Chicago, Illinois, has some of the busiest roads in the nation. In view of that, it is unsurprising that it has many motor vehicle accidents. Some people might presume that most of those accidents happen when winter comes, but the fact is that many happen in summer too.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, considered by many to be the unofficial beginning of summer and the unofficial end of summer, many people go out on the road much more than they usually would. They go on long vacations and short road trips, visiting beaches, forests, big cities and every other attraction that summer may seem to offer.
This puts a lot of people on the road who are more focused on having fun than on driving safely. It also puts a lot of families on the road, and teenage drivers as well, since they are out of school and enjoying the earliest days behind the wheels of their parents’ vehicles.
The volume of summer traffic means that there is a significant risk of accidents. Inexperienced young drivers and older drivers with children will find themselves on the same roads. This is especially important because July and August are deadly months for car crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data. In fact, July and August are statistically deadliest months for teenage drivers.
Teenage drivers often have their devices, like smartphones, with them when they drive. When they use those devices to text or look through social media sites while driving, that can easily lead to dangerously distracted driving. Unfortunately, many older drivers are now doing the same thing, particularly in regards to texting and driving.
Additionally, in the summer, there are more pedestrians walking alongside roads and bicyclists on the roads. Their presence, combined with the volume of drivers on the road and the prevalence of distracted drivers, makes for dangerous situations. Correspondingly, drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians all need to be extremely careful and to seek prompt medical care and legal representation if they are in an accident.
Source: HuffPost, “The Dangers of Summer Driving,” Theresa MacPhail, accessed July 27, 2017