The Chainlink

Not again....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-bicyclist-die...

The Cook County medical examiner's office said the man was in his 50s and was pronounced dead at 10:35 a.m.

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I just read this and was about to post as well.  This intersection is on my daily commute home coming westbound on Augusta - and now I'm seriously considering changing my route.  My thoughts go out to this man's friends and family.

 

This is so sad and scary, only a few weeks since the last biking fatality in Chicago.  Everyone please be careful out there!

No details on how it happened or who it was...

not yet.  

How it happened, according to the Trib: right hook, both travelling in the same direction at intersection. So sad.  


Jim said:

No details on how it happened or who it was...

Scary, I was almost right hooked by a truck at North and Damen this morning about 10 minutes before and the driver yelled at me; it's scary how little attention people pay.

Another sad and senseless death.

But, the circumstandes do not surprise me--the right turn situation both east and westbound at that intersection is difficult.  There always seem to be cars parked very close to Ashland.  Cars/trucks cannot get over early and often end up turning almost from the center lane.  We either get behind the cars in the through lane or ride between parked cars and the cars in the through lane almost to Ashland.  It is a place for us to be especially vigilant.

Overall, though, Augusta is a pretty good street to ride on.  I don't know what would be better in that area.
 
Sarah D. said:

How it happened, according to the Trib: right hook, both travelling in the same direction at intersection. So sad.  


Jim said:

No details on how it happened or who it was...

I was called about this by a reporter just now. No name released yet that he knew of.

We just posted this blog (below) and sent an email to the reporter. We have not been contacted by any other news outlets.

So sad, my heart is heavy, and I'll be offering silent thoughts to this person and their family on my ride home tonight.

Thanks,

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

One death is too many


Another person has died on Chicago’s streets in traffic. Nearly every day, people are killed or injured when walking or biking, and today a family is mourning someone who won’t be coming home.

We urge everyone, no matter how you are getting around, to obey the rules of the road and respect each other as people, real people. Those other people in cars or riding bikes or walking across the street are someone’s mother, daughter or aunt...just like you are to your family.

The news coverage will call this an “accident,” but it’s really a fatal crash. Crashes are preventable by safe choices, obeying the law, and by engineering streets to be safe for everyone using them.

It’s tragic that someone lost their life in a crash today.

Our thoughts are with the family that is mourning this unfortunate loss of life.

They are discussing this on Everyblock too, and someone who came upon the scene immediately after it happened and tried to help the bicyclist shared some more information there. This is so sad, particularly since it happened on a rode with bike lanes that I consider safer than most roads for riding (this doesn't say much for the other roads).

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announcements/oct31-bike-accident-wha...

condolences to the family

What happens when a truck hits a car and kills the occupant? Seems like kind of a light punishment for killing a person.

I feel that at the least this should be reckless homicide or something, not just a ticket, right?  If you kill someone, even if not intentional, you should not just get a ticket.  As we were discussing last night at the bike share public input meeting, in the Netherlands if a car hits a cyclist, the penalties are very steep, much steeper than here. 

From the Illinois General Assembly - (720 ILCS 5/9-3) (from Ch. 38, par. 9-3) 
    Sec. 9-3. Involuntary Manslaughter and Reckless Homicide. 
    (a) A person who unintentionally kills an individual without lawful justification commits involuntary manslaughter if his acts whether lawful or unlawful which cause the death are such as are likely to cause death or great bodily harm to some individual, and he performs them recklessly, except in cases in which the cause of the death consists of the driving of a motor vehicle or operating a snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle, or watercraft, in which case the person commits reckless homicide. A person commits reckless homicide if he or she unintentionally kills an individual while driving a vehicle and using an incline in a roadway, such as a railroad crossing, bridge approach, or hill, to cause the vehicle to become airborne.

We have a long way to go people.....

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