Car Accidents in Campton Hills, Illinois

The personal injury law firm of John J. Malm & Associates is a team of experienced and caring attorneys who help individuals and families who have suffered an injury or loss due to an automobile accident. Our newly remodeled Kane County offices are located at 1700 Lincoln Hwy. (Route 38), Suite G, St. Charles, Illinois 60174, just about a 10 minute drive from Campton Hills. Our dedicated lawyers live right here in the Fox Valley and regularly represent our clients in car accidents in Campton Hills.

Our Kane County personal injury attorneys understand that careless or irresponsible driving (running a red light, veering over a centerline, speeding, or failing to yield), reckless driving (tailgating; driving in a manor with willful disregard for human life), distracted driving (texting and driving), or impaired driving (alcohol, drugs, fatigue, illness) can lead to car accidents involving serious injuries and fatalities in the community of Campton Hills. The population of Campton Hills has risen ever so slightly over the past decade, and the number of car accidents has risen as well. Like many surrounding towns, serious accidents and fatalities appear to be on the rise.

Campton Hills is a village in Kane County located about 53 miles to the west of downtown Chicago. Surrounding towns and cities include St. Charles, Lily Lake, Elburn, Elgin, South Elgin, Wayne, Geneva, and Batavia. The current population of Campton Hills is 11,192, which is just a slight rise from 2010. The 2010 census that recorded the population also recorded the median household income at $128,633. While Campton Hills is fairly rural and does not contain very many busy roads, Illinois Route 64, Illinois Route 81, and Illinois Route 47 still pass through it.

Illinois Route 64 is one of the longest stretches of roadway in Illinois, extending east-to-west from Lake Shore Drive in Chicago to the Iowa state line. It passes through six of Illinois’ counties and is driven by many drivers, naturally making it a hazardous place where accidents frequently occur. In 2018, there was one fatality due to a car accident in Campton Hills, and while it did not occur on Route 64, other accidents did.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), in 2018, there were 83 automobile accidents in Campton Hills, which is actually a decrease from the previous few years, but not by much. Of these accidents, not a single one involved a vehicle striking a pedestrian or a bicyclist, which is a common trend for rural areas that do not have pedestrians crowding the streets.

The most common type of car accidents in Campton Hills involve vehicles colliding with a fixed object. On longer roads seen in more rural areas, there is often a lack of lighting, especially at night, and objects to crash into may seemingly come out of nowhere for drivers. Most of these accidents occurred on days with clear weather conditions, though about a fourth of them occurred during rain and snow conditions.

When can a driver expect the roads to be safest in Campton Hills? As seen in most rural areas, there is not a specific trend for accidents, with no day of the week taking a vast majority. The same goes for the time of day, as accidents reportedly peak at random hours throughout the day. Heavy rush hour traffic does not play a major factor in these accidents in less populated areas, especially in the unincorporated sections of Campton Township.

IDOT additionally keeps records of injury severity for every reported accident in a given year in Campton Hills. Illinois Traffic Crash Reports are generated when car accidents are reported to the police, and IDOT keeps track of how many people are killed and how many people are injured. They label persons as killed with a “K” if they are killed on scene or lose their lives within 30 days of the accident. They also provide information on the total number of injured people, separating that into people who sustain incapacitating (life-threatening) and non-incapacitating injuries. An incapacitating injury can range anywhere from severely broken bones to paralysis. While most drivers are not injured in car accidents, about 22% of people involved in 2018 Campton Hills car accidents were injured.

There have been several fatal collisions in Campton Hills in recent years. Serious accidents due to negligence occur frequently and can sometimes result in fatalities (wrongful death). Fatal traffic accidents can be caused by anything from reckless or irresponsible driving to adverse weather conditions (driving too fast for conditions).

