The Chainlink

I rode Dearborn today...anyone else?

I just missed the press conference and just hung out at lunch to see how it would all work. It seemed easy enough, so I took Dearborn as my starting route home to Roscoe Village. Normally I hit Franklin to Orleans then north to Lincoln.

I have to say, it was pretty easy and relatively safe. The ambassadors were helpful with the the auto traffic. The walkers were easy enough to avoid. I had to chuckle at two riders riding side by side in the lane.

What I didn't see was any oncoming traffic; southbound riders. I am guessing that will come in time or at other times during the day.

Way to go Mayor RE! This is really making a statement.

Who else rode the new path?

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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on December 30, 2012 at 5:08pm

Dang, beats my Hummer H1. Guess now I'm gonna be in the market for an M1A1 Abrams tank. Sure, gas mileage sucks but they're great fun to drive and you can park 'em anywhere. (If the space is too small, just use the main gun to make it bigger. Works for me).


Juan said:



Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on January 3, 2013 at 4:21pm

Not sure what's funny about failing to take effective and relatively easy action to solve problems like this.

Can you give an approximate address where this occurred? This is supposed to be the "information age" and it's not that hard to figure out who to contact here.  

Juan said:



h' said:

OK, so if there's a parking lane and we want the Ice  Mountain driver to use it, what's the next step?

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on January 3, 2013 at 4:36pm

I just took my first video footage of my afternoon ride home on the Dearborn PBL, and it was remarkably unremarkable! No vehicles blocking the bike lane, just a few errant pedestrians who were easily avoided, and a decent number of other bicyclists, especially given that it's January and freezing.

However, this morning, southbound on the DPBL, as I approached Lake St, a driver was making a left turn on red from (eastbound) Lake St onto (northbound) Dearborn, and I had to swerve and stop to avoid colliding into his SUV, as I was trying to go straight ahead on Dearborn, with the little green bike signal clearly telling me the coast was supposed to be clear for me. So my question is: Is it legal in Chicago for a driver to make a left turn on red, from a one-way street onto a one-way street? That is, was he making a legal move? And if he was, there needs to be "No left turn on red" signs posted there so that drivers don't do it at this intersection. (Maybe there is the sign already and he was ignoring it, I don't know.)

Permalink Reply by Shaun Jacobsen on January 3, 2013 at 5:16pm

Hmm, I did not know that was legal... I've always just waited for a green. Guess it's been a while since I've driven a car!

In CBDs I think it should be completely illegal to make any turns on red. On so many of these streets there are a lot of foot traffic and Chicago drivers are (in my experience) notorious for speeding up to red lights and trying to wedge in between anything to turn right on red. Especially on streets with even more uses (bicycles and pedestrians), maybe turns on red should be illegal...

Different issue, I guess. Still seems we have to worry about vehicles on Dearborn turning left on a red arrow! Just the other day I saw a vehicle in the middle of Dearborn turn left on red onto Adams, crossing the vehicles waiting their turn for the left arrow (so he cut across two lanes of traffic - one cars, one bikes - to turn left against the red arrow). Sheesh.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on January 3, 2013 at 5:28pm

A left on a red light may be legal on one way streets, but all the left turns along Dearborn have red *arrows* linked to the cycle lights.  So any time you have a green cycle light in either direction there is a red arrow specifically prohibiting vehicle left turns from Dearborn.  So unless someone is running a red signal specifically targeted to their action there should be no chance of collision.

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

Yes, a left on red is legal when turning from a one way street to another one way street, although in this case I'm not sure what impact the two bike lane would have (Would Dearborn still be considered one way?). Regardless, the driver was technically legally wrong as a vehicle turning on a red is required to yield to pedestrians and all other vehicles. No turn on red signs are probably in order here as many drivers will not think to check for southbound cyclists.

