Public transit certainly has its benefits. Used by millions of Illinoisans each year, it gets people to and from work, school, and their daily appointments. Children, teenagers, and adults alike use it to see a movie, go shopping, or just spend some quality time with friends and family. But there is also a side of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) that few take into account: our city’s mass transportation accident rates are highly concerning, and innocent victims are often severely injured in those crashes.

CTA Has One Accident Every 36 Hours

Late last year, an ABC7 investigative team took a look at the startling number of accidents involving CTA buses. Hundreds of incidents were uncovered; enough to place an average of about one CTA crash every 36 hours. In those accidents, hundreds of public transit passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicle drivers were injured or killed. Yet, during the investigation, CTA officials attempted to downplay their incident rates and responsibility. That unwillingness to admit any wrongdoing is exactly why so many victims struggle to receive fair and just compensation for their CTA accident.

While nearly every flight experiences some turbulence, the risk to passengers is generally low. This is because most instances of turbulence are small and short-lived. There are, however, circumstances in which passengers can and do become injured, either because of the turbulence itself or because of fallen luggage or other projectiles. In some of these instances, passengers may be due compensation.

Light Turbulence versus Moderate to Severe Turbulence

Turbulence is essentially a sudden but violent shift in airflow. Caused by a number of elements, including the wind, jet streams, thunderstorms, heat, or objects near the plane, such as a mountain range that causes a shift to the plane’s altitude or tilt. Because most experienced pilots know how to avoid these elements and situations and do their best to ensure the safety of their passengers, this shift or tilt is generally so slight that it feels more like tremor or shake while in flight. This is known as “light turbulence.”

By Timothy Tomasik

When a family places the care of a dependent loved one in the hands of an airline, they have a reasonable expectation of safety and security. Unfortunately, that expectation is not always met, and the loved one can suffer injury or wrongful death. When this happens, the family may be due compensation for their losses. It is important to note, however, that not all situations may constitute a settlement. Learn how to determine if you may have an airline negligence case and how to best pursue fair compensation.

Negligence by Airline Staff

By Timothy Tomasik

After a long-awaited Third Circuit Court ruling in the case Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., et al., aviation accident victims and their families now have more protection from the negligent acts of airline and aircraft manufacturers. Offered through a limitation on the Federal Aviation Act (FAA Act), the ruling holds that the Federal FAA Act does not purport governance over the design or manufacturing of aircrafts, nor does it supply a comprehensive standard of care. As such, aviation product liability lawsuits should be governed and ruled upon based on local state law standards and regulations, rather than federal laws, regulations, and standards of care.

Background on Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp

Statistically speaking, travelers are safer when flying than when driving. In fact, the National Safety Council made a side-by-side comparison of the two and determined that a person’s odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 98 while their odds of experiencing a fatality in an airplane crash is just 1 in 7,178. So why, then, do humans fear flying so much? Experts believe it has something to do with the often catastrophic results of plane accidents.

A Single Crash Can Cause Hundreds of Injuries

Although they do not occur often, the results of plane crashes are usually devastating. Take, for example, the 20131 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, which killed two passengers and injured 307 members of the passengers and crew. Or the 2001 crash of an Airbus A300 that killed 265 people just moments after takeoff. And then there was the 1977 collision of two Boeing 747s (KLM and Pan Am) that killed 583 people – one of the most devastating accidents to date.