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Michael Agruss

Written and Reviewed by Michael Agruss

  • Managing Partner and Personal Injury Lawyer at Mike Agruss Law.
  • Over 20 years of experience in Personal Injury.
  • Over 8000+ consumer rights cases settled.
  • Graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law: Juris Doctor, 2004.

Chicago is a busy city with numerous crisscrossing highways, and dense traffic can increase the risks of auto accidents, especially at certain times of day. If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident on the highway due to another driver’s negligence, we at Mike Agruss Law are here for you every step of the way to ensure that your rights are protected and you are fully compensated for your injuries and losses.

Illinois has nearly 2,200 miles of interstate highways, ranking 3rd in the country behind only California and Texas, and also ranks highly in highway-density due to its smaller size than the other two. Of Illinois’s 23 interstate highways, five connect to Chicago and 13 lead out-of-state, and Chicago is by far the state’s busiest area: citizens and tourists travel over 47 million miles per day on Chicago’s interstates, not including local highways and byways, which add another 2 million miles per day.

Due to high speeds and density of traffic, highway auto accidents can be especially dangerous. In 2011 alone, there were over 100,000 auto accidents on Illinois highways, resulting in over 23,000 injuries and 349 deaths, and over 50% of auto accidents which resulted in injury or death occurred on highways. Commercial and cargo truck traffic also contribute to these rates: large commercial trucks account for about 18% of all traffic on urban highways and over 30% on rural highways, and account for nearly 10% of all traffic deaths despite being involved in only 3% of the accidents.

Speed is a major factor in many auto accidents which occur on highways:

  • Stopping distance – The higher the speed, the further a vehicle will travel before it can come to a complete stop to avoid a vehicle or other object in front of it.
  • Force – A 50% speed-increase can result in an energy-increase of as much as 125%.
  • Vehicle-limitations – Some types of vehicles are less able than others to withstand the force of an accident at high speed, as most are tested for crash-safety at speeds of only 30-35 mph.

Some accidents that occur on highways involve commercial trucks, and many experts attribute this to “truck driver fatigue,” which has been a longstanding problem in the trucking industry. With so many different deadlines to meet on a continuous basis, many professional truck drivers are burdened with strict and even unrealistic demands which they are forced to attempt to meet. They are sometimes forced to race against time to make deliveries and make up for lost time which was not their fault in the first place, which can aggravate a lack of sleep and take their focus off the road.

For fatigued drivers, highways can be particularly dangerous at night due to something occasionally referred to as “highway hypnosis.” The monotony of moving in the same general direction at a fairly constant speed over an extended period of time, such as on a highway, can potentially cause the driver to “zone out” and lose attention to the road; for an already-fatigued mind, this can greatly increase the risk of an accident, as is sometimes the case with accidents involving commercial trucks. In these cases in particular, you may assume that either the driver or trucking company should be sued, but exactly whom is not always clear and may depend on the circumstances of the accident, which is why the assistance of an attorney is essential to earn full compensation.

We at Mike Agruss Law are proud to serve our fellow citizens in personal injury cases, especially when you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident, and we are fully committed to protecting your rights and ensuring that the other party is held legally accountable when negligence occurs. We will fight until the very end to ensure that you are fully compensated for all injuries and losses resulting from the accident, including medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and you won’t owe us a dime for our services.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident on the highway due to another driver’s negligence, contact Mike Agruss Law for a free consultation. Helping our clients is about counseling, advocating, and ultimately solving problems. With years of experience successfully representing the people and not the powerful, we will take care of the insurance adjusters, your medical bills, your property damage, and your lost wages, and monitor your treatment so you can focus on healing and getting your life back to normal. We will handle your case quickly and advise you every step of the way, and we will not hesitate to go to trial for you. Lastly, Mike Agruss Law is not paid attorneys’ fees unless we win your case. Our no-fee promise is that simple. You have nothing to risk when you hire us – only the opportunity to seek justice.

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