, 32 percent of teen drivers who died in an alcohol-related crash were intoxicated.

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 Posted on October 05, 2011 in Articles

Two recent farm accidents involving teen farm workers reveal the urgent need for child labor law reform in the agricultural industry. The Department of Labor undertook revising its laws last year, but only opened discussion on the proposed changes on September 2nd of this year. Some child rights advocates believe that the White House dragged its feet on the revisions, and that the recent farm accidents that claimed the lives of two teenagers could have been prevented had the laws passed in a timely fashion.

Earlier this summer in a farm accident in Illinois, two 14-year-old girls were electrocuted and killed when they ran into an irrigation rig while detasseling corn. The farm on which the girls were working is owned by agribusiness giant Monsanto, against whom one of the girl's fathers has filed a lawsuit.

Then, this August in Oklahoma, two 17-year-old boys were severely injured when they were pulled into a grain auger, a farm tool that has a metal tube with a large spiral of steel running through it, used to carry grain from the ground into a grain silo. When the emergency responders arrived, they had to cut through the auger to get to the boys.

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