Chicago Illinois Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Lately there have been quite a few media stories about Chicago cab drivers and various facets related to some of their driving records.

One such story on September 22, from Channel 2 (CBS Chicago) is titled "2 Investigators: City Vows To Crack Down On Dangerous Cabbies."

One of the problems is that although some cab drivers get issued many tickets, they have far less convictions stemming from these tickets. As the story says:

It happens because many of the tickets - sometimes, most of them -- get dismissed because the complaining witness is not in court. Typically that's the police officer who wrote them.

Another problem has to do with the insurance coverage cabbies carry. As stated in the article:

The crashes underscore another problem, says Michelle Crayton's attorney.

"What is most outrageous is that the vast majority of cabs on the road today have the same level of insurance that they had 23 years ago," he said.

That level of insurance is $350,000 per incident, the minimum required by the city. That won't cover the medical costs for Crayton's broken arm, hip, leg and back.

There are policy changes in the offing. As stated by the article:

Now, a citywide review of rules and ordinances for cabs is underway to update them, including the $350,000 insurance minimum.

A cab driver with three or more convictions for moving violations in the past year will no longer get his license renewed.

The city's working to set up an electronic notification process to quickly get police information about tickets and accidents.

Another story has been done by the Chicago Tribune. This story was seen in the September 23 paper, titled "Cabbies pile up tickets but stay on the road."

This story is relatively extensive and contains a variety of statistics. One notable excerpt from the story:

An analysis by the newspaper suggests that a far higher percentage of tickets are thrown out for cabbies on average than for regular drivers. The frequent court dismissals have repeatedly helped cabbies keep their chauffeur's licenses -- including drivers who were later blamed for injuring or killing pedestrians.

Continue reading "Cab Driver Safety In Chicago - Investigative Reports" »

At approximately 5:15 p.m. Sunday, a taxi hit two young children as they crossed the street in Chicago's downtown area, on the Magnificent Mile.

The taxi driver, Friday Ekon, of south suburban Richton Park, received two tickets as part of this taxi accident for failure to exercise due care with pedestrians in the roadway, police said.

The incident happened in the 500 block of North Michigan Avenue. According to Chicago Police, the accident happened as the taxi was headed south on Michigan Avenue. It struck the children after they had gotten out of a stopped vehicle.

The children, a boy and girl aged 8 and 6, were taken to Children's Memorial Hospital. According to police, the 8-year-old suffered a bruised stomach; the 6-year-old was treated for a broken femur.

Additional details can be found at the August 8 WGN Radio story titled "2 kids struck hit by taxi on Mag Mile."

A taxicab struck a pedestrian around 8:47 this morning, killing the pedestrian. The accident occurred at the parking garage at Illinois and Columbus drive. Two others were injured, the driver of the taxi and the taxi passenger.

The pedestrian was dead at the scene, after being hit by the taxi after the taxi lost control. Shortly before impact he had been walking down the street. A surveillance video near the accident captured the pedestrian walking east on Illinois Street. After a few seconds, the cab can be seen apparently passing another car on the right just before the intersection with Columbus Drive. As the pedestrian passes a set of tables and reaches the driveway of the parking garage, the pedestrian turns his head to the right briefly, just before the cab skids toward the garage. The pedestrian then disappears from view and the cab comes to rest against the garage.

The cab passenger, a 51-year old woman, had to be cut out of the back seat, according to witnesses and police. She suffered a broken leg and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The cab driver, 71, was in fair condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital this afternoon. He suffered injuries considered non life-threatening, such as cuts and bruises.

More on this story can be seen at the June 27 Chicago Tribune story titled "1 dead, 2 hurt when cab hits parking garage in Streeterville."

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation City Summary Crash Report for Chicago, Year 2009 (the most recent data available), the amount of pedestrian accidents and fatalities is not insignificant.

Taxicab accidents are relatively common, due to the number of miles such vehicles are driven.

Taxicab accidents can be caused by a range of factors. These factors include driver error; drunk driving or drug use by the taxicab driver; errors in judgment by other motorists; equipment malfunction; poor weather conditions; and poor roadway conditions.

While it has yet to be disclosed as to what caused the above-mentioned taxicab accident, the Chicago Tribune story said the following:

Alex Perrin, 23, said he was walking to work at theChicago Tribune when he saw the Checker cab "going fast" down Illinois. It appeared to cut off another cab, then swerved out of control and hit a man standing on the sidewalk on the north side of Illinois, he said.

As the story also indicated:

The intersection of Illinois and Columbus was the scene of a fatal accident in May when a tour bus making a turn struck Justyna Palka, a 26-year-old graphic artist. The driver was charged with driving under the influence.

That accident was detailed in this blog in a May 4 post titled "Woman Struck And Killed By Tour Bus In Chicago, Illinois"