Articles Posted in Bicycle Accident

Our Chicago bicycle accident attorneys recently discussed some New Year’s resolutions that you and your family can make to help make our roadways safe throughout the entire state of Illinois. We discussed how drivers and bicyclists can work together to create a city of safe travel for the both.We would like to further discuss the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020. The goal of this plan is to make our city easier and safer to travel for bicyclists and to ultimately reduce the risks of bicycle accidents in Chicago.

Chicago recognizes bicycling as an affordable, convenient, healthy and green way to navigate the city. The problem is that many Chicagoans don’t feel safe riding a bicycle along Chicago streets. A recent study in Portland concluded that about 60 percent of the population is interesting in cycling, but concerns about safety abound. Chicago faces these same challenges. Chicago is in need of more streets that allow families to safely ride bicycles without having to fear an accident.

The Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 will be used by transportation officials to guide the development of a citywide network of up to 250 miles of innovative bikeways that will make riding a bicycle a safe, easy and fun alternative to motor vehicle travel for all residents.

As a first part of the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020, transportation officials will be examining the city in nine separate areas in search of ways to improve each area for better, safer and easier cycling. Some of the characteristics that these officials will look for are where bike lanes are needed, how to improve current bikeways and to determine where bikeways would be most beneficial in the future.

How you can help to ensure better bikeways for Chicago:

-Attend the Open House which will include mapping activities, information about these new bicycle facilities and an opportunity to discuss biking in your neighborhood with Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) staff.

-Look up the Streets for Cycling Plan 2010 facebook page and become an active member.

-Show up at the public meetings. There will be three meetings held in January and February.

-You’re encouraged to join your Community Advisory Group. This group gives you a chance to discuss your ideas and concerns with others who are fighting for safer Chicago streets. This information can then be shared with CDOT. Send an email to join your Community Advisory Group.

We would like to ask everyone to get involved in make our Chicago roadways safer for all. This can be as simple as paying more attention to your surroundings when driving a motor vehicle. Bicyclists have a right to the roadway and should be treated with respect and caution. These travelers are more vulnerable to injury in the event of an accident and only you can help to prevent this from happening.
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Rahm Emanuel and Gabe Klein, Chicago’s new transportation head, continue to push their views on a bicycle-friendly transportation policy and city infrastructure, according to the Huffington Post. The new plans are expected to make traveling more convenient for residents and to help to prevent bicycling accidents in Chicago.Year after year, the city of Chicago ranks as a “silver” designation for being a bike-friendly city. In the 2011 League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community Rankings, our area was ranked the same Austin, Denver, Washington D.C. and New York City. With the promises from local officials, the city is expected to join the ranks of areas like San Francisco, Portland and Minneapolis, where bicycling is used as a safe and vital tool for many urban residents.

Our Chicago bicycle accident attorneys understand that there were roughly 600 cyclists killed in traffic-related accidents in 2009 in the U.S. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than 50,000 additional bicycling injuries during the year. About 2 percent of all of the traffic-related accidents in Chicago were made up of bicycling accidents in 2008. In the state of Illinois, there were hundreds of injured bicyclists and 2 fatalities during that year. Many of these accidents could have been prevented if more bicycle-friendly roadways were available.

The state’s current bicycle infrastructure in Chicago from CDOT’s Bicycle Program, according to Grid Chicago:

-More than 120 miles of on-road bike lanes.

-More than 30 miles of marked shared lanes.

-Half a mile addition of car-separated bicycling tracks (Kinzie Street).

-Fifty miles of paved, off-road trails (The Lake Shore Path).

-Nearly 12,500 on-street racks for bicycles.

-A bicycle parking corral, located on Milwaukee near Damen.

-Six kiosks for bike-sharing.

Back in July, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) announced the expansion of the Kinzie. This car-separated track is now 2 miles long. According to Active Transportation Alliance, CDOT will be installing more protected bike lanes on 18th Street from Elston Avenue and Clark and Canal and from North to Milwaukee. This project will complete nearly 4 miles of protected biking lanes. Only 96 more miles to go in the next four years to make Emanuel’s promise of 100 more miles of biking lanes a reality.

Back in September, Chicago announced that it will be launching a new bike-share program. This project is to focus on regular commuters and residents instead of tourists. This program is planning on installing roughly 300 stations and roughly 3,000 bikes for residents to rent and use. The program is also expected to install an additional 200 stations and 2,000 bikes by the end of the summer in 2012.

In 2009, there were nearly 1,500 bicycling accidents in Chicago. Of these accidents, six people died. In 2010, there were more than 1,600 bicycling accidents reported to Chicago officials. During this year, 5 bicyclists were killed. The intersection of Grand/Milwaukee/Halsted has been named as the third most dangerous intersection on Milwaukee Avenue as it has reported the highest number of car-bicycle accidents. Still officials have done virtually nothing to improve this area. Safe biking advocates hope that the newly released stats of bicycling accidents in Chicago will be used to determine which areas need the most work done to make bicyclists safe.

With all of these bicycle plans, and many more in the future, Chicago is expected to one day become ideal for all travelers among our roadways; bicyclists, cyclists and motor vehicles.
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As we’ve recently reported on our Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, made a promise to residents and to cyclists to construct 100 miles of shared bike lanes. He’s coming through on his promise so far as he’s been focusing efforts on the Kinzie bike lane. This is the bike lane that was constructed to keep bicyclists safe from accidents with motor vehicles. The bike lane has already attracted a large number of cyclists and has been able to reduce rush hour motor-vehicle traffic significantly.He’s continuing on with his promise. Emanuel says that he wants to make Chicago one of the best places to bike in the U.S. once again. The advocacy for safer biking conditions actually started back when mayoral candidate Carter H. Harrison II, campaigned as “the cyclists’ champion” in the 19th century, according to BikeRadar. Surprisingly though, once Harrison was elected into office, he grew the city to its current size and turned it into a modern metropolis — an area ideal for motorists, not bicyclists.

The previous mayor, Richard M. Daley, was also an advocate for bicyclists in the area. He spent more than 22 years in office and provided the city with more than 100 miles of biking lanes, in part to help prevent car-bicycle accidents in Chicago. Emanuel is carrying on the promise with his vow to provide the area with more than 100 miles of additional bike lanes. He’s also backing the new bike-sharing program that will allow residents to use some of the 3,000 bikes in the program.

“I think he has done a great job of mentioning the things that need to be done,” Julie Hochstadter, who serves as vice president of the Chicago Cycle Club.

According to the Gabe Klein, the Transportation Commissioner, the additional bike lanes are going to cost the city somewhere around $30 million. He states that the city has already applied for federal funding from the clean air program and has combined the bike-lane project with some maintenance construction for nearby roads.

Programs like this could potentially keep Chicago residents from moving to the suburbs, says Hochstadter. She also says that creating more protected boulevards could prove a way to offer residents with alternative ways to travel for daily commutes. She brings up the recent study that was conducted by the Transportation Commissioner’s office that concluded that more than 20 percent of the rush hour traffic on Milwaukee Avenue is made up of bicyclists anyway.

To help accommodate bicyclists even more, the Chicago Department of Transportation recently announced the arrival of new bike racks. Back in September, crews hit the city to install new bike racks. As of now, roughly 150 of the 750 bike racks have already been installed. CDOT is planning on finishing this installation project by the end of October. The project will bring nearly 2,500 bike racks to the city. The funds for this project were provided by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program.

In addition to these bike racks, the city’s Bicycle Parking team recently launched its efforts to remove bikes that have been abandoned throughout our city. The team has collected about 100 bikes so far and has donated then to charity.
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Texting and driving is bad enough. But texting and cycling?

The Chicago City Council recently passed an ordinance that prohibits bicyclists from texting while riding. Bike riders have also been banned from making phone calls while riding a bike unless they’re using a hands-free device, according to the Chicago Tribune. This ban will start in November. These regulations are being put on the books to help reduce the risks of bicycle accidents in Chicago.Our Illinois bike accident lawyers understand that distractions are causing a lot of people serious accidents. Cell phones and text messaging devices are causing accidents among motorists, pedestrians and now bicyclists. Under the new ordinance, if you’re busted using a hand-held cell phone while riding your bicycle in Chicago you could face a fine of $20 for a first-time offense. Every time you’re busted, the fine increases with a $100 fine for a third-time offense. If you cause an accident because you were texting or using a hand-held phone while biking, you could be slapped with a $500 fine.

According to sponsoring Ald. Margaret Laurino, 39th, this is an issue of fairness and safety. Since motorists in the city are already banned from these activities, bicyclists should be banned as well — the risks are the same.

“This ordinance basically levels the playing field between motorists and bicyclists,” said Laurino.

Some bicycling advocates are backing the new ordinance. Adolfo Hernandez, the director of outreach and advocacy with the pro-cyclist Active Transportation Alliance, says that the new ban makes perfect sense. He says that if bicyclists want to be treated equally on the roadways, they should have to follow the same rules. He continues on to say that officials should keep their focus on enforcing this law among motor-vehicle drivers — distractions contribute to far more accidents among motor-vehicle traffic than bicycling traffic.

Chicago officers say they’re going to stop cell phone-using bicyclists just like they would stop any other person on the roadway.

The Active Transportation Alliance says that its concerned that the new rule will take attention off of the ban that prohibits drivers in Chicago from using a cell phone or a text message device. Chicago officials say no way! They report that the number of cell phone citations has increased every year since the ban first started. There were nearly 3,000 violations recorded in 2008, nearly 11,000 in 2009 and nearly 20,000 in 2010.

The new ban comes after the city’s announcement that approximately 300 bicycle renting stations were being installed. These stations will offer roughly 3,000 rental bikes to residents and visitors of Chicago by next summer. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s is also keeping up with his promise to install about 100 miles of protected bike lanes over the next four years.

As the bicycling community continues to grow, local officials try to keep up with accommodating these individuals. Motorists are still the biggest threats to bicyclists in the area so we ask that all motor-vehicle traffic keep an eye out for our two-wheeled travelers.
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As we recently discuss on our Chicago Car Accident Lawyers Blog, the city constructed the Kinzie bike lane to help ensure the safety of cyclists on our roadways and to help reduce the congestion of traffic through the city. Mayor Emanuel previously promised a 100 new miles of shared bike lanes. Kinzie is a new breed of separated bike lanes that officials believe will further reduce the risk of a serious or fatal accident.Such lanes are meant to significantly decrease the risks of bicycle accidents in Chicago in areas that are congested and dangerous. Approximately 20 percent of the traffic on Chicago roadways is made up of cyclists.

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) completed the construction of the Kinzie Street Protected Bike Lane in July.

According to a recently conducted study on resident’s reviews on Kinzie Bike Lane:

-Of surveyed bikers, nearly 90 percent of them state that they feel safe or very safe on the bike lane.

-Nearly 50 percent of those who were surveyed reported that they feel that motorist’s behavior has improved since the installation of the Kinzie bike lane.

-Bicycling traffic during rush hour is up nearly 60 percent since completion.

-A study from the CDOT reported that more than 40 percent of surveyed individuals admitted to changing their routes in the city to now take the new bike lane.

-CDOT reported that currently bicyclists account for approximately 55 percent of eastbound traffic and more than 30 percent of all traffic.

-Westbound traffic during the morning rush hour from Wells to Milwaukee has decreased.

-Rush hour during the evening hours has decreased in both directions.

-The project is still making more changes to the area. Some of the changes that are planned include increasing access to the lane and installing new signage and red-flashing beacons.

CDOT says that it will be continuing to seek the public’s opinion on the new Kinzie bike lane to help make further improvements. Residents are urged to contact CDOT with and questions, comments or concerns regarding the Kenzie bike lane or any other transportation issues.

It’s about making sure that every dollar we spend is focused on building a city that works for all of its residents,” says Mayor Emanuel.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were are more than 700 people killed and more than 500,000 people that are injured because of traffic-related bicycle accidents in the U.S. each year.
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Over the last week Illinois bike crash attorneys at Abels & Annes have signed on to represent cyclists who were injured by negligent drivers in two different accidents earlier this month.

In the first incident, a bicyclist was riding westbound in the 2400 block of Logan Boulevard on the far right side of the street. At that time the driver of a 2007 Chevy Equinox drove too close to him and bumped him as she passed by, knocking him to the ground.

The plaintiff was taken by ambulance to St. Mary’s Hospital in Chicago. He had sustained injuries to his left shoulder, ribs and head, and also had bad road rash. There he was examined by physicians and x-rays were taken, which were negative for fractures.

During the week after the collision, the plaintiff’s shoulder pain remained. He has since sought follow up medical care with a medical doctor in the Chicago area.

In a second accident, a bicycle rider was heading southbound on Sheffield. At that time he approached a 2005 Hyundai that was stopped in the street with a left turn signal on, waiting to enter an alley. As the plaintiff was traveling by on the right side of the street, the driver decided not to make the turn and swerved back to the right, hitting the bicyclist.

The plaintiff flew over the car on impact and rolled on the pavement. He sustained a concussion, and injuries to his neck, wrist and right knee. He was seen later that day at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital emergency room.

Over the next several days the bicyclist’s pain only increased. He soon after started treatment with an orthopedic group in Chicago. There he is under the supervision of a medical doctor and going through course of physical therapy.

Our office is pursuing a claim against Geico, the auto insurance carrier for the at fault driver.

The Chicago Police Department handled the crash investigations for both accidents.

As cooler weather arrives in Chicago, motorists need to be aware the bicycle riders are still on the road. More and more Chicagoans are bicycling to work every day, and fall weather is not going to deter them.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has reported that in the year 2010 there were a total of 3,599 bicycle accidents statewide. 24 of those collisions involved fatalities, and 3444 of them resulted in injuries. Statistically, that means that over 95% of 2010 Illinois bicycle accidents resulted in someone getting hurt.

Just over 76% of the accidents occurred during daylight hours, and over 96% took place on urban roads. Further, 76% of the bike riders injured were male, while only 24% were female.
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Last Friday, Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) celebrated the installation of the city’s first on-street bicycle parking corral. The parking lot is located on Milwaukee Avenue just south of North Avenue. The new, multi-space corral allows space for more than 12 bicycles in a single space that would have otherwise been occupied by one or two cars, according to The City of Chicago’s Official Site. The project was funded by the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA and put together by CDOT. This is the first of many that are to be installed throughout the city.Our Chicago bicycle accident attorneys understand this is a step in the right direction for bicyclists. As bicycling gets more and more popular, the need for others to acknowledge the existence and safety needs of riders grows more and more crucial. Oftentimes bicyclists are injured or killed on our roadways because they are overlooked by motorists. With more awareness about our two-wheeled travelers, we may be able to save some lives on our roadways.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than 600 bicyclists killed on U.S. roadways because of traffic accidents in 2009. Another 51,000 bicyclists were injured in these incidents. Bicycle accidents in Chicago and elsewhere that resulted in death accounted for 2 percent of all traffic deaths for the entire year. Illinois witnessed 20 bicyclist deaths in 2008; hundreds more were injured.

A bicycle corral is an on-street parking facility for bicyclists. A corral makes efficient use of the parking lane for bicycles in areas with a high demand. Corrals typically provide enough room for 12 or so bicycles in the space that would normally have been used for 1 of 2 cars.

What are the benefits of having a bicycle corral in my city?

-Businesses can benefit from these corrals as they provide a 10-to-1 customer to parking space ratio, they increase foot and bike traffic and they advertise “bike friendliness” to the area. Corrals can also improve the pedestrian environment by taking bicycles off the sidewalk.

-These corrals improve bicycle parking availability at popular destinations. They can also increase the visibility of bicycling as a convenient form of transportation.

-The high-visibility environment of the corral reduces the risk of bike theft.

-Pedestrians can enjoy the increased availability of space on busy sidewalks with heavy foot traffic. They would no longer have to dodge bikes parked along the sidewalks.

-Corrals clear up intersections and in turn improve sight lines by eliminating the opportunity for larger vehicles to park at street corners.

-Corrals offer a space where bicyclists can park and lock up where they won’t be in the way of pedestrians.

-Bicycle corrals can improve the visibly of your business from the street because they eliminate the parking of large vehicles in front of your store.

These new corrals are a direct result of the public-private partnership between the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA and the Chicago Department of Transportation. The SSA donated the facility, which was designed and constructed by CDOT.
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