Brake checking in Illinois is illegal and can cause serious car accidents. Let’s look at what brake checking is and why it is dangerous.
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What is Brake Checking?
Brake checking is when the driver in front of your vehicle suddenly and intentionally slams on the brakes to cause you to brake hard or swerve around their vehicle.
Brake checking is a form of road rage, violent behavior from a driver or drivers directed toward other drivers. The practice is dangerous and illegal, causing accidents, property damage, injuries, and death.
Reasons for Brake Checking
Drivers have many “reasons” for brake checking, but none are legal. The most common reason for brake checking is retaliation for perceived slights. A driver who brake checks may feel that the driver behind their vehicle is tailgating them.
Tailgating is when a vehicle too closely and aggressively follows the car in front of it.
The brake checker may feel that they are punishing the driver behind them for seeming faults. Intimidation is another reason for brake checking, to frighten the driver behind them.
Brake Checking and Insurance Fraud
Sometimes brake checking is intentional to cause an accident for insurance fraud.
A fraudulent brake checker intends to be rear-ended by the car behind them. The brake checker plans on filing a personal injury claim against the other driver for the insurance payout or lawsuit.
Brake Checking Consequences
Brake checking is hazardous to the brake-checker, other drivers, and passengers. Property damage, severe injuries, and death can occur when a driver brake checks. Injuries brake-checking cause are:
Neck Injuries and Whiplash
Whiplash is a neck injury from forceful, rapid back-and-forth neck movement. When a driver brake checks, the driver behind can be thrown forward and back. Their head and neck can jerk rapidly back and forth.
Concussions and Head Injuries
Rear-end collisions cause concussions and head injuries. Drivers and vehicle occupants are in danger of striking their heads against the vehicle’s interior during a rear-end collision.
Spine Injuries
Ruptured discs or other vertebral fractures are the result of brake-checking aggressions. These fractures can cause long-term or permanent incapacity and paralysis.
Property Damage
Brake-checking aggression can cause automobile damage. Common damages are dented bumpers, crushed fenders, and frames bent out of alignment. Total vehicle damage is possible.
Brake Checking in Illinois
Brake checking in Illinois as in all 50 states is illegal. In Illinois, brake checking is reckless driving under the Illinois Vehicle Code. The Vehicle Code is the law that states drivers should not drive in a manner that endangers the safety of others.
Intentionally slowing down or causing a deliberate sudden stop in brake checking without legitimate reasons is illegal because this endangers others.
Penalties for Brake Checking in Illinois
Drivers who brake-check face severe penalties. Some penalties drivers face are fines, license suspension, and jail time. Affected drivers who are victims of brake-checking aggression can file lawsuits of personal injury or wrongful death if this applies.
How to Avoid Brake Checking
Avoiding brake-checking aggression is not certain. Other driver behavior often determines brake checking.
However, drivers can try to avoid brake-checking violence by ignoring and not reacting to hostile drivers. Some tips to avoid brake-checking behaviors from front and rear drivers are to take deep breaths to manage impulse control, focus on driving, and talk out loud to stay mindful of your driving behavior and actions.
Maintaining distance from other vehicles, especially with angry drivers, can help your reaction time and avoid conflict on the road.
You may not know who to turn to when you have questions about Illinois brake-checking laws. At Thomas Law Office we are here to inform and help. Contact us today.
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