Auto accident attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm report of two major crashes in Chicago recently that injured nearly 20 people, including 13 kids. Both crashes occurred on the city’s South Side.
The first crash occurred on June 22, 2013 around 6 p.m. on South Lake Shore Drive. The wreck included four cars, causing four adults and three children to be hospitalized. Two of those injured were in critical condition, and five others were in serious condition, although fortunately no injuries seemed to be life-threatening. One child was brought to Lurie Children’s Hospital, and the two others were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The second crash happened on Monday, June 24, on 111th Street in the Roseland neighborhood. The driver of a van was cited after the wreck, which injured eleven people including nine special needs children who were passengers in the Pace van (Pace leases vans to volunteer drivers, whose fares are typically waived in exchange for taking responsibility for the vehicles).
The Pace driver attempted to turn left onto Wentworth Avenue just before 9 p.m. while transporting the children to St. Coletta’s of Illinois Foundation, located in Tinley Park. The van driver, who is employed by St. Coletta’s, failed to yield to another vehicle while turning, causing a collision. Both vehicles sustained minor damage, and all occupants were taken to local hospitals as a precaution, though fortunately all were released.
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St. Coletta’s provides funding and support for children and adults with developmental disabilities. A similar incident occurred just a few months ago in March 2013 in the Morgan Park neighborhood. Employees at Sertoma Centre, located in Alsip, leased a Pace van to transport some of its disabled members. The van crashed into a tree on the 11400 block of South May Street around 8:45 a.m., injuring many of the passengers. The driver in this incident was an employee of Sertoma Centre.
A day after the St. Coletta’s van crashed, a Greyhound bus caught fire on the Edens Expressway just north of Tower Road. The bus was engulfed in flames was reported to fire departments by 10:20 p.m. Luckily all passengers were able to safely escape the fire and were eventually picked up by another Greyhound to continue their trip. All northbound lanes on the Edens Expressway were closed for about 30 minutes while firefighters battled the blaze.
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In 2010 some Greyhound riders in California were not as lucky. Investigators blamed an 18-year-old drunk driver for the chain-reaction crash that killed six people, five of whom were Greyhound passengers. The wreck spurred several lawsuits, one of them filed by the parents of the drunk driver, who claim the Greyhound bus driver was sleep-deprived and speeding.
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The teenage girl was driving with a .11 BAC when she flipped her mother’s Chevy Trailblazer on Highway 99, causing five other people to die in the ensuing wreckage. A spokesperson for Greyhound state that the driver was in full compliance with federal laws concerning rest times between shifts, and that he had no chance of stopping on the highway.
The driver’s parents also named a CHP dispatcher for failing to prevent the crash by sending officers in a closer vicinity to the scene, as they crash involving the Greyhound bus occurred less than three minutes after the Trailblazer flipped. They are also placing blame on the California Department of Transportation, General Motors (which owns Chevrolet), and the Starline nightclub.
Bus accident attorneys at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm encourage anyone seriously injured in a crash caused by the negligence of another to contact a skilled lawyer as soon as possible. You may be entitled to significant compensation for any lost wages, medical bills, and property damages.
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