Semi‑Truck Accident Lawyers in Chicago, IL
Hit by a tractor-trailer? Here is how these crashes happen, who is liable, and which evidence is already on a clock.
Available 24/7. Free, confidential, no obligation. We come to the hospital or your home.
A loaded semi is not a big car.
It takes more road to stop and more room to turn, and its driver cannot see large parts of the road around it.
209 ft more
80,000 lb
The federal weight limit for a loaded tractor-trailer. About 20 times a 4,000 lb car.
5,472
people were killed in U.S. crashes involving large trucks in 2023.
Illinois, 2024, preliminary: 139 killed and 3,750 injured.
70%
of them were in the other vehicle, not the truck.
What to do now.
All 4 steps can be done from a hospital bed, or by someone in your family.
Get treated, and keep going back
A gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer points to.
Keep what you have
Photos, the name and USDOT number on the truck, the crash report number, your damaged car.
Decline a recorded statement
When the trucking company’s insurer calls, say “Please call my lawyer” and nothing else.
Call us, so the letter goes out
One call lets us send a preservation letter: a written demand that the carrier keep its evidence.
On four sides of the truck, the driver cannot see you.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) calls them No-Zones: the areas around a large truck where a car drops out of the mirrors.
- 1Front. About 20 ft ahead of the cab.
- 2Rear. About 30 ft behind the trailer.
- 3Driver’s side. 1 lane wide.
- 4Passenger side. 2 lanes wide. The widest of the four.
Blind spots
If you cannot see the driver’s face in the mirror, the driver cannot see you.
Wide right turns
The truck swings left before it turns right. The gap at the curb is not a lane.
Trailer swing
The trailer’s rear wheels cut inside the cab’s path, across the corner.
How semi-truck crashes happen.
There are 8 common patterns. Each has a physical cause, and behind most causes is negligence: a failure to use the care a reasonable driver or company would use.
Jackknife
Under hard braking or on a slick road, the trailer swings past the cab and sweeps the lanes beside it.
Underride, rear and side
A car slides beneath the trailer, and the trailer floor meets the windshield. Federal rules require a rear impact guard. As of an April 2023 federal notice, they did not require side guards.
Rollover
A trailer carries its weight high. Too much speed on a ramp or a curve, or a load that shifts, tips it over.
Wide-turn squeeze
The truck swings left to turn right. The trailer then cuts the corner, across whoever moved into the gap at the curb.
Rear-end
Traffic stops. A truck following too closely, or a driver who is tired or looking at a screen, runs out of road.
Blind-spot lane change
The driver moves over without clearing the lane beside the trailer and pushes the car that is there toward the wall.
Tire blowout
A worn tire fails at speed. The driver can lose control, and the tread becomes debris in your lane. Federal rules set a minimum tread depth.
Lost load
Cargo that is overloaded or badly secured shifts, spills or falls. Federal rules require it to be secured so that it cannot.
Where these crashes happen.
Chicago’s busiest expressways carry more than 30,000 trucks a day, about 1 vehicle in 7.
- Expressway
- Arterial
- Rail yard or warehouse
- Truck
On the expressways
- 90/94Dan Ryan
- 90/94Kennedy
- 290Eisenhower
- 55Stevenson
- 294Tri-State Tollway
- 80I-80
Speed, following distance and sudden stops cause the crashes here.
On the arterials
- Cicero Avenue
- Pulaski Road
- Archer Avenue
- Harlem Avenue
Wide turns and blind spots do the damage at signals and crosswalks.
Who can be held responsible.
Liability means legal responsibility for the harm. After a tractor-trailer crash, as many as 7 parties can share it.
The driver
Speed, fatigue, distraction, impairment, or a lane change made without looking.
The motor carrier
Vicarious liability (respondeat superior) makes an employer answer for its driver’s work. It also answers for negligent hiring of an unfit driver.
The truck or trailer owner
Often not the carrier. An owner that handed over unsafe equipment can share the blame.
The freight broker
It chose the carrier. Choosing an unsafe one is negligent selection, and in May 2026 the U.S. Supreme Court held federal law does not block that claim.
The shipper or loader
Cargo that is overweight, unbalanced or poorly secured shifts, spills, or pulls the rig over.
The maintenance contractor
Brakes, tires and lights that were inspected, signed off and never repaired.
