Two months ago, we ran this in our morning headline stack: "Bus drivers have struck and injured 2 Loyola students within a week, near intersection of Kenmore Avenue ped mall, and Sheridan Road," citing a Loyola Phoenix article. This week a Streetsblog Chicago reader raised the subject again, so I decided to take a closer look at what went wrong in these cases, and what might be done to make this location safer.
Crash on February 4 at Kenmore and Sheridan
A February 5 Phoenix article by News Editor Lilli Malone provided the basics of what reportedly happened in this case. According to a Chicago Police Department spokesperson, a CTA bus driver struck a female Loyola student, 18, on Tuesday, February 4 at around 8 a.m., at Sheridan and Kenmore. The victim was taken to a local hospital in "critical/stable condition."
Police said the driver was operating a southbound #136 Sheridan/LaSalle Express bus, heading east on Sheridan, which is a four-lane east-west street at this location, 6400 North, the Phoenix reported. The operator received two citations.
Today, Streetsblog obtained the Illinois Traffic Crash Report for this incident, completed by responding CPD officers, which provided more details about what allegedly took place. According to the narrative on the report, a 22-year-old female witness told responding officers she was at the crosswalk waiting to cross the street prior to the collision. The witness said that when the Don't Walk signal changed to Walk, she heard the bus driver, identified on the report as a 54-year-old man, honk his horn. The witness said she stepped back, along with other pedestrians, but the victim entered the crosswalk and was struck by the bus operator.
According to the witness, "[The victim] fell back and struck the pavement, while [the bus driver] swerved to avoid [causing] further injury, and parked further east of the location," the report states. Others present corroborated that account, and the Loyola University Department of Campus Safety told the CPD they had camera footage of the incident that showed the bus driver disobeyed his signal.
After the victim was taken to St. Francis, the hospital told CPD she was in "good to serious condition" with "multiple injuries about the body and a small skull fracture," the narrative states.
According to the report, the responding officers spoke with the bus driver, who claimed that he had the green light when the victim entered the crosswalk, "and did all he could to move and avoid striking" her. No passengers were on the bus when the responding officers arrived on the scene.
Collision on February 10 at Sheridan and Winthrop
Disturbingly, the second bus-pedestrian crash in the area took place only six days later on February 10, and merely 400 feel west of the earlier crash site. According to the second Phoenix report published by Malone on February 12, the victim was once again an 18-year-old female.
According to the paper, the second victim was also using a crosswalk when a westbound bus operator struck her. A police spokesperson said she was taken to a local hospital in stable condition with injuries that weren't specified.
The CPD spokesperson said the bus driver continued west until they "made aware of the collision," the Phoenix reported.
Today CPD News Affairs told Streetsblog they were unable to locate the crash report number for this case.
Crashes on this segment of Sheridan
The reader who had questions about these collisions pointed me to a Google Map of "Crashes near Loyola University Chicago." A colleague of the reader pulled the data from the City's crash data portal, and a Loyola student put together the map. It shows pedestrian and bike crashes in the area near these crash sites, roughly bounded by Sheridan, Elmdale Avenue, Ridge Avenue, and Pratt Boulevard, over basically the past decade. View an interactive version here.
If you zoom in on the section of Sheridan between Broadway (1200 W.) and the curve at 1000 W., you can see that pedestrian crashes are fairly common on this quarter-mile stretch.
Ideas for preventing crashes on Sheridan near the university
In the wake of the two February bus-pedestrian crashes, on February 19, Loyola Studenk Hannah Levenson published an opinion piece in the Phoenix titled, "Dear Loyola, Make Sheridan Safer." "Like many Loyola students, I have class in the Mundelein Center every weekday, requiring me to cross West Sheridan Road and North Kenmore Avenue," she wrote. "Crossing that intersection is almost a necessity at Loyola, whether heading to class or grabbing a meal at Damen [Student Center]. This seemingly simple task shouldn’t come at the cost of our safety."
Levenson said the short pedestrian crossing signal times and long waits in between, for motorists rushing to and from DuSable Lake Shore Drive via the Sheridan Drive traffic sewer, tempt students to cross against their light. "If pedestrians were given longer walking periods – even just five more seconds – to cross the road, students may not feel the need to jaywalk." In the video below taken during today's evening rush, east-west drivers get about 120 seconds of green time, wile north-south pedestrians get one-sixth of that, a mere 20 seconds.
"The sharp westbound curve on Sheridan Road creates a blind spot for both pedestrians and drivers, who can’t see each other until they’re just seconds away from the intersection," she adds. "It’s not uncommon to witness [motorists] speeding around the turn, unaware or unconcerned about the high-volume pedestrian area."
In addition, she notes, the Red Line tracks just west of Winthrop Avenue block sight lines, "especially for the right lane turn by 7-Eleven."
• "Increase [pedestrian] crossing times."
• "Add warning signs for drivers exiting North DuSable Lake Shore Drive approaching campus about the high-volume pedestrian area they’re about to encounter."
• "Add speed humps to force drivers to slow down on West Sheridan. Speed humps differ from speed bumps — they’re longer and allow cars to continue driving at a faster rate. If placed directly before the crosswalks, they could effectively and safely force drivers to slow down."
A (somewhat car-centric) explainer video about the difference between speed bumps and speed humps.
• "Adding protected left turns, which give left-turning drivers the right-of-way, can reduce car accidents caused by left turn maneuvers."
"With so many students relying on these crosswalks, it’s time for City officials and Loyola administrators to prioritize solutions that prevent avoidable collisions before more students get hurt," Levenson concluded.
Another idea would be adding raised crosswalks at Kenmore and Winthrop. Speed and red light cameras in this area couldn't hurt either.
We've contacted the CTA for updates on the bus-pedestrian crash cases. We'll also share this article with the Chicago and Illinois transportation departments and local alderpersons Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth and Maria Hadden to get their POVs on what should be done to improve safety near Loyola. This post will be updated if we hear back from them.
Read the Loyola Phoenix article on the February 4 crash here.
Read the Phoenix article on the February 10 collision here.
Read Hannah Levenson's op-ed "Dear Loyola, Make Sheridan Safer" here.
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