The death of e-scooter rider Alex Blacio, 16, on Western highlights the need for truck side guards, and an intuitive, citywide grid of low-stress routes

In a tragic turn of events, Alex Blacio, 16, died in a crash with a truck driver while the teen was riding an electric scooter on Monday, August 3, in the North Center community — just a few weeks before his 17th birthday. He was the third teenager to be fatally struck on an e-scooter on Chicago streets this year, following Violet Harris, 15, on March 21 in the South Shore neighborhood, and Astrid Carrillo Noguera, 17, on April 24 in the Douglas community.

According to the Illinois Traffic Crash Report for the recent case, Alex Blacio was riding north on a Lime e-scooter around 3:37 p.m. on the 4000 block of North Western Avenue when he collided with the driver of a northbound Freightliner semi truck. The teen was transported to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. 

The crash report indicates that Alex was riding in the curbside parking lane, to the right of a travel lane, when he approached a driveway just south of Belle Plaine Avenue. The narrative states that the truck driver told police the teen was “attempting to avoid a curb in his path with his Lime scooter, at which point [he] lost control of the scooter, causing him to make impact with [the truck].”.

A report from Univision includes security video from a nearby cafe that shows the truck from across the street as the driver passes the crash site, stops, exits the vehicle, and runs back to the teen. The trucker stayed on the scene, and police issued him a ticket, but it’s not clear from the crash report what the citation was for. 

Alex’s sister, Andrea Blacio, told ABC-7 Chicago that her brother was a senior at Lake View High School and was riding home to Albany Park after work at a new job. Andrea has launched a GoFundMe to help with her family’s medical and funeral expenses. It has raised more than $22,000 to date. 

Attorney Brendan Kevenides of the person injury firm FK Law (a Streetsblog Chicago sponsor) said he has questions after a brief review of the crash report. “It seems to me that the truck driver saw the boy before the crash, which leaves me wondering why the driver didn’t act differently to stop or at least give the boy some space,” Kevenides said. “The other thing that concerns me is that I didn’t see any guard rails on the side of truck [in the security video clip.]”

“Private vehicles are not required in Illinois to have side guards; [however] the City of Chicago has made it a requirement for City contractors to have side guards on trucks,” Kevenides added. “This could have played a role in this tragedy.”

The Chicago City Council passed the ordinance in July 2017 in the wake of four recent fatal truck-bike crashes in Chicago and Evanston. The legislation mandated that City contractors install side guards and convex mirrors on vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds by January 1, 2021. The announcement noted that cities such as New York, Boston, and Seattle had already established such policies, and data indicated they had significantly reduced pedestrian and cyclist fatalities.

Ghost bike memorial for Anastasia Kondrasheva, 23, at Addison Street and Damen Avenue in North Center, installed after a turning truck driver fatally struck the health coach at that corner in September 2016. The case influenced the decision to pass Chicago’s side guard ordinance. Photo: John Greenfield

“Based on what I’ve read from the report, I haven’t seen anything to suggest that the boy did anything inappropriate or illegal,” Kevenides said.

Ald. Matt Martin (47th), whose district includes the crash site, called the teen’s death a heartbreaking tragedy. “My deepest sympathies are with Alex’s loved ones.” he said. “Alex is the third teenager fatally struck by a driver while riding an e-scooter on Chicago roads this year alone. Given the rise in popularity of e-scooters, my office is working to expand safer routes for high school students traveling to and from school, as well as make additional safety improvements near the Western and Irving Park intersection. 

“I’ve had preliminary conversations with leaders at Lake View and Lane Tech high schools, and look forward to partnering with them and with student leaders in their schools in the coming weeks,” Martin said. “In addition, I’ve spoken to leaders at the Chicago Department of Transportation and Lime to emphasize the urgent need to improve education for new riders — including travel routes that spotlight low-stress streets and age-verification measures.”

“Finally, I’m closely following Secretary of State [Alex] Giannoulias’ work on micro mobility driver education,” Martin concluded. “I’ll be working to disseminate these resources with our local schools, in our newsletter, and at 47th Ward events.”

Western Avenue, a five-lane “stroad,” a highway-like street running through a densely populated area, is an unsafe place to ride an e-scooter or bicycle. An safer alternative is the Leavitt Street Neighborhood Greenway, a traffic-calmed, two-way bike-and-pedestrian-priority route that runs about three miles between Diversey Parkway and Berwyn Avenue.

However, this tragedy further underscores the need an intuitive, well-marked, citywide grid of low-stress routes. That would help ensure that e-scooter and bike riders don’t take dangerous arterials like Western because simply they’re the only obvious and direct option.

It’s also worth noting that in bike-friendly countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, even major arterial streets have side paths so that they are safe to bicycle on.

Last May the Chicago Department of Transportation announced a new e-scooter safety campaign, noting that scooters may be ridden in bike lanes, recommending helmet use, and reminding users that Chicago rental scooters must be ridden solo. The program includes an E-Scooter Safety Video, and outreach by CDOT’s SAFE Ambassadors with tips on how to safely operate the devices.

