Black ice causes fatal accidents

Black ice is one of the most dangerous weather hazards Illinois drivers face in the winter. When this type of weather is in the forecast, those who can stay in and off the roads should do so, and trusting your life to commercial drivers is not a good idea either.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Chicago area was under a winter weather freeze that included black ice. Illinois police had their hands full trying to respond to incident calls coming in. In Will County alone, around 200 accidents and other incidents were estimated to have occurred.

Among the incidents were four fatal accidents. A semitruck and car in Riverdale, another semitruck and car in Tinley Park, a Pace bus and three cars near North Aurora and another fatal crash on the Tri-State Tollway. In addition to fatal accidents, one driver’s car slid into a gas pump. The pump fell over onto his car, bursting into flames. Fortunately, the driver was not injured.

Accidents were occurring so regularly that the police were telling drivers involved in accidents to exchange pertinent information and keep going if there were no injuries, and their cars were still drivable. Those who had to do this would no doubt have had to straighten out who was at fault after the fact in order to make a claim for damages.

While accidents are much more likely to happen in this type of winter weather, we know that accidents can happen anytime. Regardless of the weather, if someone hits you, he or she will be the one who will be considered at fault, and vice versa. If you are injured while riding as a passenger in a commercial transportation vehicle, contact an attorney who can make sure that your injuries and damages are compensated for. Don’t take for granted that the company’s insurance is going to cover all of your losses.

Source: WGN9 Chicago’s Very Own, “Icy roads cause hundreds of Chicago-area crashes, at least 4 fatalities,” Courtney Gousman, Amy Rutledge, Gaynor Hall, Morgan Kolkmeyer, Jan. 24, 2018