Take Extra Caution When Traveling This Spring and Summer

As the weather starts warming and the sun finally begins to make a daily appearance in clearer skies, the safety of Illinois drivers continues to be a major concern. According to data kept by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, last year more than 46,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives in a preventable traffic crash; that’s more than 46,000 people who didn’t make it home to their families and loved ones in 2022. Over 1,200 of those fatalities occurred in Illinois.

Estimates also reveal a staggering statistic: Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, the mileage death rate in 2022 increased nearly 22%, showing just how dangerous it is to use American roads in general. The increase in fatalities is the highest seen in nearly one hundred years – back when many people were just learning to drive their brand-new Ford Model T’s and rules of the road were not quite established. With vehicle traffic down sharply during the pandemic, many would wonder why this increase has happened as workers have only started to return to offices within the past 6 months. The root cause of this increase appears to be a substantial rise in high-speed fatalities, all of which are a result of drivers simply disregarding perhaps the most basic traffic rule. While many of the fatalities seen on our highways before the pandemic were due to violent trucking crashes, the trend on our roadways appears to be increasing due to the reckless operation of passenger cars. As we approach the end of the school year and the start of the travel season it does not appear that this trend is reversing with increased traffic on our Illinois roadways.

Reducing speed is a simple way to prevent injuries and death, but being cautious on the road and watching out for motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians is probably even more important. Most traffic crashes happen within 5 miles of our homes. Even more concerning is that the average vehicle to pedestrian collision is 1.1 miles from home and a vehicle to cycle collision is 1.2 miles from home. As many of our fellow citizens seem to be demonstrating less consideration for each other on the roadways, the sheer volume of e-commerce deliveries is increasing the risk of harm to our loved ones. It’s fair to estimate that e-commerce deliveries by Amazon, UPS, and FedEx have grown 13-16% every year with no slow down on the horizon. It stands to reason that the more e-commerce orders we place, the more the risk of harm increases from e-commerce vehicle collisions of all kinds. Although UPS maintains a union workforce, their competitors do not and will not. Along with a non-unionized fleet of drivers comes more turnover, less training, and generally less incentive for safety. It is dangerous enough that companies like Amazon appear to prioritize profits over safety, but when Amazon’s Flex drivers are injured, they are immediately denied workers’ compensation benefits because Amazon considers them independent contractors rather than employees despite telling the Flex drivers how to do their jobs.

Unlike Amazon, gig economy companies like Lyft, Uber-Rasier LLC, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Postmates have a business plan that places profit over prevention of injury. Quite simply, these taxi replacements and food delivery companies enjoy all the benefits of having employees without any of the responsibilities that come with it. Uber drivers are not paid by Uber. Instead, they are paid by Rasier LLC. This allows Uber to control more drivers on more roads and never take responsibility for their driver’s when they cause collisions. Gig economy companies have only recently begun conducting background checks, but alarmingly they do not require their drivers to have any special licensing or any special training. Quite simply, if gig economy employees were given basic training, they would drive safer. Not surprisingly, Uber is reluctant to release many of the traffic crash statistics that they compile.

Clearly, the frequency of injuries and fatalities will increase due to gig economy companies like Amazon, Lyft, Uber, Doordash, Grubhub, and Postmates. Unless and until these companies are held accountable in court, they will take advantage of victims regardless of whether they are injured by a gig economy vehicle or are injured driving a gig economy vehicle.

At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, we help victims, and their families secure the compensation that they deserve after an accident. Whether the collision involved a rear-end or a side-impact crash, we are prepared to investigate its causes and hold all of the at-fault parties accountable. Likewise, when anyone is injured on the job, we are ready to explain your legal options and advocate for your right to recover monetary compensation. We not only represent clients in Chicago, but many of our clients live in Rockford, Springfield, Champaign, Aurora, Quincy, and East St. Louis. Call us at 312-724-5846 or reach us online. We provide a free consultation.