The below story tells of serious injuries suffered by an Illinois man whose face was shattered by ice falling off of the top of a semi tractor trailer. It speaks as if this is not illegal in Illinois. See
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1978774,ice-shatters-mans-face-010710.article Regardless of whether it violates Illinois law, it is a clear violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations pertaining to Inspection and Maintenance of Equipment.
In the Illinois wreck, according to the Sun Times:
A commercial truck — topped with about a foot-and-a-half of snow and ice — was westbound on Butterfield Road between Illinois Route 59 and Eola Road in Aurora about 10 a.m. Monday as Peter Morano was driving in the eastbound lane. When the truck passed under a viaduct, the ice on top of it became unlodged and was sent soaring toward Morano’s windshield.
“It was like an explosion,” Morano recalled while resting at home Wednesday after being released from the hospital.
Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations each driver is required to make sure that his load is safe when he begins a trip, to inspect it after 50 miles and also at least every 150 miles. Slabs of ice on the top of a truck parked outside this time of year are foreseeable. Any reasonable driver would assure that such ice does not accumulate. This driver was clearly negligent. Fortunately it was not negligent homicide.
The Sun Times goes on to report that Morano suffered no brain injury. As I have stated repeatedly on other blogs, there is simply no way to tell in the first few hours after a blow to the head whether a brain injury has occurred, because brain injury is a process, not an event. See http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/12/concussion-diagnosis-still-critical-for.html
Before brain injury can be completely ruled out in Morano, he must go back to a medical professional and be tested for amnesia. See my series of videos on this point at http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney#p/u/13/x2EKaVHpVd0