A 2018 fatality in Campton Hills occurred on May 6, 2018, at around 11:30 p.m. A 54-year-old woman was driving a Honda Civic southbound on Route 47 when she, for an undisclosed reason, began to veer across the centerline into the northbound lane. Upon doing so, the vehicle struck a Toyota Highlander that was heading north. The driver of the Honda was pronounced dead at the scene, while the 29-year-old driver of the Toyota and her 1-year-old son were taken to a nearby hospital with non-incapacitating injuries. The cause of the accident was not made public. However, as far as state routes go, Route 47 is not the most crowded, and especially at the late hour, it is possible fatigue or reckless driving had something to do with it, as that is a common theme for these less busy rural roads.

In the afternoon of July 12, 2019, a 35-year-old man driving an Acura TX crashed into the rear of a Toyota 4Runner being driven by a 66-year-old woman waiting to turn left onto Dittman Road from Burlington Road in Campton Hills. According to the police, this intersection is “notorious” for accidents because while Dittman Road has a stop sign, Burlington Road does not stop sign, signal or left turn lane, and it is easy for drivers not paying attention to the road to fail to stop in time. The Acura slammed into the Toyota and did not come to a rest until it was 500 feet away from the initial sight. The man driving the Acura was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, while the woman driving the Toyota was treated for lesser injuries. The man succumbed to his injuries and passed away a little over a month later. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, and he took the full blunt of the steering wheel to his chest upon impact. However, this falls outside of the “30-day-after” period for IDOT to classify it as a death due to an accident.

What is the most often reported cause of car crashes in Campton Hills? Reckless driving accidents see a spike in more rural areas, but distracted driving is still the number one cause for car accidents everywhere in Kane County, as well as the rest of the state. Listed below are some of the most common forms of distracted driving:

• Texting and driving
• Talking on a cell phone (improper cell phone use)
• Reading a book
• Looking at an object or event outside of the vehicle
• Eating or drinking while driving

Sometimes, the physical condition of a driver can contribute to the cause of a car accident. Physical conditions of a driver include: impairment/driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, fatigue, and illness. However, about 90% of drivers involved in 2018 Campton Hills car accidents were reported to have been in a normal condition. Only two drivers were impaired by alcohol, and not a single driver was impaired by drugs, fatigue, or illness. Impaired driving is the third most common cause of car accidents in the country, but they tend to be reported much more frequently in urban areas (with constant nightlife) where people are driving for shorter periods of time. In more quiet areas such as Campton Hills, reckless and distracted driving occurs more frequently, especially on long roads at night.

Rarely, the cause of a car accident can be attributed to a vehicle malfunction. The most common vehicle malfunction is a braking system failure. While this was only the cause of one 2018 car accident in Campton Hills, it can be a very dangerous issue, especially at higher rates of speed, which many tend to abuse on longer and more desolate roads.

Are there certain intersections and areas in Campton Hills that are more dangerous than others? Car accidents can happen anywhere, especially in a place not known particularly for its busy roads. However, there are certain roadways in Campton Hills that have been associated with more accidents, which means they can be considered more dangerous. Listed below are intersections where fatal accidents have occurred or where car accidents frequently occur:

• Illinois Route 81 (Burlington Road) and Dittman Road
• State Route 64 and Burlington Road
• Burlington Road and Illinois Route 73
• Illinois Route 81 and Campton Hills Road
• Burlington Road and State Route 47

The common factor in all of these intersections is Burlington Road, which turns into Illinois Route 81 towards the south end of the village. There are quite a few roads in Campton Hills that end with a fork onto Burlington Road, and many of them have dangerous unprotected left turns.

John J. Malm & Associates is an experienced and qualified personal injury law firm representing individuals and families who have suffered an injury or loss due to a car accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, bicycle accident, pedestrian accident, and bus accident. We have assisted our clients in recovering millions in compensation. You may be entitled to a substantial settlement if you have been injured. If you or a loved one has been injured in a Campton Hills car accident, we encourage you to call John Malm and his team at (630) 524-2323 to receive a free case evaluation and discuss your options.