Category: DuPage County pedestrian accidents

There was a fatal Lisle pedestrian accident Friday (July 26, 2019) night. This fatal Lisle pedestrian accident occurred on College Road, just to the south of Maple Avenue, at approximately 10:20 p.m. The pedestrian struck and killed has been identified only as a 62-year-old man.

Details regarding the accident appear somewhat limited at this time. The circumstances regarding the accident do not appear to be publicly disclosed at this time.

This fatal Lisle pedestrian accident is discussed in variety of media sources, including the July 27, 2019 Daily Herald article titled “Pedestrian struck, killed in Lisle.”

An excerpt:

Lisle police and a major crash reconstruction team conducted an investigation and later confirmed the driver of the vehicle when he returned to the scene. The 18 year-old Lisle resident was cited for failure to render aid and released pending a court date, officials said.

The accident investigation took more than three hours to complete, and College was closed to traffic during that time.

The 62-year-old pedestrian was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove for treatment of his accident injuries. He later died from his accident injuries.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this fatal Lisle pedestrian accident can be seen in the article mentioned above as well as the July 27 abc7chicago.com article titled “62-year-old man killed by vehicle in Lisle.”

Pedestrian accidents are notable for many reasons. Injuries resulting from these accidents tend to be serious, and often are life-threatening. Additional discussion of pedestrian accidents – especially those that occur in DuPage County – can be seen on the following pages:

“Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents”

“Fatal Pedestrian Accidents That Occur In DuPage County“

“DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents”

An excerpt from the “Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page:

There are many types of expenses that can be directly incurred when someone is hit by a car.  Typically, medical bills may be (very) high, especially if the person does not have health insurance.  Many people who have been hit and injured by a vehicle seek to obtain injury compensation through the filing of a personal injury lawsuit.  This compensation can include many different types.  The amount of such compensation varies depending upon many different factors, including the types and severity of the injuries.

There was a fatal Villa Park pedestrian accident early Saturday (August 25, 2018) morning.

Details on this fatal Villa Park pedestrian accident are somewhat limited at this time.  The cause of the accident as well as its fault does not appear to be publicly disclosed at this time.

According to the Villa Park Police Department, the accident occurred on Roosevelt Road, in the 0-100 block.  The police department was called to the accident scene at 1:39 a.m.

The pedestrian struck was a 34-year-old man.  He was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove for treatment of his accident injuries.  At that time he was in critical condition.  He was later pronounced dead.

An excerpt regarding this fatal Villa Park pedestrian accident, from the August 25, 2018 Daily Herald article titled “Police:  Man struck and killed by car in Villa Park“:

Villa Park Deputy Police Chief William Lyons was not immediately available for further comment on the crash, which currently is under investigation by the police department, the DuPage County Coroner’s Office and the DuPage County Accident Reconstruction Team.

Additional details concerning this fatal Villa Park pedestrian accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Daily Herald article mentioned above.

Various aspects of pedestrian accidents including the typical injuries, the potential severity of such injuries, and “what to do” from a medical and legal standpoint if you are hit by a vehicle, are further discussed on the “DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page as well as the “Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” pages.

Improved Wheaton pedestrian safety is a stated goal of a recently approved plan to lower the speed limit on most residential streets.  The new speed limit will be 25 mph, compared to the current 30 mph speed limit.

Pedestrian safety continues to be a national concern, due to the ongoing high (from a historical perspective) level of pedestrian accidents.  As further discussed on the “DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page, accidents in which people are hit by cars or other vehicles often cause serious accident injuries.  In some cases, these injuries lead to the death of the pedestrian.  As seen in the DuPage County pedestrian accidents that have been summarized on this site, a broad range of serious accident injuries can occur if a person is struck by a vehicle.  Among the most serious of these injuries is brain injuries.

An excerpt regarding the Wheaton pedestrian safety initiative, from the July 17, 2018 Kane County Chronicle article titled “Wheaton lowers speed limit for residential streets“:

City Council member Suzanne Fitch said the new speed limits are “just one component” to making streets safer for pedestrians.

“We also have our sidewalk program ensuring that we have a sidewalk on at least one side of a street so kids can get safely to and from school,” Fitch said. “And then I think another component is having the police department or communications department educate residents about the dangers of distracted driving. And maybe when we do our education campaign for the new speed limit, we can incorporate that as well.”

Additional details and possible updates concerning this Wheaton pedestrian safety initiative can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the article mentioned above as well as the July 17 Lisle Patch article titled “Wheaton Lowers Speed Limit In Neighborhoods.”  Both articles list which streets will remain at their current speed limits.

Pedestrian accidents continue to be a substantial traffic safety issue.  As seen in many Chicago-area pedestrian accidents, these accidents often lead to those who have been hit by a vehicle to be critically injured.  In many cases these injuries have led to the death of the pedestrian.

In the last few days there have been fatal crashes in both Beach Park and in Aurora.   In both instances the pedestrian died at the accident scene from accident injuries.

