Evanston, IL — A woman who has yet to be named was seriously injured exactly one week ago today (Monday, December 22, 2014) after an accident with a UPS truck in Evanston. This happened along Ashland Avenue across from Ryan Field, police said, when a 30-year old female pedestrian was hit by a UPS truck that was turning.
It happened around 5:00 p.m. in the evening, at Ashland’s intersection with Central Street. The woman was apparently crossing the road at Ashland that evening when a UPS truck driving along Central Avenue tried to turn south onto Ashland.
Though the details aren’t very clear, the truck somehow hit the woman and seriously injured her. The driver kept going, however, later claiming that he didn’t realize he had hit anyone. The woman, who wasn’t named, was immediately taken to a hospital in Evanston and was still in critical condition the next day, Tuesday.
Right now, UPS is handling their own internal investigation and it’s not clear if the driver will face any charges from Evanston authorities.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
There was another serious UPS truck accident in New Jersey that happened last week as well, when a UPS tractor-trailer turned in front of another car, causing it to slide underneath its trailer. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: UPS is not a company that is to be taken lightly. This is a large company with a lot of trucks and drivers in their employ, meaning that they also have a lot of resources to defend themselves against accident and insurance claims, if need be.
If this driver is being internally investigated, that’s not nearly enough. Perhaps this accident was just a simple mistake and the crazed holiday delivery rush led to this driver having a momentary lapse of judgement, but it just as easily might’ve been caused by the driver not paying attention to the road or fiddling with his phone.
The fact that UPS is investigating their own driver should be cause for concern, because that tells me this is significant enough to merit a third-party investigation as well. Again, perhaps I have it all wrong and this driver was completely innocent, but accidents like these tend to bring bigger issues to light than the companies usually intend. Don’t be content to let them handle their own affairs, make sure they’re held accountable to a standard other than their own.
— Grossman Law Offices
