Update 8/20/24, 9:00 AM: Tragically, Joey Center, 27, the bike rider struck at Gross Point Road and Skokie Boulevard in Skokie on 8/15, has died from his injuries, according to an August 19 Chicago Tribune report.
Thankfully, Streetsblog has seen no reports of bicycle fatalities within the city of Chicago this year. Let's hope that this good luck streak continues.
However, sadly the northern suburbs have not been so fortunate. In July alone, there have been at least three reports of drivers seriously injuring or killing people on bikes in Morton Grove, Skokie, and Lincolnwood. Two of the crashes happened yesterday, Wednesday, July 24. All three collisions took place on roads controlled by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has historically prioritized fast traffic flow over street designs that help prevent severe crash injuries and deaths.
Driver fatally struck bike rider in Morton Grove
According to the Morton Grove Police, on Tuesday, July 9, at 10:13 a.m., officers responded to a car driver-bicyclist crash at Dempster Street and Lehigh Avenue, where the North Branch Trail crosses Dempster. There is also a non-protected bike lane on Lehigh.
The bike rider was taken to Lutheran General Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. The victim's ID was not released, pending notification of kin.
Witnesses were asked to call the Morton Grove Police Department at (847) 470-5200.
Update 8/7/24, 12:30 PM: The Victim has been IDed as Skokie resident Michael Rapp, 74.
A Streetsblog reader who tweeted about the crash told me they arrived at the scene after the collision, and witnesses said the bike rider crossed five-lane Dempster while cross traffic had the green light. They said the driver struck the cyclist at a right angle.
Obviously, we don't know the victim's side of the story. Moreover, the police statement didn't discuss whether speeding on the broad highway, or distracted driving, may have contributed to the tragedy.
Motorist critically injured person biking in Skokie
Yesterday, there was another car-bike collision about three miles northeast of the Morton Grove crash site, at Skokie Boulevard and Gross Point Road in Skokie. This time the cyclist was critically injured.
According to the Skokie Police Department, a man, 27, was cycling through the intersection when a sedan driver struck him. The victim was taken to Evanston Hospital in "critical but stable" condition.
According to an ABC Chicago report, the motorist stayed on the scene. It was unclear whether there were charges or citations.
While Gross Point is classified as a "Bicycle-friendly road" on Google Maps, in reality it's a five-lane highway, which encourages speeding. And Skokie Boulevard is even worse, with seven lanes. The intersection also has two slip lanes, which make it easy from motorists to whip around corners at high speeds.
Streetsblog initially heard about this case from Eric Tendian, who lives a few miles away in Chicago's Edgebrook neighborhood. "All those big streets near the Old Orchard Mall are so car-centric, it seems pretty dangerous to ride a bike in the street, and there’s no room at all given to cyclists," he commented. "It seems like the only 'safe' option is to use the sidewalk. I’ve frequented that area and there’s always crazy driving going on. Drivers don’t really expect pedestrians [or bike riders] in that area."
View a video of the Skokie collision site here.
Streetsblog reader Robert Keding pointed out that that this crash location is only one block north of Church Street, where the Village of Skokie is planning to install a new bike route between Linder Avenue and McCormick Boulevard. He noted that, unfortunately, IDOT is not allowing the suburb to implement a four-to-three road diet with bike lanes on the nearby stretch of Church. Instead, IDOT will only allow "shared lane markings", aka "sharrows", bike-and-chevron symbols that motorists are allowed to drive over, on a high-speed four-lane street.
Trucker hit a person bicycling at the Skokie-Lincolnwood border
Also yesterday, two and a half miles south of the east end of the future Church Street route, at the North Shore Channel Trail, a bike rider reportedly suffered a head injury. A police scanner Twitter account with thousands of followers posted the following that evening.
This location is on the Skokie-Lincolnwood border. I haven't seen any reporting on this from local news outlets, but I left a message with the Skokie police, while the Lincolnwood Police Department said I should file a Freedom of Information Act request for the crash report, which I did. I'll provide an update with any news I hear.
Once again, Touhy/McCormick is a massive intersection with six lanes in each direction and wide turning radii. This encourages drivers to speed, and whip around corners.
That's especially dangerous next to the trail, since motorists are permitted to make turns crossing the trail at the same time trail users have a walk signal, so the latter need to keep their heads on a swivel to avoid being struck. Crashes are common on the trail's many major road crossings, so dedicated crossing signal phases for pedestrians and bicyclists using the path are badly needed. That way, law-abiding drivers wouldn't put trail users at risk.
Bike advocate Robert Keding noted that all three of these crashes happened on "IDOT-jurisdiction roadways that local activists have repeatedly raised safety issues on previously, to lukewarm response. Clearly there is a need for improvements, but IDOT is not taking pedestrian and cyclist safety seriously. All they are proposing for these busy areas are sharrows on Church Street or extra signage on McCormick, which do nothing to physically protect vulnerable road users. Hopefully this new Streetsblog article can generate some movement."
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