2013: The Year's Biggest Bicycle Stories

There were some major ups and downs for bicycling in Chicago in 2013.  It was a year that saw a major uptick in the popularity of transportation cycling in our city.  It was also a year of losses which the bicycling community will never forget.  Here are the top five Chicago cycling stories of 2013:

5.  The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) placed a moratorium on the installation of protected bike lanes in Chicago.  In February, our friends at Streetsblog Chicago reported that IDOT -- which has jurisdiction over many streets in Chicago -- refused to allow the installation of protected bike lanes until at least three years of crash data could be collected.  Steetsblog pointed out that the moratorium was in places inconsistent with the plans and recommendations of the Chicago Department of Transportation.  IDOT's stance was frustrating to some in light of the availability of crash data from other cities which had significant experience with protected bike lanes.  In May, following the death of cyclist, Bobby Cann, who was killed on Clybourn Avenue, a road under IDOT's jursidiction and which lacked a protected bike lane, concern over the moratorium increased.  Many wondered if the existence of a protected lane where Cann was killed might have prevented the tragedy.  In October, at a memorial service for Cann it was announced that IDOT had backed off somewhat and would allow a protected bicycle lane to be installed on Clybourn.

4.  The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois clarified laws allowing people on bicycles to pass drivers on the right.  In June, Chicago's City Council passed the 2013 Bicycle Safety Ordinance which, among other things, stated that 

Any bicyclist upon a roadway is permitted to pass on the right side of a slower-moving or standing vehicle or bicycle, but must exercise due care when doing so.

9-52-040(d)

In August, the State followed suit passing a fix to the Illinois Motor Vehicle Code stating that human powered two wheeled vehicles are not barred from passing motor vehicles on the right.

The amendments were necessary to aid police departments confused over whether cyclists may pass on the right.  Unnecessary traffic citations to bicyclists were sometimes the result of this confusion.  With the changes in place, "Illinoisans riding bicycles may confidently pass slow-moving cars on the right side of the road and know that they are on solid ground legally," said Max Muller, Director of Government Relations for the Active Transportation Alliance.

Our law firm worked with Active Trans, CDOT and State Representative Laura Fine to draft the changes.

3.  In November, Gabe Klein, impassioned new wave infrastructure crusader, stepped away from his post as CDOT commissioner.  Early this month, his lieutenant, deputy commissioner Scott Kubly also called it quites.  Commissioner Klein was the driving force behind Chicago's push in recent years to install bicycle friendly infrastructure.  Under his watch, Chicago saw hundreds of miles of new protected and buffered bicycle lanes put in place and the implementation of a world class bike share system.  When he announced that he would be returning to the private sector many in bicycle advocacy assumed that Kubly would fill his shoes, allowing for a smooth transition and continuation of bike friendly changes.  With both gone, and with no successors yet to be named, the future of cycling in Chicago is perhaps less clear.

2.  The death of Bobby Cann shook Chicago's bicycling community to its core.  On a May 29th at around 6:35 p.m., Cann was struck and killed by Ryne San Hamel who was allegedly driving his Mercedes sedan 20 miles per hour over the speed limit.  San Hamel was charged with driving under the influence, having an alleged blood alcohol content of .127, well over the legal limit.  There was immediate wide spread outrage at the driver, heartfelt empathy for Cann's family and many friends, and fear among regular city cyclists.  A temporary memorial popped up at the site of the crash, which occurred outside of iconic Chicago bike shop Yojimbo's Garage.  In October, Clybourn Avenue was named Honorary Bobby Cann Way.  That same month The Reader featured Cann on its front page with the headline, "Death of a Cyclist."

