Here's How You Should Exit A Taxi In Chicago

Photo property of Freeman Kevenides
Law Firm, LLC

The full version of this post appears in Time Out Chicago.

Following the 2012 death of a young attorney who was run down by a truck when he swerved to avoid an opened car door, the city of Chicago has made efforts to try to prevent such incidents. The term "dooring" is well known to regular city cyclists. It occurs when an occupant opens a vehicle door into a bicyclist. A significant number of these incidents are caused by passengers exiting taxi cabs. The problem has been significant enough for the city to mandate that taxi companies place window stickers inside their vehicles reminding disembarking passengers to look before exiting. Here are some steps you can take when exiting a taxi cab to reduce the chance you will injure an unsuspecting biker...  Continue reading.

A Case For Chicago's Red Light Cameras

The following post by Brendan Kevenides appears on the Time Out Chicago blog:

Red light cameras are present at 174 of Chicago's intersections. When a driver runs a red light, the camera snaps a photo of the offending vehicle and its license plate. A traffic ticket is then mailed to the driver. The city touts the cameras as a means for keeping Chicago's streets safer by encouraging drivers to resist the urge to run lights. Others feel that the whole project is little more than a money grab by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration. His opponent in the current mayoral run-off, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, recently told Reuters that . . . 

Read the rest here.

What You Need To Know About Winter Biking In Chicago

The following post by Brendan Kevenides appears on the Time Out Chicago blog:

"You're nuts."

I get that a lot when people learn that I ride my bicycle daily during the winter, to and from work. I certainly don't see it that way. As I rode from my Logan Square home to my office in the Loop on February 2, the day after the big Super Bowl Blizzard, I easily cruised past numerous drivers spinning their wheels to extract vehicles from huge snow drifts and miserable people shuffling their frozen feet while waiting for late CTA buses. I felt sorry for them. If only they knew what I and other winter bike commuters know. Dealing with the weather is not as hard as you think. Seriously, you will arrive at your destination warm, dry and clean if you abide by a few simple tips.

Dress smartly. You need to dress warmly without overdoing it. No expensive, techy clothing is necessary. One mistake newbies make when first riding in cold weather is to wear too much bulky clothing. Multiple, thin layers of clothing is the way to go. Each layer traps a bit of warm air while letting moisture escape, creating nice, dry insulation. If you become too warm, it is easy to modulate your temperature by removing a layer. A heavy parka is not a good bet. Once you start pedaling, ...

Click here to read the full post at Time Out Chicago.

Time Out On Drinking and Bicycling

The article below, written by John Greenfield, appears in the current edition of Time Out Chicago.  

(I do like to call myself the "Chicago Bicycle Advocate," especially when I'm alone, but my friends call me Mr. Chicago Bicycle Advocate;-)

When I ride my bicycle home from a bar drunk, am I breaking the law? 

By John Greenfield

Photo: Andrew Nawrocki

Q When I ride my bicycle home from a bar drunk, am I breaking the law? Does it fall under the same blood-alcohol-content DUI regulations as operating a motor vehicle? —Easy Rider, Logan Square
A Crocked Chicago cyclists can’t be charged with a DUI, says Brendan Kevenides, a lawyer who specializes in bike cases and calls himself the Chicago Bicycle Advocate. In 1995, the Illinois Appellate Court decided this issue in People v. Schaefer, upholding the dismissal of criminal charges against a drunk bicyclist. Since state law doesn’t define a bike as a “vehicle,” the court found that Illinois’s DUI statute did not give cyclists fair warning they could face harsh penalties for pickled pedaling. Kevenides notes that cyclists can be charged with public drunkenness or disorderly conduct, but the penalties for such offenses are substantially less than those for a DUI. Even so, Active Transportation Alliance’s Margo O’Hara says it’s “dangerous and irresponsible” to spin while sauced. But Mark Cuneo, a manager at the bike-centric Handlebar Bar & Grill, recommends one reason to choose two wheels over four for a night of carousing. “Instead of driving home drunk or leaving your car overnight, you can always throw your bike in the trunk of a cab.”