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.

IDOT Driver Strikes, Injures Pregnant Chicago Woman Riding Divvy Bike

Life was good when the 34 year old woman left her East Village home on the morning of September 3rd. It was warm and sunny as she checked out a Divvy bike from a station near her home.  She planned a leisurely ride to her office on Michigan Avenue where she worked as a financial planner.  She learned the day before that she was pregnant with her and her husband's second child.  She felt great.

A driver with the Illinois Department of Transportation spoiled her serenity when he slammed his truck into her.  The woman was hit as she pedaled east on West Augusta Boulevard in the intersection with North Ashland Avenue.  She had been riding in dedicated bicycle lane on Augusta.  Just after she crossed into the intersection, the traffic light controlling eastbound traffic turned from green to yellow. She entered the intersection legally.  She pedaled across Ashland's two southbound lanes.  In most Chicago intersections it takes three seconds for a traffic signal to go from yellow to red.  After she crossed the center line, the northbound driver, who had not stopped at the intersection, crashed into her right side, throwing her several feet.  

The bicyclist was knocked unconscious by the impact and suffered deep wounds to her face and other parts of her body.  Her right foot was fractured.  An ambulance arrived quickly and rushed her to Resurrection Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center nearby.  Numerous tests thankfully ruled out a major head injury. The helmet she was wearing probably had something to do with that. Also, her pregnancy, thus far, seems unaffected, though the fear and anxiety she is experiencing cannot be understated.

The Divvy bike was demolished.

Our law firm has been retained to represent the bicyclist.

The True Cost Of IDOT's Obstructionism For Chicago Cyclists

by Jim Freeman

I know I've ragged on the City in the past about their bicycle infrastructure, but man, I'm loving the stuff they are doing right now.  Sure, there could be better surfacing in some places, and they need to fix some drainage and signage problems, but overall my commute has improved 100% over the last two years. 

I love that the new bicycle lane on Milwaukee Avenue has a passing lane on the hill over the expressway. The Kinzie to Dearborn protected bike lanes have reduced the number of driver conflicts I experience going into the Loop.  My personal favorite small thing CDOT is doing is installing left turn boxes.  Every time I use a left turn box on Dearborn I smile a satisfied smile.

For years I've been asking people who are "in the know" why we can't get a bike lane or at least a Shared Lane Yield To Bikes sign for Logan Boulevard at Western under the expressway.  My girlfriend rides through there frequently.  It's a death trap, but Logan Boulevard is one of the most direct east-west routes to and from Logan Square.  There is a bike lane on the east side of the expressway...  What's up?

I've been told for years that IDOT won't allow the installation of signage or bike lanes there.  That stretch of Logan Boulevard is under the control of IDOT.  So are a lot of roads in Chicago...  Clybourn, North Avenue, and others.  It is often the case that when a road crosses an interstate, IDOT is another level of bureaucracy that City planners must negotiate to get bicycle infrastructure installed.

Consider why the Madison Street bike lane sucks so bad...  It is largely because it ends in the middle of interstate chaos.  Cyclists riding west from the Loop get dumped out into the mess that is IDOT's expressway jurisdiction with no signage or indication to drivers or cyclists how they should go about negotiating the dangers present at that location.

The left turn box on Jackson at Dearborn was a good idea.  I love left turn boxes.  They make navigating intersections much safer and effortless for bicyclists.  Did you notice that the left turn box on Jackson was blacked out?  Wonder why?  Jackson is an IDOT road.

For years I thought Logan Boulevard at Western was just a fluke, but now I realize that IDOT is confounding Chicago's efforts to install bicycle infrastructure all over the city.  To me the most irritating things about all of this is that the most dangerous intersections to negotiate on a bicycle are the ones IDOT controls.  They offer excuses: There isn't enough space...  We can't make room for bike lanes...  We'd like to see three years of data...  The excuses seem like bunk at this point.  I don't believe that a Shared Lane Yield To Bikes sign under the expressway is something that can't be done.  I rather suspect that IDOT views transportation as nothing more than moving cars.  At this point we are paying the price in blood...  Bobby Cann, Alicia Frantz, Tyler Fabeck, and others were all killed in places where there is an IDOT interruption to Chicago bicycle infrastructure.

WGN Radio | Just How Can Chicago Bicyclists & Motorists Co-Exist In Peace?

On Monday night I was invited onto the Turi Ryder Show on WGN Radio to talk about the Illinois Department of Transportation's recent decision to bar additional protected bicycle lanes in Chicago and to debate how cyclists and motorist may learn to get along.

Listen To The Interview