Others died riding their bicycles in Chicago in 2013.  None of those lives were less important than Cann's.  But there was something about his death that shook the broader community deeper.  Perhaps it was because it happened while he was riding home from work in the early evening, on a sunny late spring day.  Maybe the fact that Cann was known to be a experienced safe city cyclist freaked a lot of people out. He was not the sort to run lights.  If it could happen to him, it could happen to any of us.  Perhaps much of it had to do with the driver, a young man himself, he was a partner with a business venture called allyoucandrink.com.  Pictures of San Hamel partying and appearing to drink substantial amounts of alcohol circulated over the internet.  The fact that San Hamel has been criminally charged, a relative rarity where a driver hurts or kills a cyclist, has increased its broad impact.   San Hamel seemed like the poster child of the world's worst driver and an uncaring, self-absorbed asshole.

1.  But the biggest story of 2013 was an undeniably positive one, the launch of Chicago's bike share program, Divvy.  Launched in June, Divvy has taken off with koisks popping up all over the city, a gazillion miles racked up by riders and an impressive safety record.  The idea of grabbing a public bike from one street corner and leaving it at a station near one's destination as proven to be a big hit.  At $75 for unlimited use for a year, or $7 per each half hour on a pay-as-you-go plan, it is an extremely cost effective and enjoyable way to get around town.  So popular has bike share been in Chicago that even during one of the coldest Decembers in recent memory Divvy bikes are routinely seen being pedaled all around town.

The best thing about Divvy is that it is for everybody, old and young, brave and less-so.  The bikes are heavy, slow, convenient and comfortable.  With step through frames and chain guards you can ride them in a suit or in a dress.  The program and its increasing popularity encourages everyone to ride the city, threatening to breakdown the us versus them mentality.  In the future aided by Divvy we are all people who ride bikes.

Chicago Bicyclists Have Options, Need Not Use Protected Bike Lanes

Cyclists are not required to ride in Chicago's protected bicycle lanes.  Wherever one exists, Kinzie Avenue for example, bicyclists will have the option to ride in it, or to use the main roadway along with other traffic.  

Clarification of the law came from Luann Hamilton and Gabe Klein, CDOT deputy commissioner and commissioner, respectively, at the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting on March 13th.  Their statements on the matter were documented verbatim by journalist, John Greenfield, of Streetsblog Chicago, and came in response to questions raised on the subject at the meeting by me and fellow attorney, Jim Freeman.  At issue was whether Section 9-52-020 of Chicago's Municipal Code applies in the context of a protected bike lane.  That section states,

(d)  Whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway.

Given the broad wording of the ordinance, I have been concerned that it could be applied to deny a bicyclist compensation where a crash occurred on a road with a protected lane that the cyclist chose not to use.  The ordinance, in my opinion, is vague on its face.  It does not define the term "usable path for bicycles".  Could it mean any track designed and built for cyclists that is physically separated from other traffic?  It did not seem a stretch to image a defense attorney, or judge, interpreting a bike lane, like the one on Kinzie separated from other traffic by bollards and parked cars, to fit within the definition of "a usable path."  Thankfully, CDOT has offered its interpretation of the ordinance.  Here's how the discussion went as recorded by Streetsblog:

Jim Freeman: So Chicago’s got a statute that says if there’s an adjacent bike path, bicyclists have to use the path and not the street. Is it the city’s position that that applies to protected bike lanes?

Luann Hamilton: No, it doesn’t. The ordinance applies to the Lakefront Trail designation at the South Shore Cultural Center because, when we put that stretch in, the department wanted to make sure that cyclists weren’t in the road by the cultural center. So they put that law in for that one location, but it doesn’t apply to other places.

JF: The concern that I have is that, and I haven’t seen this instance yet, but I could envision an instance where a bicyclist is struck in the street and then they’re issued a citation, in effect blamed for causing or contributing to the [crash] because they were riding in the street and not the protected bike lane.

LH: Actually, if you look at the language we’re OK.

Mike Amsden: It says “adjacent to the roadway.”

LH: This is in the roadway. “Adjacent to the roadway” is not the same thing as a curb lane in the roadway.

Gabe Klein: But it’s a good point, something that we need to talk to [the Illinois Department of Transportation] about, just to say, “Hey, the way things are written in various places, doesn’t really apply to certain infrastructure.”

Brendan Kevenides: Do you know if CDOT’s position with regard to having to use the protected bike lane versus the street is in writing somewhere?

