Truck accidents are a greater danger here in the greater Chicago area than in other parts of the country because of the huge amount of commercial motor vehicle traffic (think semi-trucks, big rigs, 18-wheelers, and tractor-trailers) rumbling along our roadways at all times of day or night. Chicagoland is a national freight hub; these large trucks are vital part of moving goods and cargo around the nation and the world on routes that include I-55, I-57, I-80, I-88, I-90, and I-290.
However, alongside the high truck volume are factors that make things even more hazardous here. Things like the extensive road work construction zones involved in Project Rebuild Illinois; harsh weather conditions; and traffic problems (congestion, bottlenecks) challenge even the most experienced of truckers.
For more, read Big Trucks in Chicago: Dangers of 18-Wheeler Accidents in Chicagoland and Why Are There So Many Serious or Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents in Chicagoland?
People can be severely injured or killed in any large truck accident, no matter the speed or the location. Statistics show that thousands of people are hurt in large truck accidents each year in the State of Illinois, with hundreds losing their lives in the truck crash. See, Crash Statistics Summary Report for Illinois (2021-2025) published online by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Truck accidents can vary here in Chicagoland. Big rigs may be involved in things like:
- Head-on collisions (vehicle driving wrong-way slams into the rig)
- Cargo shifts or falls (cargo improperly packaged or loaded falls off the rig, or shifts within the trailer)
- Jack-knifes (road debris or other vehicle forces trucker to swerve, causing trailer to corner away from tractor)
- Rear-end accidents (semi-truck is not given enough time to brake and come to stop before collision; common danger in road work zones)
- Side-impact accidents (truck is hit from the side by another vehicle)
- Tire blowouts (defective or improperly maintained tire fails in route)
- Underride accidents (vehicle collides with semi-truck and goes underneath the tractor-trailer).
Truck Occupant Fatalities Jumped 83% By 2022
While passengers and drivers in smaller vehicles are more vulnerable to suffering injuries in a truck accident, there are also a significant number of truckers, both drivers and passengers in the rig at time of impact, that can be hurt in a semi-truck crash.
In 2022, for instance, seventeen percent (17%) of those who died in large truck crashes in this country were truck occupants. And this represented a shocking 83% rise in truck occupant fatalities from 2009. Read, Fatality Facts 2022: Large Trucks, published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety – Highway Loss Data Institute.
It is imperative for any commercial truck driver moving through the greater Chicago area to be particularly alert to the dangers they face of a semi-truck crash. It is also vital for any large truck occupant (driver, passenger) hurt in a trucking accident to know the legal rights provided to the accident victim and their loved ones, to cover things from medical expenses, to lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and more.
Also read: Illinois and Indiana: Both Top 10 States for Most Truck Crash Fatalities.
Trucking Injuries on the Job: Semi-Truck Crash
Truck drivers can suffer all sorts of bodily harm in a truck crash, where they may face life-long disabilities or catastrophic injuries that will take weeks or months to resolve. Tragically, some will die either in the accident itself or at some point in the future as their body is unable to heal from the harm. Trucker injuries may involve things like:
- traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- spinal cord injury
- internal organ damage
- permanent harm to central nervous system
- fractures
- burns and scarring
- amputation
- paralysis
- wrongful death.
For more, read Traumatic Brain Injury Accidents: the Cost of Care and Treatment; Internal Injuries After an Accident Can Be Silent and Deadly; and Amputations and Motor Vehicle Accidents in Indiana or Illinois.
Workers’ Compensation
After any accident on the job, the primary concern must be getting help for all those hurt in the crash. However, another important consideration will be financial help and recompense. One of the first things for the truck driver to do is to investigate worker’s compensation coverage and filing of an injury claim with their employer.
For worker’s compensation to help, the driver must be covered by an insurance policy paid for by the employer with benefits defined by law for employee injuries on the job. In Illinois, trucking companies are mandated to have these insurance policies in place, with benefits defined by state statute.
The truck occupant must be an employee (not an independent contractor) at the time of the work injury. The workers’ compensation claim must also confirm that the claimant was in “the course and scope of employment” at the time they were hurt.
For more, read: 10 Types of Workers Compensation Benefits After a Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana.
Personal Injury Claims for Truck Drivers
The determination of liability after any serious accident will involve several different investigations. There will be law enforcement on the accident scene, where the focus will be criminal actions and arrests. Trucking companies, and insurance adjusters for all those involved in the crash, will be fast to respond as well. Their intent will be to find causes of the incident that point away from their own legal financial liability.
Truck driver injury victims have a legal right to investigate the truck crash, too. With the help of legal advocates and truck crash analysis experts, their independent investigation may discover one or more third parties that have breached legal duties of care and safety that make them responsible for the crash and its aftermath.
These include:
- other drivers involved in the crash
- other drivers on the roadway that escaped the collision
- trucking companies employing other drivers involved in the crash
- employers of other drivers involved in the crash, or who contributed to causing it
- manufacturers of defective vehicle parts on the rig (like a faulty tire that blew)
- repair and maintenance companies who failed in work on the rig
- manufacturers of defective vehicle parts on the other vehicle
- repair and maintenance companies who failed in work on the other vehicle
- cargo loaders who failed to load the freight in a reasonable and prudent manner
- shippers who failed to package goods in a reasonable and prudent way
- construction companies who failed to properly warn in a road work zone
- property owners or lessors who failed to maintain property in a proper manner (think bad lighting, overgrown landscaping blocking views, etc.).
Personal injury claim damages will be very different from the benefits provided under a workers’ compensation policy. Illinois law will allow damages under negligence, product liability, premises liability, or wrongful death claims that involve both economic and non-economic damages. Personal injury damages are usually much higher than benefits covered in the employer’s state-defined workers’ compensation policy.
For more, read: 10 Types of Injury Damages That May Be Awarded to Accident Victims; and Work Accident in Illinois or Indiana: Workers Compensation Claim vs. Personal Injury Damages.
Justice for Truck Driver Hurt on the Job in Semi-Truck Crash in Chicagoland
Any trucker suffering bodily harm in a semi-truck accident has a legal right to investigate both the facts of the crash and its corresponding legal remedies. Understanding liability and coverage laws can be very important, especially when being contacted by insurance companies who are well aware of how vulnerable accident victims and their loved ones may be during this difficult time
Having an experienced legal advocate with the appropriate expert investigators can mean justice for the truck driver who has suffered serious injury on the job. Things like black box data, witness statements, dash-cams, surrounding security cameras, recall histories, and more may all provide surprising evidence of causation.
For more, read:
- Liability for Chicago Semi-Truck Crashes Other Than the Trucker or the Carrier
- Dangerous Combination in Chicago: Semi-Truck Traffic and Road Construction Work Zone
- Winter Weather Long Haul Trucking: Deadly Crash Dangers in Illinois and Indiana
- Black Box Data in Semi-Truck Crashes: The Importance of EDR Evidence
- Accident Reconstruction Experts and Injury Claims
- Why a Lawyer who is a Trial Attorney Is Important for Accident Victims in Personal Injury Cases.
It is extremely frustrating and dangerous to drive 18-wheelers through Chicagoland today. Truck crashes may happen in an instant, no matter how savvy and proficient the trucker. Please be careful out there!
