Accidents Involving Stop Sign Violations
Experienced Car Crash Lawyers Guiding Victims in Wheaton and Schaumburg
Frequently, people throughout Illinois and the United States are injured in accidents involving stop sign violations. If you have been in a car accident involving a failure to yield at a stop sign, you may be entitled to damages for the other driver’s negligent actions. At Therman Law Offices, our Wheaton and Schaumburg car accident attorneys can vigorously seek full and fair compensation in your case. We understand how to properly investigate these cases and establish liability for accidents involving stop sign violations. Time is of the essence in these cases, so it is important to act quickly.
Holding a Driver Accountable for Failing to Yield at a Stop Sign
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, one-third of all intersection crashes in the United States, and more than 40 percent of the deadly crashes, take place at intersections controlled by stop signs. This amounts to about 700,000 crashes at stop signs each year. Approximately 70 percent of all accidents at one-way and two-way stop signs involve the same basic pattern: one car runs the stop sign and hits another car going through the intersection. In a three- or four-way stop, it is possible for a multi-vehicle crash to result.
The Illinois Vehicle Code requires that every driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection that is marked by a stop sign make a full stop before entering the intersection. Despite this law, drivers routinely violate stop signs and cause serious accidents. These stop sign violations take place for a number of reasons, including but not limited to:
- Impatience;
- Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
- Reckless driving;
- Aggressive driving; or
- Distracted driving.
To obtain damages after an accident caused by a stop sign violation, the injured party’s lawyer is required to show that the other driver was negligent. Negligence occurs when a person fails to use reasonable care, thereby causing injuries to another person. Reasonable care is defined as how a prudent person would have acted in the same or a similar situation. In order to establish negligence, the victim has the burden of proving the following elements: 1) the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care; 2) the defendant breached the duty of care owed to the plaintiff; and 3) the defendant’s breach was a direct cause of the accident and the plaintiff’s harm.
However, when a driver who committed a stop sign violation causes an accident, the obligation to prove negligence is reduced. In these situations, the doctrine of negligence per se is often appropriate, meaning that the act itself is considered negligent. This is because the act of running the stop sign is a legal violation, so negligence can be automatically attributed to the driver who ran the stop sign. In other words, something is negligent per se when it is a violation of a traffic law designed for safety. Once it is established that the driver ran a stop sign, the focus can turn to the amount of damages that may sufficiently compensate the plaintiff.
When a person has been injured in an accident caused by a stop sign violation, that person may be able to recover a wide range of damages, including lost income, loss of future income, medical costs for immediate care after the accident, costs of any ongoing future medical care or therapy, pain and suffering, and disability.
Explore Your Options with an Injury Lawyer in Schaumburg or Wheaton
Stop sign violations can lead to serious harm. If you or someone close to you has been injured in an accident involving a stop sign violation, you may be entitled to compensation. At Therman Law Offices, our dedicated car accident attorneys are experienced in this area of law and can provide effective representation at every step of the way. Our firm represents injured people in Wheaton, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, Elgin, Bartlett, Hanover Park, Bensenville, Wood Dale, Bloomingdale, and Roselle, among other cities. For a free consultation, call us at 312-588-1900 or contact us online.
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