Permalink Reply by Shaun Jacobsen on January 3, 2013 at 5:30pm
I think in this scenario Michelle was talking about a car turning left from Lake (one way east) to Dearborn (one way north) so there would not be a left then arrow to someone driving east on Lake wishing to turn left onto Dearborn
Permalink Reply by Tricolor on January 3, 2013 at 5:33pm

Ah.  I'll need to take a look at that intersection some time.

Permalink Reply by JimmyD on January 3, 2013 at 6:39pm

Unlike Michelle's "unremarkable" afternoon ride on Dearborn today; my ride on Dearborn was a bit more active on both my morning and evening commutes in comparison to all of my rides on Dearborn on the new bike lanes.

The haps on Dearborn today...

1) While riding north on Dearborn coming up to Washington, a Police car was in the bike lane backing up. The Policewoman stopped the car and got out when I was approaching from about 20 feet away. As I got closer the light changed, so I stopped right next to her squad car, as it was right at the intersection covering both Northbound and Southbound bike lanes. I looked at her and she said, "I'm so sorry I'm in your lane sir, but I need to ticket these vehicles to be towed." as she pointed at a couple SUVs in the parking lane.

I'm not sure if they were illegally parked, as they were in fact in the parking lane? Maybe the parking lanes are not to be used during rush hours? I don't know. Anyways, since she apologized, I just replied "I get it, you're just doing your job." and she said "Thank you sir, sorry again for blocking your lane". 

Then the light changed and I passed another cyclist going Southbound and he commented on the cop car "nice parking, eh?" and I just laughed. 

2) The next block, between Washington and Randolph, I had 3 young guys in suits walk right off the sidewalk into the bike lane as I just got into my top rear gear on my low ring. I had to slam on my brakes as I yelled "BIKE LANE! BIKE LANE!" and almost hit them. Luckily they heard me and jumped back just in time as I swerved around them. If I was on one of my full sized bikes versus my folding bike, I'm sure I would have hit them, as my folder has 18 inch wheels which allows for quick handling like a BMX bike.

3) This evening, I was heading South on Dearborn near Van Buren and car pulled out of a parking lot and almost turned into me!

4) NOT on Dearborn... but just thought I'd mention... When I got to Union Station today, I was near the main entrance where all the taxis and busses crowd around. I was slowly snaking my way through the double parked taxis as they were blocking the bike lanes trying to get to the curb. The Union Station guy who calls the taxis for travellers saw me and started yelling at the taxis.... "Get out of the bike lane! Watch out for bikes! Get out of the bike lane! Watch out for bikes!". When I got closer to the guy, I thanked him. He said "no problem my man!". 

So now I'm on Metra, and about to arrive at my stop.... next mission for tonight's commute, find a pic for the "Chainlink picture tag" game thread! ha! Happy riding all, and to all a good night.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on January 3, 2013 at 6:52pm

Jeez, you make it sound like we can't solve the slightest little problem without launching into a laborious campaign that only a staffed and funded advocacy organization would be able to take on.

All you need to do about this one little driver is pick up the phone, work your way through to whoever the supervisor/district manager/whatever is for that Ice Mountain territory, and have a hopefully cordial discussion culminating with a well-received ask for communication to this and other drivers that the expectation is to park on the far side of the bike lane for deliveries.

But if you can't get anyone to provide you with the most basic details about the occurrence because they're too busy posting snarky photos to the internet, you're dead in the water...


Cameron 7.5 mi said:

What action would you propose taking on an issue like this? That is a honest question.

Since fundamentally people are asking for more enforcement would you suggest that they bring it up at a CAPS meeting? How receptive are the CAPS facilitators to the concerns of people who don't live in the area, but just routinely pass through?

Is this the type of thing better addressed at the aldermanic level? Which alderman's office should this issue be raised with, the one who represents the area the problem is in, or the one the concerned citizen could potentially vote for? If you're dealing with the alderman who represents the area, do they really care what people who pass through their ward but can't vote for them think? If you raise the issue with the alderman you can vote for, do they have any influence outside their ward?