The manufacturer
A tire, a brake part, a coupling or a rear impact guard that failed under load.
What you have to prove
This is a personal injury claim: a civil claim for money. You are the plaintiff, and each company you sue is a defendant. To prove negligence you show a duty of care (a legal duty to drive safely), a breach of it, proximate cause (the breach led to the crash) and damages (your losses).
When a public body is involved
If a city vehicle, a CTA bus or a road defect played a part, that claim has a 1-year statute of limitations (the legal deadline to file suit), not 2.
The rules a truck driver has to follow.
Trucking is governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, the federal rulebook for trucks and the companies that run them. Its hours of service rules limit how long a driver may stay at the wheel.
- Off duty, 10 h
- Window, 14 h
- Driving, 11 h
- Break, 30 min
- 10 h
Off duty, in a row, before a driver may drive again.
- 14 h
The window. Once the working day starts, driving ends by the 14th hour.
- 11 h
The most driving allowed inside that window.
- 30 min
A break from driving, once 8 hours have been driven.
- 60 / 70 h
No driving after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 hours in 8 days.
Most trucks in interstate freight carry an electronic logging device (ELD), a recorder tied to the engine that logs driving time automatically. Its records show whether the limits were kept.
In Illinois, breaking a safety rule written to protect human life is prima facie evidence of fault: enough to prove it, unless the carrier shows it acted reasonably.
The evidence exists. Most of it is on a clock.
The trucking company holds most of the proof. Federal rules make it keep some records for a set time. The rest can be gone within days.
2 years: the last day to file suit
Driver alcohol test
Whether the driver had been drinking.
Must be done within 8 hours. 49 CFR 382.303
Driver drug test
Whether drugs were in the driver’s system.
Must be done within 32 hours. 49 CFR 382.303
Dashcam video
The seconds before impact, as the driver saw them.
No fixed period. Loop recording can replace it within days.
Event data recorder (engine control module)
The truck’s “black box”: its own record of speed and braking around a hard stop.
No fixed period. Can be overwritten once the truck is driven again.
The truck and trailer
Brakes, tires, lights and the rear guard as they were at the crash.
No fixed period. Gone once repaired or sold.
Electronic logging device records
Hours driven, hours rested, and where.
Kept 6 months. 49 CFR 395.8(k)
Dispatch records and messages
What the carrier told the driver to do, and when.
Kept 6 months. 49 CFR 395.11
Inspection and repair records
What was wrong with the truck, and whether it was fixed.
Kept 1 year. 49 CFR 396.3
Driver qualification file
License, driving record, medical certificate, road test.
Kept for the driver’s employment plus 3 years. 49 CFR 391.51
The preservation letter
It puts the carrier on written notice that a claim is coming and names what must not be erased, repaired or sold: the logs, the event data recorder, the video, the driver’s file and the truck itself.
Destroying evidence after that notice is spoliation of evidence, and an Illinois court can sanction it. We send the letter the day you retain us.
What a semi-truck claim can pay.
The money a court can award is called damages. Compensatory damages repay what the crash took from you, and Illinois puts no cap on them in an injury case.
What is added up
- Medical bills, past and futureEconomic
- Lost pay and earning capacityEconomic
- Pain, disability and scarringNon-economic
- A family’s losses after a deathWrongful death
Compensatory damagesNo cap in Illinois
What comes off
- Your share of the fault0% to 50%
- Contingency fee40%
- Case costs we advancedRepaid
- Unpaid medical bills and liensIf any
What reaches youThe rest
A wrongful death claim is what a family brings when a crash kills: lost support, funeral costs and grief.
If you were partly at fault, your damages are reduced by your share, and you recover nothing above 50%.
Our contingency fee is 40% of the recovery, and nothing if there is no recovery. Case costs are advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery.
Questions about semi-truck crashes.
Injury claim2 years from the day of the crash
Wrongful death claim2 years from the date of death
Claim against a city, a county or the CTA1 year from the day of the crash
How long do I have to file a claim after a semi-truck crash in Illinois?
You have 2 years from the day of the crash for a personal injury claim (735 ILCS 5/13-202), and 2 years from the date of death for a wrongful death claim (740 ILCS 180/2). That deadline is the statute of limitations. If a city, a county or another local public body is involved, it is 1 year (745 ILCS 10/8-101), and the CTA has its own 1-year rule (70 ILCS 3605/41). The evidence runs out much sooner than any of these, so call early.
