Kill a Cyclist, Get a Ticket

On Wednesday morning, a cyclist along Augusta Boulevard was fatally hit by a truck making a right turn. The truck driver was only ticketed. The full story and links can be found on Grid Chicago.

I'd like to think of Chicago as fairly bike-friendly, but I feel always feel a tinge of hesitancy to suggest it as such. Amenities for bikes aside (Emanuel is big into expanding bike lanes), the fact that there is so much tension between bikes and cars is the main reason it's hard to call this a bike-friendly city. Especially after cycling in Beijing, where most Chicago (and American) drivers and cyclists would probably get too frustrated at the lax traffic laws, it's difficult to place exactly where Chicago lies on the bike-friendly scale. I rarely feel in danger on a bike, but I feel like I'm more conscious on my bike than many of people passing me by on Milwaukee Ave. Really, there's no reason to be going so fast on a bike on a road that doesn't have a segregated lane. Many bikers have the same mentality as the drivers they claim to hate. Why speed up to get to a red light? Why try to overtake a car when you know they can accelerate faster? And calm down: that cab honked at you as a warning that he's there. Take out your headphones and use all of your senses and be aware of your surroundings.

Generally, I think no driver wants to murder a cyclist; likewise, no cyclist actually has a death-wish. And I'll even admit there are as many bad cyclists as there are bad drivers. Everyone's got some place to be apparently, and the slightest thing that gets in one's way elicits a weird sense of entitlement from both sides of the road. That said, I'll run a stop sign or red light if I deem it safe. I'm not talking about Six Corners, but there are plenty of low-traffic areas I ride through often enough that there's no reason to come to a complete stop and then go uphill on a bike. I don't believe bikes and cars should have the same laws, but I do think that more cyclists should adhere to traffic law basics.

Since we don't have all the details of the story at hand, it's hard to say who's at fault. As the victim was in his 50s, I'm making the assumption that he was a seasoned rider, and probably over the phase where he feels the city is his own personal playground. As we don't know what kind of truck it is, it's hard to say what visibility he had. But just a $500 ticket doesn't seem to suffice. Accidents will happen, but negligence is preventable.

For further tips on bike safety check out this link. Wear your helmet, peeps.