Many children rely on the school bus to get to and from school. Illinois has enacted school bus safety laws to protect those children. When negligent drivers break the law regarding school buses, they may cause an accident and cause serious injuries to children. If you or a loved one has been harmed in an accident, the Chicago injury attorneys at Krzak Rundio Law Group are here to hold irresponsible drivers accountable.

Before learning more about how we can help you, let’s take a look at the school bus laws in Illinois and the unique situations Chicago drivers should be aware of when they encounter a school bus on the road.

With over 280 miles of bike lanes, marked-shared lanes, and signed bike routes installed throughout Chicago, motorists should be aware of the best practices for sharing the road with bicycles. Reducing accident rates and improving road safety involves understanding the bike lane laws and knowing how to prevent and avoid collisions in everyday situations.

When you drive on the highway, you will likely encounter tractor-trailers transporting goods. Since large trucks are usually weighed down by the load they’re carrying, they might not be able to move as quickly as you would like them to.  Unfortunately, there are times when individuals start to pass the truck, the truck switches lanes directly into their car and a collision occurs. This happens more than you would think, and you may ask yourself, what went wrong?

Your car might have been in a “No Zone” and you didn’t even realize it, so the truck crashed into you. No Zones are the four main blind spots for large trucks:  (1) directly in front of the cab; (2)  directly behind the trailer; (3) a small patch just to the left of the trailer; and (4) most of the area to the right of the rig. These danger zones are the places where accidents are more likely to happen because commercial truck drivers cannot see passenger vehicles in these areas surrounding their rigs.

According to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 82% of fatal crashes involving commercial trucks are multiple vehicle accidents with passenger vehicles. In many of these crashes, the passenger vehicles were most likely unseen by the truck until it was too late. If you need to pass a large truck on the road, you need to know the safest way to do that.

After an accident, you might expect the other party’s insurance company to work with you to make sure things go as smoothly as possible and pay you the full compensation you deserve for your injuries and damages you sustained as a result of someone else’s negligence. Unfortunately, that does not often happen.

In general, insurance companies don’t want to settle you claim easily or provide you with the full amount you may be entitled to. Before they will compensate you for your injuries, they will ask that you get them hard proof of your medical bills, proof of wage-loss and proof of permanence of your injuries. There are instances where an insurer may feel they can lower the amount of compensation they will offer you because you are not represented. 

In other instances, they will see that there could be significant exposure and try to get you to settle your claim short of what the true outcome should be when you are not represented. They may also try to frustrate you in the hope that you will either drop the case or accept the lower amount they’re offering. No matter which tactic you are experiencing, you may benefit by having an accident lawyer to represent you.

As the novel coronavirus spreads across Illinois, the United States, and the rest of the world, it’s imperative we do what we can to protect those that are most at risk for severe complications from the virus. Elderly people and those with conditions that compromise their immune systems currently fall into the most at-risk category. Because of that, it’s important for Illinois nursing homes to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

When nursing homes fail to properly contain a virus, they can be cited for problems with infection control. Across the country, 9,700 of the 15,000 nursing homes were cited by the federal government at least once during the last two inspection cycles. This means that approximately 63 percent of nursing homes in the United States were cited at least once between February 2016 to February 2020 for failing to handle infections properly.

On March 31, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that Illinois’s stay-at-home order is extended until at least the end of April in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. For many residents, this means hunkering down at home and doing their part to flatten the curve. For others, it means being on the frontlines and working in hospitals and other medical facilities to care for those who are ill.

No matter your circumstance during this trying time, let’s take a look at some tips to protect you and your loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s important to note that information related to the virus changes daily. As such, everything discussed below is accurate as of April 2, 2020. Refer to local and federal health organizations for the most up-to-date information.

Our clients are very important to us. Therefore, we are taking the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing suggested by the CDC seriously. While our office remains open, we are encouraging our clients to communicate with us via telephone, email, fax or text rather than coming to the office. In order to assure that our office continues to function appropriately to give our clients continued service, each of our lawyers and staff have the capability to work remotely and will make arrangements for paperwork to be exchanged as efficiently as possible.

We encourage everyone to protect themselves, their loved ones and those who are most vulnerable. The best way to prevent the spread of this illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus by avoiding contact with individuals who are sick or who may have been exposed to the virus. You can also protect yourself by washing your hands and avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. For more information from the CDC on how to protect yourself, go to: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html

After a night out in the city, you might think that renting an e-scooter is a safer and more cost-effective way for you to get home. If you’ve been enjoying a few drinks, however, this line of thinking could be dangerous. Driving a rental scooter while drunk is just as dangerous as getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

It’s also just as illegal. Here’s what you need to know about the DUI laws and consequences in Illinois:

Michael Krzak and Matthew Rundio have been recognized as Leading Lawyers for 2020. Krzak Rundio Law Group is honored to have received this recognition, as our lawyers strive to provide the best representation possible for our clients.

Leading Lawyers are recommended by their peers to be among the top lawyers in different areas of practice. According to Leading Lawyers, less than five percent of all lawyers licensed in each state have received the distinction. Krzak and Rundio also received this award in 2019.

Michael Krzak was recommended by his peers in aviation law and general personal injury law. As a hard-working attorney, he approaches each case with dedication and perseverance. Mr. Krzak has successfully tried a number of cases, resulting in positive verdicts for his clients. One case, involving a woman who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after a car accident, achieved a $2.583 million verdict—which set a new legal record in Illinois. He also tackles highly complex aviation crash cases, including commercial aviation cases and crashes with small aircraft and helicopters.

There were over 300,000 car accidents in Illinois last year and less than 1,000 were fatal, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). But how many of those crashes were caused by winter weather? IDOT reported that nearly 80% of fatal crashes occur on dry roadways, meaning that winter weather only accounts for less than 20% of fatal car accidents.

This winter, at least one person has already been killed in a car accident caused by snow.

In mid-November, a driver lost control and crossed into the oncoming lane because it was snowing, and the road was covered with snow. Unfortunately, the driver hit and killed the driver of another car, as a local CBS station reported. This terrible incident shows that you need to practice extreme caution when driving in inclement weather because accidents can easily become deadly.