When a Car Accident Injury Proves Fatal in Illinois

 Posted on September 25, 2017 in Car Accidents

The event of a fatality on Illinois’ roads and highways is a grim reminder of the frailty of human life and the probabilities yielded by our vastly complex transportation network. Millions of Illinois residents travel by car, truck, bus, elevated trains, Metra, Uber, Lyft, and by foot every day. Tracking this universe of movement is astonishing – if you have ever seen a time-lapse video of city traffic, with the lights of vehicles and other methods of transport zooming through metropolitan areas at blinding speed, you have gotten a glimpse of the sheer scale of modern transportation.

In these millions of vessels traveling through urban, suburban, and rural networks are human beings of all types – young, old, male, female, and all races and ethnicities. With such an intricate web of traffic, accidents are a statistical inevitability. Within this group of outcomes, tragically, are accidents that result in fatalities. We see it every day on the evening news, and even though it happens frequently, it can still seem shocking and unreal. 

We think a driving fatality will never affect a loved one, until it actually happens to us. While this is gruesome to contemplate, it has become a necessary fact of life for many people. If you have lost a loved to a fatal accident on an Illinois road or highway, you know this. While nothing can ever bring back your loved one, a wrongful death legal claim may account for damages you have suffered.

Wrongful Death Rather Than Personal Injury is the Nature of Legal Claim with Regard to Fatalities

The causes of accidents on Illinois’ roads and highways are many. Whether the cause is human or mechanical in nature, it is typically either due to negligence or intentionally wrongful conduct. Negligence is in the breach of a duty owed that causes damages. In the case of a fatal car accident, the duty that is breached is the duty of safe driving – the responsibility to follow the rules and regulations of the road. The damages caused by the breach of this duty is death – the loss of life. When such damages have been wrought, certain survivors of the deceased may be eligible to file a wrongful death claim.

Contact a Geneva Wrongful Death Attorney

If you have lost a loved one because of someone’s negligence or intentionally wrongful conduct on an Illinois road or highway, the attorneys of Ariano Hardy Ritt Nyuli Richmond Lytle & Goettel P.C. can investigate your case and help you pursue a wrongful death claim. Contact an experienced Kane County wrongful death attorney today at 847-695-2400.

Sources:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2059&ChapterID=57