Driver Fatally Struck Amy Machairas, 58, in Morgan Park, Claimed Sun Was in Eyes

A driver struck and killed Amy Machairas, 58, last Thursday morning, May 31, in Morgan Park, according to authorities.

Machairas' friend Hannah Hayes said that Machairas was making her daily walking commute from her home on the 11300 block of South Washtenaw to the 111th Street station on Metra's Rock Island Line on the morning of the crash, the Beverly Review reported. At about 6:39 a.m., the 24-year-old female motorist struck Machairas in the 1900 block of West Pryor, the street north of the station, according to police.

The victim was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. on Friday, June 1, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The driver, who claimed she was blinded by the sun, was cited for failure to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the roadway, and failure to carry a driver's license. She has a traffic court hearing on Juky 12.

Machairas grew up in the area and had worked fort R.W. Baird Financial Advisors’ Wholey Poitras Group since 2006, according to the Beverly Review. She is survived by her husband Nestor. “She was known for just making people laugh,” Hayes said. “She was just a very thoughtful person,” Hayes told the paper.

Fatality Tracker: 2018 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths
Pedestrian: 22
Bicyclist: 1

Note: Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago streets. The pedestrian count above is based on Chicago Police Department data for January-April 2018 released by the Chicago Department of Transportation, plus media reports for May and June