On this site, DuPage County pedestrian accidents are summarized in posts found under the “DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” category.  Additionally, various aspects of such crashes – including both legal and medical steps to take if you have been hit by a vehicle – are discussed on the “Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page.

On March 24 The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Pedestrian Peril in the Digital Age.”  The article discusses various aspects of pedestrian accidents, as well as pedestrian safety issues associated with autonomous (i.e. “self-driving”) cars.

An excerpt from the article, citing figures from the Governors Highway Safety Administration:

The association estimates pedestrian fatalities rose 27% from 2007 to 2016, a period during which the broader traffic-fatality number was mostly falling. Overall fatalities, however, have been rising as well in recent years as drivers deal with increasing distractions in the cabin of their cars and Americans put more miles on their vehicles amid a strong economy and low gasoline prices.

Another aspect is what effect “drugged drivers” have with regard to traffic safety.  Another excerpt from the article:

In traffic accidents in which fatally injured drivers were tested for drugs, the detection rate was 43% in 2015, compared with 28% in 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Additional details with regard to these various aspects of pedestrian accidents can be seen in the sources mentioned above.

As seen in many DuPage County pedestrian accidents, when a person is hit by a car or other vehicle a broad range of pedestrian accident injuries can occur.  While these injuries vary in severity, many are serious in nature and often can be life-threatening.  As seen in the many DuPage County pedestrian accidents that have been summarized on this site, these accident injuries can lead to either death or various types of permanent impairments.

The “DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page further discusses the nature and types of injuries, as well as what steps to take if you have been hit by a vehicle.

Among the more serious types of pedestrian accident injuries are those involving head injuries.  There are many incidents in which someone has been hit by a vehicle in the Chicago area and has suffered a traumatic brain injury, which is often referred to as a TBI.  One DuPage County pedestrian accident that led to the death of a woman due to a brain injury occurred in Naperville on November 1, 2016.  That accident is discussed in the November 18, 2016 post titled “Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) In Chicago-Area Pedestrian Accidents.”

A recent pedestrian accident that occurred at an intersection in St. Paul, MN illustrates the potential severity of such a head injury as well as its long-term impact on one’s functionality.  The accident, head injury, and its impact on the pedestrian’s (Joy Hundley) health is discussed in the February 22, 2018 twincities.com article titled “No prison time for man who fractured pedestrian’s skull in St. Paul drunk-driving crash.”

Two excerpts:

Joy Hundley couldn’t be at the sentencing for the man who, while driving drunk, struck her in a St. Paul intersection as he was on her way home from work last September.

Instead, the 51-year-old was at a nursing home, where she’s expected to spend her foreseeable future after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in the accident.

The mother of four daughters — her youngest is 13 — slid under Gary Thomas Schmalz’ vehicle when he struck her at the corner of Fillmore and Robert streets about 9:20 p.m. Sept. 27, 2017.

also:

She was rushed to Regions Hospital, where she subsequently had to undergo seven surgeries to keep her alive. A portion of her skull was removed during one of the operations due to the magnitude of swelling in her brain.

Additional details regarding the long-term health impact of the pedestrian accident injuries as well as additional details regarding the accident can be seen in the article.

There was a pedestrian accident early Saturday (March 17, 2018) morning in Downers Grove.  The accident involved a car that hit a man as the man was walking across 63rd Street.

As discussed on the “Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page, there are a range of accident injuries that typically occur when a person is struck by a vehicle.  These injuries vary in severity but typically are serious in nature.  In this case, the man who was struck suffered head injuries and leg injuries.

The man was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of his accident injuries.

An excerpt regarding the crash, from the Downers Grove Patch article of March 18, 2018 titled “Pedestrian Hit By Car In Downers Grove:  Police“:

Traffic was reduced to one lane for more than three hours as police and the DuPage County Felony Investigative Assistance Team (FIAT) worked to clean up the area and reconstruct the accident. FIAT often assists with accidents that involve serious or fatal injuries.

Additional details and possible updates concerning DuPage County pedestrian accidents and the associated injuries can be seen in the sources mentioned above.

Pedestrian accident trends continue to be problematical, both on a national as well as a local (Chicago area) basis.

Many statistics show that pedestrian accidents, including fatal pedestrian accidents, are at high levels when viewed from a historical basis.

On this site, various aspects of pedestrian accidents – including both medical and legal issues – are discussed on the “DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page as well as the “Injuries Resulting From DuPage County Pedestrian Accidents” page.  As discussed on those pages – as well as seen in DuPage County pedestrian accidents summarized on this site – accidents in which people are hit by vehicles often result in serious, if not life-threatening, injuries.  Many such injuries are fatal in nature.

In DuPage County, recent pedestrian accidents have occurred in Naperville, Woodridge, Downer’s Grove, Lisle, Darien, Warrenville, and near Burr Ridge.  As seen in the summaries, these crashes have led to many types of injuries that vary in severity.  Even for those injuries that do not lead to fatalities, medical treatment of such injuries often includes extensive hospital stays and additional care such as physical rehabilitation.