I'm not trying to be difficult, but the civic process in Chicago is unlike most places. If you didn't grow up here or have worked in advocacy anywhere else, it's often not obvious what an effective action would be. Sometimes people just want to vent, and sometimes people are honestly asking for advice on what they should do to have their concerns heard. I suspect that there is some of both in this thread.

h' 1.0 said:

Not sure what's funny about failing to take effective and relatively easy action to solve problems like this.

Can you give an approximate address where this occurred? This is supposed to be the "information age" and it's not that hard to figure out who to contact here.  


h' said:

OK, so if there's a parking lane and we want the Ice  Mountain driver to use it, what's the next step?

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on January 3, 2013 at 7:52pm

The second photo shows the street sign Harrison. I have no interest in pursuing icemountain man. Have at it. As for Lexus lady, it was a good opportunity to make these kinds of drivers aware that cyclists are watching and recording their unlawful activity.

h' 1.0 said:

Jeez, you make it sound like we can't solve the slightest little problem without launching into a laborious campaign that only a staffed and funded advocacy organization would be able to take on.

All you need to do about this one little driver is pick up the phone, work your way through to whoever the supervisor/district manager/whatever is for that Ice Mountain territory, and have a hopefully cordial discussion culminating with a well-received ask for communication to this and other drivers that the expectation is to park on the far side of the bike lane for deliveries.

But if you can't get anyone to provide you with the most basic details about the occurrence because they're too busy posting snarky photos to the internet, you're dead in the water...


 

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on January 3, 2013 at 9:11pm

It is legal to make a left turn on red from a one way street onto another one way street if it is safe to do so. However, the DPBL created a situation that clearly calls for making this illegal at that location. If a bicyclist has a green light, there is very little time for either the bicyclist or the vehicle driver to react in time to avoid a collision if they both think they have the right of way. 

One way to enforce this is to install traffic light cameras. I'm seeing them in more locations these days and they work. A good source of revenue for the city as well.

Some cities have strict regulations on what vehicles can enter the central business district for both security and congestion reasons. Singapore and London come to mind. 


Michelle Stenzel said:

However, this morning, southbound on the DPBL, as I approached Lake St, a driver was making a left turn on red from (eastbound) Lake St onto (northbound) Dearborn, and I had to swerve and stop to avoid colliding into his SUV, as I was trying to go straight ahead on Dearborn, with the little green bike signal clearly telling me the coast was supposed to be clear for me. So my question is: Is it legal in Chicago for a driver to make a left turn on red, from a one-way street onto a one-way street? That is, was he making a legal move? And if he was, there needs to be "No left turn on red" signs posted there so that drivers don't do it at this intersection. (Maybe there is the sign already and he was ignoring it, I don't know.)

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on January 3, 2013 at 9:15pm
As as others have stated, left turn signals were installed on Dearborn. When the bike signal is green, the left turn light is red. Turning left on red from Dearborn is now illegal.

Joe Guzzardo said:

It is legal to make a left turn from a one way street onto another one way street if it is safe to do so. However, the DPBL created a situation that clearly calls for making this illegal at that location. If a bicyclist has a green light, there is very little time for either the bicyclist or the vehicle driver to react in time to avoid a collision if they both think they have the right of way. 

One way to enforce this is to install traffic light cameras. I'm seeing them in more locations these days and they work. A good source of revenue for the city as well. Some cities have strict regulations on what vehicles can enter the central business district for both security and congestion reasons. Singapore and London come to mind. 


Michelle Stenzel said:

However, this morning, southbound on the DPBL, as I approached Lake St, a driver was making a left turn on red from (eastbound) Lake St onto (northbound) Dearborn, and I had to swerve and stop to avoid colliding into his SUV, as I was trying to go straight ahead on Dearborn, with the little green bike signal clearly telling me the coast was supposed to be clear for me. So my question is: Is it legal in Chicago for a driver to make a left turn on red, from a one-way street onto a one-way street? That is, was he making a legal move? And if he was, there needs to be "No left turn on red" signs posted there so that drivers don't do it at this intersection. (Maybe there is the sign already and he was ignoring it, I don't know.)

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