Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

Early in January we brought to your attention the case of Richard Bolling, who expert toxicologist Jennifer Bash told jurors she felt Bolling was legally drunk at the time of his May 2009 accident that struck and killed a 13 year old Trenton Booker. Trenton Booker was riding his bicycle on 81st street and Ashland avenue when he was struck. Richard Bolling was off-duty and driving his own Dodge Charger at the time of the accident and sped away from the scene. The Chicago Tribune reports Judge Matthew Coghlan sentenced 42 year-old Bolling to 3 years in prison for his conviction on charges of aggravated DUI, reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Judge Coghlan also ordered Bolling to talk to recruits at the Chicago Police Academy and educate the department on “how to properly handle an investigation into one of your own.” Evidence presented at trial showed that Bolling had received preferential treatment from other officers that night including waiting at least 4 hours to administer a breathalyzer test which determined Bolling was just slightly under the legal limit. Trenton’s mother, Barbara Norman, said she would have preferred a stiffer prison term for Bolling but felt the sentence showed police officers “are not above the law.” Bolling’s supporters, including his father, retired Chicago police Cmdr. Douglas Bolling, as well as his mother and wife, left the courthouse without comments. Accident attorneys Zneimer & Zneimer estimate there are over 1,200 vehicle related fatalities in Illinois. If you or anyone you know has been involved in any accident contact Chicago personal injury attorneys Zneimer & Zneimer P.C for a free personal injury consultation.

Chicago has recently opened its first protected bicycle lane on a short stretch of Kinzie Street at Clinton Street and Canal Street but unfortunately bicyclists can not as of yet call this short stretch of protected bike lane their own. As Chicago injury lawyer Peter A. Zneimer drove past this short section on Wednesday morning he observed a taxi cab parked squarely in the protected bike lane waiting at the front door on the apartment building located at Clifton Street and Kinzie Street in Chicago impeding all the bicyclists that were headed to work on the bike lane. A couple bicyclists were knocking on the taxi drivers window pointing out that he was blocking the bike lane but he did not appear inclined to move. This individual might have benefited from an instructive traffic ticket at the least. For bicycle lanes and protected bike lanes to work to prevent bicyclist injuries there has to be police enforcement to keep drivers out of the bike lanes otherwise there is no point to bike lanes.

Chicago’s Active Transportation Alliance has launched The Neighborhood Bikeways Campaign which seeks a 100 mile network of protected bikeways in Chicago by 2015. A small section of protected bike lane has just been opened on W. Kinzie St. near downtown Chicago. Such protected bikeways have shown to decrease bike accidents in other cities such as Portland, Oregon and Quebec, Canada where they have been introduced. On one New York street where a protected bike lane was introduced bike accidents were reduced 30% while bike traffic rose 40%. The Chicago personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer are aware of how dangerous the streets of Chicago are for bicyclist by the number of bicycle injury cases we handle. If Chicago were to introduce a comprehensive network of protected bike lanes, not only would bike injuries in Chicago be reduced but many more people would use their bikes instead of driving which would relieve congestion on the roads and reduce auto emissions into the air.

Governor Quinn announced on Monday that the Illinois Department Of Transportation (IDOT) will now be collecting information on dooring of bicyclist. Dooring occurs when someone in a parked vehicle opens his or her door into the path of a bicyclist who then runs into the door and is thrown off their bike. Quinn’s office said that the goal is to see if anything more can be done by the state to protect bicyclists. Local police departments across the state will begin tracking dooring accidents and report back to the state so that the data can be included in Illinois traffic accident statistics. The Chicago injury attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer note that a large percentage of the bicycle injury cases they handle involve dooring accidents. These accidents are especially dangerous because of the risk that the doored bicyclist will be knocked off his or her bike and be thrown into moving traffic and then get run over by a car, truck or bus.

The Chicago cyclist advocacy group Active Transportation Alliance has declared dooring accidents “the most prevalent threat to on-street cyclists”. Dooring occurs when a person parks their car and opens the driver side car door without looking right into the path of a bicyclist. The bicyclist goes down hard onto the street. The Chicago bicyclist lawyers of Zneimer and Zneimer have found that more than half of their bicycle injury cases are caused this way. Chicago bicyclist are especially at risk because even where there are painted bike lanes on the street, the bike lanes run parallel to parked cars. More progressive cities such as Portland, Oregon and Amsterdam, Netherlands have bike lanes that are separated from moving traffic and car doors. In Chicago, the bicyclists are right out in traffic, riding as close as possible to parked cars to avoid getting hit by moving cars. The risk to Chicago bicyclists is not only will they fall down hard on to the pavement but there is even a more serious risk that the cyclist will be knocked off their bike and thrown in front of moving traffic and get run over by a car, truck or bus.

Jon Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote an article regarding biking in Chicago where he pointed out that even though dooring is one of the greatest hazards to bicyclists, these types of accidents are not tracked by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)

The only safe solution to this problem are separated, protected bike lanes not just painted lines on the street.

Mayor elect of Chicago Rahm Emanuel has stated that he will prioritize the construction of protected bike lanes for certain Chicago streets. As Chicago injury lawyers, the law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has handled many cases for bicyclists who were hit by cars or by car doors opening while riding in the painted bike lanes. In short, painted bike lanes offer little or no protection for bicyclists. Some cities such as Portland, Oregon and Montreal, Canada offer extensive networks of protected bike lanes rather than just a simple line demarcating a dedicated lane on the street. Protected bike lanes are different from dedicated bike lanes because they use a buffer such as parked cars, a raised curb or flower planters to separate bicycle traffic from automobile traffic.

A new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health confirms that protected bike lanes are safer. Researchers studied nine years of crash report data from Montreal’s extensive network of protected bike lanes and found that injuries were 28 percent lower on protected bike lanes than on comparable roads without protected bike lanes.

Protected bike lanes would make sense in Chicago, especially for the the streets that have a high volume of bicyclists commuting to work downtown in the morning. If there were protected bike lanes on these routes, bike traffic would certainly increase substantially.

Rahm Emanuel states on his web site that he supports full implementation of Chicago’s Bike Plan. Emanuel wants to increase the number of bike lane miles added each year in Chicago from 8 miles to 25 miles. Additionally, Rahm states that he will prioritize the creation of protected bike lanes. Following the example of cities like Portland, Oregon, Chicago would create protected bike lanes which are separated from traveling cars and sit between the sidewalk and a row of parked cars that shield bicyclists from street traffic. As Chicago personal injury lawyers, the law firm of Zneimer & Zneimer has handled many cases for bicyclists hit by motorists on the city streets of Chicago. Chicago streets, even when they have bike lanes are not yet safe for bicyclists. Motorists still feel free to drive and park in bike lanes and the bike lanes disappear when they reach an intersection. Having protected bike lanes is the best way to make biking safer in Chicago. I have ridden a bicycle in the protected bike lanes in Portland, Oregon and I felt way safer than biking on the mean streets of Chicago.

Another exciting idea proposed by Emanuel would be to complete the Bloomingdale Trail which would be a 2.65 mile multi-use recreational trail built along the old unused rail line along the Bloomingdale Avenue on the northwest side of Chicago. The tracks will be converted into a safe greenway that accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists.

The Trail will be the world’s longest elevated trail, according to Emanuel’s web site, and it will allow thousands of Chicago residents to commute to work. The cost is estimated at $75 million and would be shared by local, federal, corporate and non-profit partners. Additionally, Rahm is committed to having the trail up and running during his first term.

As of January 1st, 2011, Illinois drivers face tough penalties for crowding and tailgating a bicyclist. A driver who seriously hurts a bicyclist could face two to five years in prison and fines up to $25,000.00. As a Chicago personal injury attorney and an avid bicyclist, I appreciate how dangerous it is to bike in the city of Chicago, even without motorists tailgating and driving too close to bikers. The summer of 2010 also brought biker horror stories of drivers in a rage intentionally driving close to bikers and in some cases intentionally ramming them. The new law is a first step in protecting bikers. What is really needed however are separate bike lanes for bicyclists that motorists cannot drive in like they have in cities like Portland, Oregon. I have seen even police cars drive in the bike lanes that Chicago has painted along side the road, along with taxi cabs and every other motor vehicle, creating many opportunities for collisions with bicyclists. When there is a collision between a bicyclist and a motorist, it is never a real contest, the bicyclist always loses.