LH: The position is that cyclists can use the whole roadway. Just because we’re putting in these facilities doesn’t mean that bicyclists have to stay in that facility. For example, what if they need to make a turn? They have to go out of the facility at that point anyway.

BK: ‘Cause I have the same concern. For example on Kinzie, especially, and it’s a sliding scale, but where you have that level of division from motorized vehicles, I can imagine a judge who’s considering this saying, “Well, that’s a usable path.” The statute is somewhat vague and wasn’t written when these protected bike lanes came into existence, obviously. So is there something I can look at, something I can cite to?

LH: You can look at the code. I don’t think there’s anything beyond the code right now, but we’ve been having a lot of conversations, not just about bike lanes but about things like pedicabs…

Ron Burke: Would it be helpful if the city’s legal department or someone wrote a memo?

BK: That’d be great.

LH: We can get [the law department] on this. [They've] already written this internally. So we have some documentation.

BK: Wonderful.

Charlie Short: I was going to say, the national trend is to eliminate that sort of language. Because it was written in 1990 when there were only bike paths [in Chicago] and so it made sense. Usually the tendency is to eliminate that language entirely and actually Illinois has eliminated that language.

JF: Does Chicago have a plan to do that?

LH: It only was meant to apply to that one location, so I don’t see any reason why we can’t eliminate it or put clarification in.

JF: Well, I guess we’ll see if it’s a problem then [laughs].

RB: I think what I hear Luann saying is, legally it’s not a problem now. No one’s enforcing it that way, the code is pretty clear. If we can get like a legal memo to that effect which clarifies that, that might be a clearer path forward than trying to change the code. But who knows, maybe there’s some clean-up language going through the city council that you could throw in.

LH: Well, we’re always trying to clean up issues with the city code, right Charlie?

RB: Cool.

I am looking forward to seeing the promised memo, something official I can show an opposing attorney or judge should this issue arise in a bicycle crash case.

The provided clarification is appreciated and is good news for city cyclists.  Because we are so vulnerable on the road compared to other users, it is important to have options for dealing with the inevitable challenges that come with sharing the road with motor vehicles. Also, not being required to use the protected lanes means that bicyclists can offer the city helpful feedback regarding what works well and what does not.  In meetings I have been at with city planners they have earnestly admitted to a desire to learn over time how to make the bike lanes safer for cyclists, without unnecessarily inconveniencing pedestrians and motorists.  If the city builds something that sucks, then cyclists will not use it and that is important information for CDOT to have.

A few words of caution:  If you are hit by a car while riding outside of a nearby protected bicycle lane, remember that if the matter goes to trial, jurors tend not to leave their feelings outside the courthouse door.  You may be viewed less sympathetically for choosing to ride outside the bike lane.  This could hurt your chances of a good legal outcome.  Also, there is no small amount of controversy over the city's decision to spends lots of money on bike specific infrastructure.  Frankly, a lot of motorists are pissed about it and may feel compelled to act aggressively toward a bicyclists ignoring the bike lane.  If you decide that the protected lanes are not for you, I strongly recommend riding at about the same speed as traffic and to take extra care to follow the rules of the road to avoid conflict.

Looking Back At Chicago's Biggest Bicycling Stories Of 2011

Once again it's time for the obligatory end of the year round-up of the top cycling stories of 2011 in the Chicago area.  It must be noted that there were several reported serious injuries and deaths of cyclists in Illinois this year. Of course, any one of those is the biggest story of the year.  That grim point duly noted and respectfully put to the side, here are the top five stories of the past year:

