Car Accidents in Elmhurst, Illinois

The personal injury law firm of John J. Malm & Associates is a team of experienced and caring attorneys who assist individuals and families who have suffered an injury or loss as the result of a vehicle accident. Our DuPage County office is located at 1730 Park Street, Suite #201 in Naperville, Illinois 60563. Our dedicated lawyers live close to the DuPage County area and regularly represent our clients in automobile accidents in Elmhurst.

Our personal injury law firm understands that careless or negligent driving (speeding, running a read light, failing to yield, or veering over the centerline), reckless driving (passing in a no-passing zone or speeding through a construction-zone), distracted driving (texting and driving), and impaired driving (drugs or alcohol), can lead to car accidents involving serious injuries and fatalities in the community of Elmhurst. The population here in Elmhurst is on the rise, which means more vehicles are occupying the road, and, unfortunately, serious accidents and fatalities appear to be on the rise.

Elmhurst is a city of Illinois that is located mostly in DuPage County, but overlaps slightly into Cook County. The city of Elmhurst is located just about 18 miles to the west of downtown Chicago. Nearby cities and towns include Oak Brook, Villa Park, Lombard, Addison, Bensenville, and Glen Ellyn. As of the 2010 census, the population of Elmhurst was 44,121 people, but it is estimated to have risen to 46,746 people by 2019. In 2016, the median household income was estimated at $104,854. Elmhurst consists of many busy roads, including York Road, Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Road), Interstate 290, U.S. Route 20, St. Charles Road, Illinois Route 64 (North Avenue), Interstate 88, and Illinois Route 83.

U.S. Route 20 is the longest stretch of highway in the entire United States at 3,365 miles long, extending from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon, and a small part of it crosses through Elmhurst. It is likely the most dangerous road in Elmhurst because one might encounter a motorist who has been driving for hours on this road and may therefore be put at risk for an accident due to reckless or drowsy driving.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), in 2018, there were 876 automobile accidents in Elmhurst, which is a decrease from the preceding years. It is likely this number will rise once 2019 and 2020 data is released, as there have been fatal accidents in those years while there were none in 2018. Of the 876 accidents, five involved a vehicle striking a pedestrian, and 14 involved a vehicle striking a bicyclist.

The most common type of car accident in Elmhurst is a rear-end collision, with that type making up well-over a third of the total car accidents in 2018. While most of the 876 accidents occurred on days with normal weather conditions, over 100 of them occurred on days with rain, snow, or sleet conditions.

When can someone expect the roads to be safest in Elmhurst? As is the case in most heavily populated areas close to downtown Chicago, car accidents tend to peak towards the middle-end of the work week, with 2018 seeing the most on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The traffic patterns also follow the expected rush-hour schedule with times such as 8:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. seeing substantially more accidents than other times of the day.

How are records of Elmhurst car crashes kept? When categorizing all motor vehicle accidents, IDOT classifies injury severity for each one in any given year. They report a tally of how many people were killed and how many people were injured. In terms of the injured persons, those who sustain incapacitating injuries, non-incapacitating injuries, and minimal injuries are broken up into separate categories, though they also provide a “total injured.” In 2018, 194 people involved in Elmhurst car accidents sustained injuries, and 19 of those people suffered incapacitating injuries. These can be anything from severely broken bones to paralysis.

While there were no car accident fatalities in 2018, unfortunately, fatalities were reported in 2020 in Elmhurst as the result of car accidents. Serious car accidents due to negligence, impairment, or adverse weather conditions (driving too fast for conditions) will sometimes result in fatalities (wrongful death). They are avoidable, but seem to inevitably occur throughout DuPage County each year.

At around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 24, 2020, a 32-year-old man was driving east on Grand Avenue in Elmhurst when he struck an unknown object and veered into oncoming traffic from the westbound lanes. According to a witness from the scene, two westbound drivers veered out of the way to avoid crashing. The witness saw the smoking car come to a stop and tried to perform CPR on the man until Emergency Medical Services (EMS) arrived. He was transported to Loyola University Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after.

On Monday, May 27, 2019, at around 6:59 p.m., a 22-year-old man was driving a 2013 Hyundai on I 290, half a mile west of York Road in the Elmhurst area, when he fell asleep. Upon falling asleep at the wheel, he veered off to the right side of the highway and collided head-on with a road-side tower pole. A 22-year-old male passenger and a 19-year-old male passenger were both pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, while the driver and a third passenger were taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries.

Drowsy driving accidents occur frequently, and they are estimated to have caused 91,000 accidents in 2017 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA). However, the accident on May 27, 2019 does not fit the three most common criteria of after midnight, a single driver with no passengers, and a rural road. However, interstate highways are also a frequent location, especially if a driver has been driving the same one for a long period of time, regardless of passengers or time of day.

What is the most often reported cause of car accidents in Elmhurst? In Elmhurst, the entirety of DuPage County, and the rest of Illinois, one will find that distracted driving is overwhelmingly the most common cause for car accidents. A distracted motorist will divert his or her attention from the road to focus on something else, which often times causes accidents. Listed below are some of the most common forms of distracted driving:

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

Sometimes, the physical condition of a driver can be the cause of a car accident. Physical conditions of a driver may include but are not limited to: impairment/driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs, alcohol, fatigue, and illness. Yet, in the majority of car accidents, a driver’s physical condition is not the cause. In 2018, about 89% of the 1,697 drivers involved in Elmhurst car accidents were reported to have been in a normal physical condition at the time of the crash. In 2018, 31 people were reportedly impaired by alcohol, and only five people were impaired by drugs. Five reportedly crashed due to illness, and two people crashed due to fatigue (drowsy driving).

On rare occasions, the cause of a car accident will be a vehicle malfunction. An example of this would be a braking system failure. Though seldom reported, it accounted for nine 2018 Elmhurst car accidents, and it can be extremely dangerous especially at higher rates of speed in adverse weather conditions.

Are there certain intersections and roadways in Elmhurst that are more dangerous than others? Elmhurst consists of many busy roads, and while car accidents can occur anywhere at any time, there are certain roads that have been associated with more accidents, which means they can be considered more dangerous. Listed below are several intersections in Elmhurst where either fatal accidents have occurred or where accidents frequently occur:

• Illinois Route 83 and North Avenue
• U.S. 20 (West Lake Street) and Grand Avenue
• The interchange of Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Road) and Illinois Route 83
• The interchange of Interstate 290 and U.S. 20 West
• The interchange of Interstate 290 and Illinois Route 64
• North Avenue and York Road

The intersection of Illinois Route 83 and North Avenue is consistently considered one of the busiest intersections in Illinois. All of the four corners are lined with restaurants and businesses, and cars frequently pull out of these strip malls and parking lots in all different directions on all sides of the intersection.

John J. Malm & Associates is a qualified personal injury law firm representing clients in the form of both individuals and families who have experienced an injury or loss as a result of 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 legal settlement if you have been injured. If you or a loved one has been injured in an Elmhurst 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.