Actualizado en 05/30/2023 / Bajo Accidentes de Auto

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Illinois has been ranked No. 8 when it comes to the state with the most fatal car crashes in 2017. According to the National Safety Council, the state witnessed an 11% increase in deaths by car crashes in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Lets take a closer look at more Illinois car accident statistics.

This was despite the drastic decrease in traffic due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Although the total number of traffic incidents decreased in the United States during the first three months of 2020, Illinois was one of 11 states where the National Safety Council reported a spike in fatalities. The agency believes that this was due to reckless driving on roads that became suddenly free of traffic congestion.

Car accidents involving pedestrians, motorbikes, cars, trucks, and other vehicles is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the state of Illinois. Although the death rate has decreased in the past two decades, it remains significantly higher than in other advanced countries, according to the CDC.

Every day, people suffer injury or die in dangerous car accidents in Illinois, particularly in big cities like Chicago. Let us take a look at the statistics surrounding car crashes in Illinois in 2018, the most recent year for which data is made available by the Illinois Department of Transportation:

In 2018, there were a total of 319,146 car crashes in Illinois. That means over 874 traffic incidents occurred each day in the state that year.
There were 94,164 injuries incurred due to car crashes. That means over 10 people were injured every hour due to car accidents.
Out of those, 11,345 were acute incapacitating injuries. That means 13.4% of all car injuries are incapacitating.
Auto accidents also resulted in 1,035 deaths from in Illinois. That means almost 3 people were killed every day due to a traffic crash.

Crash Statistics by Type of Collisions

Types of collisions, which resulted in crashes include:

Overturned vehicle: There were a total of 3,401 incidents of car crashes that resulted in overturned vehicles. These resulted in 57 fatalities and 1,829 injuries including 528 incapacitating injuries.
Pedestrians: There were a total number of 4,779 pedestrians involved in car crashes in Illinois. Unfortunately, the accident proved fatal to 158 pedestrians while 4,518 pedestrians suffered from injuries, including 995 who suffered from incapacitating injuries. That means almost 21% of car crashes involving pedestrians resulted in injuries with long-term debilitating effects.
Cyclists: There were 2,493 accidents involving bicyclists in 2018, which resulted in 24 fatalities and 2,309 injuries, including 343 debilitating injuries.
Animals: Animals were involved in 16,511 car crashes. This resulted in 8 fatalities and 688 injuries, including 100 injuries that were incapacitating.
Fixed Objects: Property damage of fixed objects like light poles and traffic signals are involved in 32,940 car crashes. These resulted in 273 fatalities, 7,624 injuries, and 1,525 incapacitating injuries.
Rear-End: Rear-end accidents amounted to 91,936 car accidents. These resulted in 78 fatalities, 19,831 injuries, and 1,508 incapacitating injuries.
Head-On: There were 2,843 head-on crash incidents in Illinois in 2018. These resulted in 126 fatalities, 1,191 injuries, out of which 301 were incapacitating injuries.
Sideswipe: There were a total of 38502 crashes that resulted in the vehicle being side-swept in either the same or opposite direction. This resulted in 33 fatalities, 4,022 injuries, and 462 incapacitating injuries.
Turning: There were 49,985 crashes that occurred during a turning, resulting in 79 fatalities, 12,912 injuries, and 1,521 incapacitating injuries.

Rear-ends resulted in the largest number of accidents in Illinois and caused the most injuries. However, car crashes involving fixed objects resulted in the most fatalities (28.7% of all fatal crashes).

Illinois Car Accident Statistics - Infographic

Illinois Car Accident Statistics By County

The state of Illinois has 102 counties which reported a total of 319,146 car accidents in 2018. These resulted in 951 deaths, 67,453 injuries, and 9,061 incapacitating injuries.

