Personal Injury Law

Driver Charged with Causing Fatal Lake County, Illinois Motorcycle Accident Says She Was Painting Her Nails

The Lake County State?s Attorney?s office is considering filing criminal charges against a female driver who may have caused a fatal Illinois motorcycle accident because she was busy painting her nails. Police say that Morris resident Lora Hunt told them that she did not see Anita Zaffke, who was stopped at an intersection on route 12, until her Chevrolet Impala struck the Honda motorcycle because she was applying nail polish.

Zaffke was thrown 200 feet from her motorcycle and died about an hour after the catastrophic Illinois motorcycle crash from abdominal and chest injuries. She was wearing a motorcycle helmet when the deadly collision happened.

Hunt received a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver inattention is a contributing cause of 80% of all auto accidents. The following activities while driving can increase the chances that the motorist will become involved in an auto accident:

? Reaching toward a moving object increases the chances of a collision or near-collision by nine times.
? Glancing at an external object increases risk of an auto crash by 3.7 times.
? Reading while driving increases the traffic crash risk by 3 times.
? Putting on make up increases the chances of a collision by 3 times.
? Using a cell phone increases traffic collision risk by 3 times.
? Listening to a handheld device or talking on one increases the chances of an auto accident by 1.3 times.

AAA says that distracted driving causes up to 8,000 US auto collisions a year. Driving while distracted is a kind of negligent driving that can be catastrophic for those around the distracted motorist. Not only can it destroy the lives of the motorcyclists, car drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, or others who may get hurt because a motorist was too distracted while behind the wheel, but the responsible party will have to spend the rest of his or her life living with the knowledge that someone was seriously hurt or died just because the motorist was reading, eating, talking on the phone, putting on make up, or engaged in another type of distracted driving activity.

You may be entitled to Chicago personal injury or wrongful death compensation from the distracted driver that caused your Illinois motor vehicle accident.

Charges mulled in fatal nail-polish crash, Chicago Breaking News, May 4, 2009

Driver painting nails runs red light, kills cyclist: cops, Chicago Sun-Times, May 4, 2009

NHTSA, Virginia TechTransportation Institute Release Findings of Breakthrough Research on Real-World Driver Behavior, Distraction and Crash Factors, NHTSA

Related Web Resources:
Distracted Driving, AAA

Distracted Driving, National Safety Council

Full post as published by Chicago Injury Attorney Blog on May 04, 2009 (boomark / email).