It Figures

25%

Each year, deer-vehicle crashes cause more than 200 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, while racking up $1.1 billion in property damages. Based upon Erie Insurance’s decade of deer-vehicle collision data, it is estimated that about one in every 100 drivers is likely to have a collision with a deer. In Illinois, deer claims are on the rise. Claim frequency has increased nearly 25 percent over the past two years. Residents in one of the following counties are more than five times as likely to hit a deer: Jo Daviess, Hancock, Pike, Greene, Crawford and Perry, Jackson, Johnson and Hardin.

$5.5 Million

A woman from the Chicago suburb of Northlake, Ill., whose son was born with severe brain damage, has agreed to a $5.5 million settlement with the doctors and hospital she blames for causing what will be a lifetime of problems for the boy. Attorneys say Eva Liberato agreed on September 19 to the settlement with Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park and two doctors. According to Liberato’s medical malpractice lawsuit, she was admitted to the hospital on March 1, 2002. After she was given a drug to induce contractions, her baby’s heart rate started to drop. A family medicine physician attempted to deliver the baby, but failed. The baby boy, Angel, was then delivered by C-section by another doctor. But by then, he’d been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause severe brain damage.

3

Three-wheeled vehicles are now street legal in Ohio. A new law that took effect on September 23 allows fuel-efficient three-wheelers such as the Zap Xebra (ZEE’-bruh) and the Myers Motors NmG to be registered and titled as motorcycles in Ohio. Ohio Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer says there’s been increased interest in the vehicles because challenging economic times have people looking for ways to save on gas.

$8 Million

More than $8 million in disaster assistance has been approved for Missouri from summer storms and flooding. The relief covers the period of June 1 through August 13, and includes more than $3.7 million for home repairs and temporary housing. The relief also includes nearly $4 million in low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. New damage assessments are under way from flooding caused by the remnants of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.