Illinois truck accident law

Tractor-trailers are involved in a small share of Illinois crashes and a larger share of the deadly ones. The Illinois Department of Transportation reports that crashes involving them were 3.7% of all crashes in the state in 2024 and 8.4% of the fatal ones (opens in a new tab).

The same report counts 106 people killed in those crashes that year, 83 of them in the other vehicle (opens in a new tab). The figures say who was hurt. They do not say who was at fault, which is what the rest of this page is about.

Illinois gives most injury claims two years after the cause of action accrues (opens in a new tab). If a crash took the life of someone you love, the wrongful death action must be brought within two years after the death (opens in a new tab).

A child has longer. When the person hurt was under 18, Illinois generally allows the action to be brought within two years after the 18th birthday (opens in a new tab).

Some deadlines are shorter. A claim against a city, a county, a school district or another local public body must be filed within one year (opens in a new tab), and a claim against the State of Illinois has rules of its own, set out further down this page.

These are the outer limits. Some of the evidence in a truck case is only required to be kept for six months (opens in a new tab), which is the reason to speak with a lawyer early.

Illinois reduces your damages by your own share of the fault. You are barred from recovering only when that share is more than 50 percent of the cause of the injury (opens in a new tab).

The shares assigned to each company matter as well. Every defendant found liable answers in full for your past and future medical expenses (opens in a new tab), while a defendant found less than 25 percent at fault generally pays only its own share of the other damages.

In a truck case there may be several companies on the other side: the driver, the trucking company, the owner of the trailer, a shipper or a broker. How the fault is divided among them can change what you are able to collect.

Commercial trucks operate under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Illinois has adopted most of those regulations by reference (opens in a new tab), and its motor carrier safety law reaches trucks in interstate or intrastate commerce (opens in a new tab), so a truck hauling freight that never leaves Illinois is generally held to the same rules. A truck that stays in Illinois while carrying freight that came from another state, or is headed to one, is already in interstate commerce (opens in a new tab), and the federal rules apply to it directly.

The best known are the hours-of-service limits. A driver hauling freight may drive a total of 11 hours (opens in a new tab) inside a 14-hour window that opens after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and must take a 30-minute break once 8 hours of driving have passed.

Weekly limits apply as well. A driver may not drive after being on duty 60 hours in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours in 8 (opens in a new tab), depending on how the carrier operates. Whether the driver was past those limits is one of the first things the logs can show.

Much of the proof in a truck case sits in the carrier’s own files, and federal rules set how long each one has to be kept. Some of the periods are short. They include:

• Driver logs and their supporting documents, for not less than 6 months (opens in a new tab) from the date the carrier receives them.
• A back-up copy of the electronic logging device records, for 6 months (opens in a new tab).
• Driver vehicle inspection reports, for three months (opens in a new tab) from the date each report was prepared.
• Inspection, repair and maintenance records, for 1 year, and for 6 months after the vehicle leaves the carrier’s control (opens in a new tab).
• The driver’s qualification file, for as long as the driver is employed and three years after (opens in a new tab).
• The carrier’s accident register, for 3 years after the date of each accident (opens in a new tab).

Illinois does not impose a general duty to preserve evidence. The Illinois Supreme Court has said that something more than possession and control is required (opens in a new tab), such as a request by the injured person to preserve it.

This is why we send the carrier a written preservation request early in a case. It asks the company to keep the logs, the inspection and maintenance files and any video before the retention periods above run out.

A request does not ensure that every record survives. It does tell the company, in writing and with a date on it, what the case will need.

Federal rules set a floor. A for-hire carrier hauling ordinary freight in interstate commerce in a truck rated at 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (opens in a new tab), and carriers of certain hazardous materials must carry more.

Compare that with an ordinary car. Illinois requires liability insurance (opens in a new tab) on an ordinary car of not less than $25,000 for one person and $50,000 for two or more people (opens in a new tab) hurt in the same crash.

The minimum is only the starting point. The carrier, the owner of the trailer and a shipper or broker may each hold separate coverage, and finding every policy is part of the work.

Start with the name on the door. Federal rules require a commercial truck to display the name of the motor carrier operating it and its USDOT number (opens in a new tab) on both sides. That marking tells you which carrier was operating the truck. Whether that company has to answer for the driver is a separate question.

Many drivers own their trucks and lease them to a carrier. Federal rules say what that lease must provide: that the carrier has exclusive possession, control and use of the equipment (opens in a new tab) and assumes complete responsibility for its operation while the lease lasts.

A container riding on a chassis can add another company. The business that supplies the chassis must systematically inspect, repair and maintain it (opens in a new tab), so a failed brake or tire on that equipment can point to its records as well.

A freight broker can be asked how it chose the carrier. In May 2026, in a case that began with a crash in Illinois, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal law limiting how states may regulate trucking does not block (opens in a new tab) a claim that a broker was negligent in hiring a carrier. The Court did not decide the question for a load that stays inside one state. The ruling does not make a broker liable; whether it used ordinary care is still decided under state law.

The rules change with the owner. A claim against a local public entity, such as a city, a county, a township or a school district, must be filed within one year (opens in a new tab) of the injury.

A claim against the State of Illinois is heard in the Illinois Court of Claims, which has exclusive jurisdiction over tort claims against the State (opens in a new tab). A person bringing an injury claim there must give written notice to the Attorney General and to the clerk of that court within 1 year (opens in a new tab), unless the claim itself is filed within that year.

The claim against the State must then be filed within 2 years (opens in a new tab). If you were hit by a snowplow, a road crew truck or another government vehicle, tell us that first, because it changes the calendar for everything else.

Every case turns on its own facts, and no lawyer can promise a result. What Illinois law does set out is how a judgment is put together.

In a wrongful death case a jury may award fair and just compensation for the family’s losses, including grief, sorrow and mental suffering (opens in a new tab). When an injury or death case goes to judgment, the court adds prejudgment interest at 6 percent a year (opens in a new tab), counted from the date the suit was filed and for no more than five years. A written settlement offer from the defendant early in the case can reduce that interest or remove it, and a government body does not pay it.

Punitive damages cannot be requested when a case is first filed. A plaintiff has to ask the court’s permission later and show a reasonable likelihood of proving the facts that would support them (opens in a new tab).