Chicago plans to bring several thousand electric scooters to city streets this spring. Scooters can help reduce traffic congestion, decrease the burden on public transportation, and even cut down on pollution. However, these scooters also have drawbacks. Scooter-related injuries can occur from collisions between scooters and motor vehicles, trip and fall accidents caused by discarded scooters, and injuries from falling off of the scooters.

When the Chicago scooter pilot program first launched in 2019, many people voiced concerns about safety issues. Steps have since been taken to reduce the chances of scooter-related injuries, but it is still unclear if enough action has been taken to address electric scooter dangers.

Are Electric Scooters Safe?

Scooters are fun, affordable, and more environmentally friendly than cars. However, scooters also present hazards to riders, motorists, and pedestrians. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), emergency room visits caused by accidents involving scooters and other micro-mobility products have increased 70 percent in the last few years. Even more concerningly, more than one-third of these emergency room visits were for head injuries.

Americans eat out more now than they ever have and that trend seems likely to continue. While the vast majority of restaurant visits are safe, restaurants have many potential hazards that can result in serious personal injury. Even with the best care, not all of these injuries can be prevented; however, negligence on the part of a restaurant owner, manager, or staff can cause injuries that could have been avoided with proper care. If you were hurt as a customer or visitor at a Waukegan restaurant because of conditions caused by a restaurant’s failure to meet the duty of care they owe their patrons, you may want to contact a personal injury lawyer.

What Are the Most Common Restaurant Injuries?

A surprising variety of injuries can occur at a restaurant, both in and around the premises. These include, but are not limited to:

• Slips from spilled food and drink
• Falling downstairs
• Uneven pavement
• Cuts from broken glass or ceramic
• Burns
• Food poisoning
• Inadequately lit parking lots
• Allergic reactions
• Dangerous actions by employees, such as assault

A restaurant is responsible for providing a duty of care to visitors, which means they must keep the premises safe and clean. Even if someone is merely using the bathroom in the restaurant and is not actually purchasing food or drink, the restaurant still owes this duty of care. If a hazard exists, such as a wet floor, and cannot be immediately remedied, a restaurant must warn visitors of the hazard. Poor maintenance, inadequate supervision of the premises, and even failure to conduct appropriate background checks on employees can make a restaurant liable for injuries that occur on-site.

Illinois has excellent public transit infrastructure, and commuters and visitors have the option to travel by train or bus all over the state. An unfortunate corollary of great public transit is the accidents that come from having so many vehicles on the road. Although buses and trains are generally very safe modes of transportation, accidents do happen and it is important to know your options if you are involved in a public transit vehicle accident in Illinois.

Was the Driver or Operator at Fault?

The first thing you need to know when determining whether you can take action against a public transit company is whether the accident happened because the driver of the bus or operator of the train was at fault. If you were completely at fault for the accident, you probably do not have a claim; if you were partly at fault for the accident, whether you can successfully sue will depend on how much of the accident was due to the actions of the other driver. Answering these questions and gathering evidence that proves the other driver was at fault often requires the assistance of attorneys or private investigators with experience in these types of accidents.

Can I Recover Damages For My Medical Expenses?

If you have been injured in a bus or train accident, you likely already know many of the ways people suffer after these incidents - in addition to the physical pain, medical treatment, and rehabilitative efforts, wages are often lost, and finding similar future employment may be out of the question. While every case is unique, the good news is that successful lawsuits often do compensate victims of bus crashes and help them pay for their medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Most car crashes involve two adult drivers. But younger drivers are responsible for an outsized share of Illinois car crashes; their lack of experience and poor decision-making skills can combine to create dangerous and even fatal road collisions. Because minors are not legal adults, obtaining compensation after an accident caused by a driver under age 19 is different from a lawsuit involving another adult. If you have recently been involved in a car crash with a teenage driver, you may want the help of an experienced Illinois car crash attorney.

What Does Illinois Law Say about Teenage Drivers’ Legal Liability?

Teenagers can be held legally liable for the same negligent actions that contribute to a car crash as an adult can. If a teen was texting and driving and caused an accident, he or she will be just as responsible as a 45-year-old. However, the law makes parents responsible for many of the consequences of a teenage driver’s recklessness. This protects victims of teenage car accidents who otherwise could not recover damages because a teen has no income or insurance.

If you have been seriously injured in a car driven by a minor, the first place to try to obtain compensation will be the minor’s car insurance or the car insurance of the minor's parents. The parent’s homeowner’s insurance or renter’s insurance may also cover a minor who lives at home. If the minor was driving without insurance and the parents are also uninsured, you may want to try to bring a personal injury lawsuit against the minor. Parents can be held responsible for the damages caused by the minor until the child turns 19, as long as the child lives at home.

Just a few weeks ago, a small plane from Illinois crashed in Ohio, killing both men on board. While large airline crashes make international news, small airplane accidents are more common and usually kill and injure far more people every year than major plane crashes. Several hundred people die in private plane crashes in a typical year, and many thousands more are injured. If you or a loved one have been injured in a private or commercial plane crash, you may want to take legal action.

Why Do Private Planes Crash More Often?

Pilots of private planes require less training and flight time than commercial airline pilots, particularly when planes are flown by private owners who fly and maintain their aircraft as a hobby. While many small airplane owners enjoy taking their friends and family on local trips, a pilot’s lack of experience or an insufficiently rigorous safety routine can contribute to a fatal plane crash.

Private airplanes also lack the autopilot functions and safety mechanisms of commercial aircraft that can correct and assist pilots in real-time, so small errors can quickly contribute to a fatal accident. While the classic idea of a plane crash happens in flight, plane crashes can also occur even when a plane is not in the air; in fact, taxiing on runways is one of the most dangerous times to be on a plane.