Cook County, which comprises of Chicago, the biggest city in Illinois, witnessed the most motor crashes at 162,527. It also suffered 248 fatalities, 31,404 injuries, and 3,481 incapacitating injuries, the most in the state.
DuPage County is the second-most populous county of Illinois. Unfortunately, though, it also has the second largest number of car crashes in the state. In 2018, the county saw 20,788 crashes, which resulted in 34 fatalities, 4,832 injuries, and 430 incapacitating injuries.
Illinois’s fourth most populous county, Will County, witnessed 15,000 motor vehicle accidents in 2018, making it the county with the third-largest number of such incidents. Then crashes resulted in 52 deaths, 3,405 injuries, and 405 incapacitating injuries.
Lake County is the third most populous county of Illinois, after Cook County and DuPage County. Because of the large number of people in the county, traffic accidents, unfortunately, are very common. In 2018, there were 14,054 crash incidents in Lake County. These resulted in 38 deaths, 3,437 injuries, and 364 injuries that prevented the victim from performing their regular work or continuing their jobs.
With over half a million people, Kane County is the fifth most populous county of Illinois. The county witnessed 11,099 crashes in 2018 which resulted in 27 fatalities, 2,914 injuries, and 387 incapacitating injuries.

These five counties amount for over 70 percent of all crash accidents in Illinois, almost 42 percent of all fatalities in the state, over 68 percent of injuries, and almost 56 percent of incapacitating injuries that result in fractures, brain trauma, and amputations. The sad and surprising fact is that 43.1% of all fatal crashes happen during daylight hours.

Car Accident Injuries Are More Common Than Deaths in Illinois

Fatalities make about 0.3 percent of all car crashes in Illinois. Although this may seem small, the fact that it’s almost one thousand deaths per year is a very sobering thought. On the other hand, over 21 percent of all car crashes result in injury out of which 13.4% are incapacitating injuries.

Of course, cars don’t hurt people. Most of the time, it is the irresponsible behavior of drivers that lead to these unfortunate but preventable incidents.

Main Causes of Car Accidents in Illinois

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, car crashes in Illinois happen due to a number of reasons, including:

Blood Alcohol Concentration: In 2018, 27 percent of 951 fatal crashes, which resulted in 650 deaths, were because of driving under the influence. Out of these drivers, 567 were tested and 36.5% of them has BAC greater than 0.01 or greater.

Seat Belt Not Used: In 2018, 1218 drivers were injured for not wearing seat belts. Additionally, the car crash became fatal for 189 drivers. On the other hand, 3,761 passengers were hurt and 34 died for not wearing a seat belt.

Speeding: The Illinois State Police say that an estimated 32 percent of all crashes leading to deaths are related to speed and reckless driving. Crashes because of speeding account for 33.7 percent of all car crashes, 38.2 percent of injuries, and 36.1percent of fatalities.

Distracted Driving: Distracted driving is one of the main reasons for injuries and deaths from car crashes in Illinois. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the use of hand-held communication devices, like smartphones, increases the risk of a car accident four times and texting while driving increases the risk 23 times.

Even though texting while driving is illegal in Illinois and talking on the phone while driving is illegal for drivers aged 18 and younger in Illinois and illegal for all drivers in Chicago, it still happens.

Young drivers have the highest likelihood of being involved in a distracted driving incident. About 11 percent of all drivers below the age of 20 were involved in fatal car crashes in 2010 were reported to be distracted when the accident took place.

Aside from these, there are many other reasons why people get into car crashes that are not compiled into statistics by government agencies. However, a lot of these incidents are due to driver error, usually based on reckless or negligent behavior.

Contact Ktenas Injury Lawyers if You Have Been Injured In a Car Accident in Illinois

Being in a car crash can put a person into a state of shock and they may be unable to process things correctly. At this time, you need to understand that hiring a car accident attorney is your best bet.

Proving negligence in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit is very complex. People who are named as defendants in a car accident lawsuit will do all they can to avoid liability and do not shy from pinning the blame on the victims, undermining their losses, and even pushing for a very low and unjust settlement.

A car crash victim is in need of quick finances and may bow down to the pressure of the defendants, making unwise decisions that can place further financial and emotional burdens on them.

However, Ktenas Injury Lawyers are experienced in handling complicated car crash cases and they can offer you, good counsel, on your case. We provide you with a free consultation during which we will assess your case and discuss your options. If you or your loved one has been hurt in a car accident in Illinois, we can help give you justice. Call us today to schedule an appointment with us today.

Our team of lawyers handle car accident claims in Chicago and throughout Illinois, including: