The Chainlink

Arlington Heights Pays a Cyclist $165,000 for Falling Off Bike... on Sidewalk

No details on what specific injuries she suffered but wow, this is a lot of money for riding illegally on the sidewalk. 

Alice Golpashin filed a lawsuit against the village on Sept. 23, 2015. According to village documents, she suffered “significant injuries” while riding her bike on the sidewalk on the west side of Schoenbeck Road, south of Towne Boulevard. The sidewalk where she fell has a gap between 2.5 and 4 inches.

Full Article:

http://www.journal-topics.com/news/article_83f7a7ae-0d7a-11e6-b703-...

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Outside of Chicago riding on the sidewalk is legal (although sometimes banned in certain areas).  Sometimes its even mandated (I'm thinking of certain roads in the North Shore).

Sometimes you can only tell if you check the official village bike map where sidewalk riding is required :(  Google Maps will just show the route as on-street.

This is a misleading headline as it makes it seem that the bicyclist just fell of their bike on their own accord. Almost all bike crash cases involve the bicyclist falling off of their bike. The issue is WHY they fell of the bike. According to the article there was a defect in the sidewalk that led to the injured bicyclist falling off of her bike. Cases against municipalities can be tricky, so the defect in the sidewalk must have been fairly significant or there were other issues that motivated Arlington Heights to work to resolve the lawsuit. I can assure you all that municipalities and insurance companies do not pay to settle claims for people who fell off of their bikes for no reason. 

Much of Arlington Heights gives you the choice of sidewalks that nobody walks on or roads with >45mph traffic so it's not quit like riding in the city. 

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