The trucking company’s insurer called me. Do I have to give a statement?
No. You are not required to give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement, and what you say can be used to reduce your claim. Give them our number. We take those calls from then on.
The driver says I was in his blind spot. Does that make it my fault?
Not by itself. A truck driver is expected to know where the blind spots are and to check them before changing lanes or turning. Under modified comparative negligence you can recover if you were 50% or less at fault, and your damages are reduced by your share (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). The logs, the video and the engine data are how that question gets answered.
The driver was an independent contractor, or the truck was leased. Who pays?
Usually still the carrier whose authority the truck was running under. Federal leasing rules make that carrier take exclusive possession and control of leased equipment and full responsibility for operating it (49 CFR 376.12(c)). A carrier hauling general freight across state lines must carry at least $750,000 in liability insurance, and up to $5,000,000 for some hazardous cargo (49 CFR 387.9).
How do I know the truck’s black box data and logs were kept?
You do not, unless someone demands it. Federal rules require a carrier to keep driver logs for only 6 months (49 CFR 395.8(k)), and they set no period for engine data or camera footage. A preservation letter, sent early, puts the carrier on written notice to keep all of it. We send one the day you retain us.
What does it cost to hire RBH for a semi-truck case?
Nothing up front. Our contingency fee is 40% of the recovery. If there is no recovery, there is no fee. We advance the case costs, and they are repaid from the recovery.
One call lets us send the preservation letter. The review is free, and we come to the hospital or your home.
Sources
- United States Code, 23 U.S.C. § 127 (vehicle weight limits on the Interstate System)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Our Roads, Our Safety: tips for driving safely around large trucks or buses, with the Be Aware of Blind Spots infographic (stopping distances, the four No-Zones, wide turns)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts: Large Trucks, 2023 data (5,472 people killed, 70% of them in other vehicles)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Motor Carrier Management Information System, Illinois, 2024, preliminary (deaths and injuries in large-truck crashes)
- Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, freight snapshot (truck volumes on the region’s expressways)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 CFR 395.3, 395.8 and 395.11 (hours of service, electronic logging devices and logs kept 6 months, supporting documents)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 49 CFR 376.12(c), 382.303, 387.9, 391.51, 393.75, 393.86, 393.100 and 396.3 (leased equipment, post-accident testing, minimum insurance, driver files, tires, rear guards, cargo securement, repair records)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Side Underride Guards, advance notice of proposed rulemaking, 88 Fed. Reg. 24535, April 21, 2023 (no federal requirement for side guards)
- Supreme Court of the United States, Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC, No. 24-1238, May 14, 2026 (negligent selection claims against freight brokers are not preempted)
- Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, 735 ILCS 5/13-202 and 5/2-1116 (statute of limitations for personal injury, modified comparative negligence)
- Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101 (1-year limit for claims against a local public entity)
- Metropolitan Transit Authority Act, 70 ILCS 3605/41 (1-year limit for claims against the Chicago Transit Authority)
- Illinois Wrongful Death Act, 740 ILCS 180/2 (2-year limit for wrongful death claims)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Marshall v. Burger King Corp., 222 Ill. 2d 422, 2006 (negligence: duty of care, breach, proximate cause)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Pyne v. Witmer, 129 Ill. 2d 351, 1989, and Van Horne v. Muller, 185 Ill. 2d 299, 1998 (vicarious liability under respondeat superior, negligent hiring)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Kalata v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., 144 Ill. 2d 425, 1991 (violation of a safety rule as prima facie evidence of negligence)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Best v. Taylor Machine Works, 179 Ill. 2d 367, 1997 (statutory cap on non-economic damages held unconstitutional)
- Illinois Supreme Court Rule 219(c), with Supreme Court of Illinois, Boyd v. Travelers Insurance Co., 166 Ill. 2d 188, 1995 (sanctions and claims for spoliation of evidence)
Tell us what happened. We will tell you what happens next.
Call, or send the form. A lawyer, not an intake service, calls you back within the hour. Free, confidential, no obligation.
No fee unless we winWe come to youAvailable 24/7
- NowYou call or send the form.
- Within the hourA lawyer calls you back.
- The day you retain usThe preservation letter goes out.