5.  Bicyclists were banned from texting and other mobile phone usage by the Chicago City Council in early October.  This was something of a no-brainer really.  No one using the roadway, neither motorists nor cyclists, should be focused on anything but, well, the road.  Yet, there was something that felt odd about the passage of this ordinance.  Sure, some bicyclists text while riding, but it never seemed like a problem widespread or serious enough to warrant the attention of the City Council.  Other cities even seemed interested in the ban.  I received a call out of the blue from a reporter at The Washington Times requesting a few words about what I thought about the new ban.  The Washington Times?  The passage of the ordinance and the interest in it from odd corners of the country struck me as sour grapes against bicyclists who have elbowed their way into a share of the road over the past few years.  My sense is that motorists are also sick of being told that much of what they do behind the wheel is wrong:  texting, talking, nail painting; even getting behind the wheel at all.  The ordinance felt like a bit of push back from motorists toward what some perceive is the snugness of we health conscious, no emissions producing, lycra/skinny jeans wearing, skip-to-the-head-of-the-traffic-line bicyclists.

4.  Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill into law that, as of January 1, 2012, will permit bicyclists to proceed through traffic signals that fail to turn from red to green.  The new law will only apply outside of Chicago.  Cyclists will need to come to a complete stop at red lights, but will be permitted to pedal through after waiting a "reasonable period of time" for the light to change and only when the coast is clear.  This is important.  Why?  Because Illinois lawmakers seem finally to be taking into account how real bicyclists ride in the real world.  My assumption is that Illinois cyclists probably were not waiting for faulty lights to turn, sitting idly for long stretches with no cars in sight before traversing uncontested intersections.  But, before the new law goes into effect, failure to do so would be illegal.  Criminalizing how real bicyclists behave is bad for cycling.  It reinforces the notion that bicyclists are social mavericks, rather than regular people trying to get from one place to another, or getting in a bit of exercise.  The new law is a step in the right direction toward considering the road from the bicyclist's point of view.


3.  So many of the bicyclists whom I represent have been injured by motorists carelessly throwing their doors open without looking.  These "dooring" incidents are a serious problem in our city.  In April, the State of Illinois for the first time began tracking such incidents by requiring local police departments to note them on traffic crash reports.  The collection of information about where doorings happen and how often they occur is no mere academic exercise.  Addressing the issue -- with either infrastructure changes or law enforcement initiatives -- requires state and/or federal funding; money that cannot be acquired without data.  Therefore, this rule change is a big step toward reducing these dangerous incidents.


2.  In June there was a seachange in how bicyclists saw Chicago and how Chicago saw us with the opening of the city's first ever protected bicycle lane along Kinzie Street between Milwaukee Avenue and Wells.  Now, bicyclists could experience riding into and from downtown without fear of encroachment into their space by motor vehicles.  The effort seems to be a whopping success.  I have ridden the Kinzie lane a lot, and it is great.  Aside from being protected from vehicle encroachment and doorings, the lane just feels welcoming.  The first few times I rode it I felt like I finally had a space where my bike and I belonged, rather than a patch of rode I constantly had to fight for.  Many other bicyclists seem to have agreed.  By my observation, even in bad weather the lane is well used.  But what really made this such a big deal in 2011 is that it was only the beginning of a new attitude, and a new infrastructure.  The Kinzie Street bike lane was followed by protected bicycle lanes along Jackson Boulevard and 18th Street.  Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised 100 miles of protected bike lanes during his first four years in office.  So far his administration is well underway toward satisfying that ambitious goal.


1.   “I am a bike enthusiast — somebody who likes biking myself. But, my principle enthusiasm [is] I want Chicago to be the bike-friendliest city in the country.”  That was what Chicago's new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had to said when he presided over the opening of the city's first protected bike lane.  His taking office in May was without a doubt Chicago's biggest cycling story of the year.  What Mayor Richard Daley started, Rahm Emanuel has committed to taking much further, making Chicago a truly bicycle friendly city.  His appointment of Gabe Klein as Transportation Commissioner, who led a bicycle safety initiative in Washington D.C., demonstrated a commitment to changing our infrastructure in a way that benefits all Chicagoans.  Making our city truly bike friendly encourages more people to ride our streets, reducing motor vehicle congestion.   This promises to make riding, walking and plain living in the city better.  Reduced congestion is also better for motorists by increasing drive times and the overall hassle of getting around.  From the bicyclist's perspective Mayor Emanuel's first year has been a good one.