Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Here’s why you should absolutely call the police if you’ve been in a car accident:

(1) It’s the law. In most jurisdictions, you are legally required to report to the police when you’ve been in an accident. We are often asked whether that remains true even in the event of a minor accident, and the answer is “yes.” You should still call the police, and describe what has happened-being particularly careful to describe any injuries or significant car damage. The police may tell you that the accident is so minor that they will not be sending an officer to the scene. That’s fine. You’ve done your duty as a citizen by reporting the accident. In that event, you should still go to the police station and file your own report of the accident (and take a copy for your records). This will prove very helpful should there be a dispute later on about what happened; your fresh recollection of the accident as documented in your report filed right after the accident will be a strong proof of the truth.

(2) It’s the best way to get emergency help to the scene. Calling 911 will put you on the phone with a trained specialist who will not only get a police officer to the scene, but also will determine whether emergency medical care should be sent to the scene, as well.

Motor vehicle crashes and deaths are on the rise. Despite advances in safety technology, driving has become more deadly. The reason? Operator error. The National Safety Council found that 40,200 people across the country died in traffic crash deaths in 2016, a 6 percent increase since 2015, and the first time the total number of deaths has exceeded 40,000 since 2007.

This is the second year in a row we’ve seen a substantial jump in motor vehicle deaths. The total for 2015 was 37,757, a 7 percent increase from 2014, while the 2014 figure was less than half a percent higher than the 2013 total. The last two years represent the largest increase in traffic crash deaths in over 50 years.

Nearly 10 percent of these deaths are attributable to distracted driving. In 2015, 3,477 people died as a result of distracted driving – an 8% increase from the previous year according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA). Distracted driving can be deadly but it can also cause serious injury. In 2015, 391,000 people were injured due to distracted driving.

The upcoming 4^th of July holiday causes many Americans to get together to celebrate. Unfortunately, some take the celebration too far, by abusing alcohol or other drugs, like opioids. These drugs impair a driver’s thinking, reasoning, and muscle coordination-all critically important to safely driving a car.

We all know that the results of this behavior are often devastating. Here’s but one statistic to prove it: in 2015, there were 10,265 deaths from alcohol-impaired drivers, alone. And these statistics say nothing of the human toll that each death inflicts on the families of the victims, and even on the life of the impaired driver and his/her family.

Sadly, some estimates calculate that as many as one in every ten drivers are impaired; the percentage is greater on holidays.

Sometimes, a person’s car accident injuries are so serious that there’s no decision to make: he/she must be transported by ambulance to the hospital.

But oftentimes, it’s not so obvious. The accident victim may not feel badly injured or may feel embarrassed to get into an ambulance. I’ve known people (usually men) who regard it as a sign of toughness to drive themselves to the hospital (if they go there at all) rather than take an ambulance.

If you’re wondering whether you or a loved one should take an ambulance to the hospital, keep these things in mind: