This past weekend was a bad one for traffic violence against vulnerable road users, as drivers killed two female pedestrians in the West Ridge neighborhood, and a man biking in the Back of the Yards community.
West Ridge pedestrian fatalities
According to the Chicago Police Department, on Friday, November 12, at about 5:20 p.m., a 25-year-old man was driving south on the 6800 block of North Western Avenue in a sedan. A woman 22-year-old female, was driving north on Western in a sedan and turning left to head west on Pratt Boulevard from Western. This stretch of Western has a wide layout with five lanes, which encourages speeding.
The male driver ran a red light and struck the passenger side of the woman's car. The second car struck a pole and then came to rest on Pratt east of Western, police said. The man continued south and struck two women on the sidewalk.
The first pedestrian, who was 88 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The second woman, whose age was unknown, was transported to St. Francis Hospital in grave condition and later died. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not released the victims' names.
The male driver was taken to St. Francis for minor injuries in fair condition, police said. The female driver suffered minor injuries but declined medical attention.
Despite the fact that the male driver reportedly ran a stoplight, police said this afternoon that no citations had been issued.
Back of the Yards bike death
According to police, on the morning of Monday, November 15, at about 12:45 a.m., Robert Earl Moore, 59, was biking in the 700 block of West 52nd Street. The driver of an unknown vehicle struck him and fled the scene.
Moore, who lived nearby on the 5300 block of South Carpenter Street was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center with head trauma and was pronounced, police said.
As of this afternoon, no one was in custody.
The victim was the ninth person killed while biking on Chicago streets so far this year. That's the same number as in all of 2020, which was more than any other year in the past decade, and there's still a month and a half left to go in 2021.
Fatality Tracker: 2021 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 20
Bicyclist: 9
Note: Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago surface streets, based on media reports and/or preliminary Chicago Police Department data released by the Chicago Department of Transportation.
