Chicago Accident Lawyer Blog

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.