Lime also lists some safety initiatives on its webpage, including an in-person program for first-time riders called First Ride Academy. In June, Lime announced that First Ride Academy events would take place this summer on the South and West sides, in partnership with CDOT and the Chicago Park District.

According to Lime Community Engagement Lead TY Frazier, riders must complete a safety quiz as well as accepting age requirements when they first create an account. Frazier added that e-scooters stay in a setting called Training Mode, which caps the e-scooter’s speed at 10 mph for an operator’s first three rides.

The truck driver from Monday’s collision is scheduled for a court appearance on September 29. In the meantime, the memorial to Alex Blacio at the crash site continues to grow. 

Fatality Tracker: 2026 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets

Pedestrian: 17

Bicycle or e-scooter: 6

2026 Chicago pedestrian fatalities

• On Wednesday, January 7, around 8:44 a.m., a 42-year-old woman driving an SUV fatally struck a man, 64, crossing at 9498 S. Lafayette Ave. in Roseland.

• On Monday, February 16, around 4:12 p.m., a 37-year-old female truck driver struck and killed a woman, 63, in the 7200 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Norwood Park.

• On Monday, February 16, before 7:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a man, 69, in the 11900 block of South Halsted Street in West Pullman.

• On Tuesday, March 3, around 6:15 PM, an SUV driver, 70, fatally struck a female pedestrian in the 4000 block of West Foster Avenue in the North Park neighborhood.

• On Wednesday, March 11, sometime before 10 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a woman, 32, in the 2100 block of East 83rd Street in South Chicago.

• On Friday, March 13, at around 12:06 p.m., the left-turning driver of a large vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk at 3960 W. 26th St. in Little Village.

• On Sunday, April 12, around 9 p.m., a 17-year-old girl driving an SUV fatally struck a Fontella Wyatt, 43, crossing Ogden Avenue at Ashland Avenue on the Near West Side.

• On Sunday, April 19, at about 9:30 p.m., a hit-and-run pickup truck driver struck and killed Minerva Martinez, 65, in a crosswalk at Belmont and Central avenues in Belmont Cragin.

• On Monday, April 20, around 6 p.m., a semi-truck driver fatally struck Autumn Perez, 29, at 6341 S. Western Ave. in Chicago Lawn.

• On Tuesday, April 21, at around 4:24 p.m., a Honda driver, 47, fatally struck a male pedestrian, 78, at 4050 N. Central Avenue in Portage Park.

• On Wednesday, April 22, a driver failed to yield the right of way and fatally struck a pedestrian at 1498 N. California Ave. in West Town.

• On Saturday, May 2, around 2:40 a.m., after an argument, a driver fatally struck a man, 65, standing on the sidewalk on the 5000 block of S. Western Ave. in Gage Park, and then fled the scene.

• On Tuesday, May 12, Enrique Nieto was changing a flat car tire in the street on the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road when an SUV driver fatally struck him and fled the scene.

• On Thursday, May 14, a hit-and-run sedan driver fatally struck a man, 36, near 87th Street and Ashland Avenue in Auburn Gresham.

• On Saturday, May 23, around 5:15 p.m., a driver, 35, fatally struck Illeana Crisanto, 62, near Belmont and Kilbourn avenues, on the border of Irving Park and Hermosa.

• On Sunday, July 26, at around 10:47 p.m., a speeding SUV driver, 39, struck and killed a male pedestrian, 63, on the 5100 block of South Western Avenue in Gage Park.

• On Wednesday, July 29, at around 11:41 a.m., a hit-and-run truck driver struck and killed Belesda Toledo, 47, on the 2500 block of South Hamlin Avenue in Little Village.

2026 Chicago bicycle and e-scooter fatalities

• On Thursday, January 24, around 8:20 p.m., the 33-year-old male driver of a Toyota fatally struck Roman Havelka, 63, on a bicycle in the 8600 block of West Irving Park Road.

• On Saturday, March 21,  around 8:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Violet Harris, 15, on an e-scooter in the 2800 block of East 77th Street in South Shore.

• On Sunday, April 5, around 1:20 a.m., a speeding, hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Damian Gomez, 18, on a bicycle at 63rd Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago Lawn.

• On Friday, April 24, around 4:15 p.m., a Jeep driver struck and killed e-scooter rider Astrid Carrillo Noguera, 17, near 3340 S. King Dr. in the Douglas community.

• On Friday, June 5, around 4:40 p.m., a car driver opened their door on CDOT Planner Riley O’Neil, 35, causing him to clip the door and be thrown in front of a truck and fatally struck.

• On Wednesday August 5 at about 3:37 PM a semi driver and Alex Blacio, 16, riding an e-scooter, collided at 4025 N. Western Ave. in North Center, and the teen later died from his injuries.

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