Recently the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA) issued a report titled “Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State:  2017 Preliminary Data.”

The report discusses recent trends in national fatal pedestrian crashes, and reasons why the recent number of fatal injuries are at historically high levels.

An excerpt from the report summary:

States reported a total of 2,636 pedestrian fatalities for the first six months of 2017. Adjusting the raw data based on past trends, GHSA estimates that there were 5,984 pedestrian fatalities in 2017, essentially unchanged from the 5,987 pedestrians killed in 2016.

The report also explores potential contributors to the high number of pedestrian fatalities, considering factors including state legalization of recreational marijuana and the dramatic growth in smartphone use.

Additional details regarding the nature and trends in pedestrian accidents can be seen in the sources mentioned above.

A fatal November 21, 2017 accident in Naperville in which a man was struck by a car is discussed in the post titled “Man Struck By Car In Naperville Dies Following Accident.”

Additional details regarding the accident have become available.

This additional information is seen in various media sources, including the February 23, 2018 Positively Naperville article titled “Police provide update to fatal traffic crash.”

As seen in the article, Naperville Police have said that the driver of the car (Steven R. Holmes) has been charged with aggravated use of an electronic communication device and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Those with additional information concerning this DuPage County fatal accident are asked to contact the Naperville Police Department’s Traffic Unit at (630) 420-8833.

On this site, the topic of distracted driving is further discussed on the “Distracted Driving” page.  As seen on that page, distracted driving can be caused by the driver being involved in many different activities while driving.  While many different activities can lead to distracted driving, the most common action is texting while driving.

The increase in distracted driving over the last few years has been cited as a major cause of vehicle accidents.

A man was struck by two trucks Wednesday (January 31, 2018) morning on northbound I-294 near Burr Ridge.  The pedestrian accident left the man with life-threatening injuries.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP) the accident occurred at 9:59 a.m., at mile post 23.5.

The accident happened after a man driving a pickup truck northbound lost control of the vehicle and struck the guard rail on the right side of the roadway.

The driver exited the vehicle, and for a reason that is not completely understood (although discussed in the “The Doings” article of January 31, 2018 titled “Man runs into traffic after I-294 crash…“) the driver apparently walked or ran onto the roadway.  At that time, the man was struck by a semi truck and box truck.

The man hit, identified as a 46-year-old man from Glen Ellyn, was taken to La Grange Hospital for treatment of his accident injuries.

The accident remains under investigation by the Illinois State Police.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this DuPage County pedestrian accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the article mentioned above as well as the January 31 Darien Patch article titled “Pedestrian Struck By Two Vehicles On I-294 Near Burr Ridge:  Cops.”

As previously discussed on this site, pedestrian accidents involving people who are walking in crosswalks at the time of the collision happen on a regular basis in the Chicago area.  As such, one question that has arisen is whether crosswalks offer a “false sense of security” for pedestrians and others, like joggers and bicyclists.

This issue of pedestrian safety as it pertains to crosswalk use is of great importance. As seen in many pedestrian accidents summarized on this site a broad range of injuries, many serious, can occur when a person is hit by a car or other vehicle.   Many of these pedestrian accidents have led to fatal injuries.

The issue of pedestrian safety as it pertains to crosswalks is discussed in the December 18, 2017 Daily Herald article (with video) titled “Walk at your own risk:  Drivers oblivious to suburban crosswalks.”  The article discusses various aspects of Illinois crosswalk use, as well as various problematical issues that are presented to those who attempt to use them to cross streets.  Among these problems is that cars don’t necessarily stop or slow down if pedestrians are at or in crosswalks, and that overall the situation is in many instances dangerous to walkers.

An excerpt from the article:

The zebra stripes and neon yellow sign invite you to cross. Drivers are supposed — indeed legally required — to stop. And yet, when Daily Herald journalists tested out suburban crosswalks, they found a survival-of-the fittest scenario with pedestrians on the losing side.

Illinois law requires drivers to stop for people within crosswalks and obligates pedestrians to take caution and not walk into the path of oncoming traffic.

But Daily Herald staff members not only encountered drivers who sped through crosswalks as they walked through, but they also experienced high-volume traffic that made it perilous to step onto the zebra stripes.

also:

The Active Transportation Alliance studied crossing safety in 2014 and found 78 percent of all pedestrian crashes in Chicago occur within 125 feet of an intersection, and that older pedestrians are most at risk in crosswalks.

“People are not aware of the law, and our streets are designed in a way that encourages people to speed and drive recklessly,” said Kyle Whitehead, the alliance’s government relations director.

As seen in the article, DuPage County crosswalks that are considered to be “Risky crosswalks” (10 busiest) are those at Lies Road east of Buckingham Drive in Carol Stream as well as Naperville Road and Tennyson Drive in Wheaton.

Additional details and additional information concerning this crosswalk safety issue can be seen in the sources mentioned above.