Four Dead in SUV Accident

 Posted on October 09, 2013 in Personal Injury

A late September accident on the Eisenhower Extension in Addison killed four women and injured four other people, according to the chtribune. The driver of the Ford Explorer, "that rolled down an embankment and flipped over the on the Eisenhower Extension," reports the Tribune, "has been charged with having no driver's license and other citations." Margot Santillan, 31, of Chicago, has been identified as the driver of the SUV, which was carrying day workers going to work for a Chicago-based agency with which Santillan is employed. Santillan was driving "too fast when the vehicle left the road about 6:15a.m. just west of Illinois Route 83," state police told the Tribune. Lunch pails and work IDs were found the wreckage, Addison Fire Department Battalion Chief Scott Walker told the Tribune. Santillan was charged immediately with two misdemeanors (failure to have a license and driving on a suspended vehicle registration) but cops made no note of any other kind of foul play. "Seven people were ejected and one was trapped underneath the silver 2003 SUV," state police Lt. Brian Windle told the Tribune. "Two 43-year-old women, a 44-year-old woman, and a 28-year-old woman were dead." None of the victims, except the driver and the front-seat passenger, appear to have been wearing their seatbelts at the time of the accident. Police said that Santillan didn't know the passengers in her car—they "simply met at their company's workplace that morning to carpool to their job site for the day." According to CarInsuranceComparison.com, "if someone doesn't have car insurance and they cause an accident, they can be sued for damages." The families of the victims in this accident, then, may be eligible for compensation, if they decide to take the case to court. Illinois is NOT a no-fault state, according to the national DMV, which means that the families of victims of this accident would, in fact, have recourse should they decide to seek it. If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident in which the driver of the car didn't have insurance, the most important first step is to contact an experienced accident attorney. Don't go through it alone. Contact a dedicated Chicago-area accident lawyer today.