McGrath Lexus Driving Into Traffic at Elston & Division - Insights Needed
Twice during my morning commutes on Elston, I've seen individuals* leave the McGrath Lexus main entrance by turning left into the right hand lane and driving until they can get around the line of cars waiting at the intersection or until there is a small opening in the line of cars that they can get through. Both times this has occured I have been in the right lane and the car has been headed directly towards me. For those of you who ride Elston, be careful!
I get that the company is placed at an awkward spot for a left turn - my guess is they are 25 feet or less from the light. And you bet your bottom dollar I'd be frustrated as a driver trying to turn left at an intersection that regularly has lines of cars at a stop light. That being said, this is extremely dangerous, especially on a road often traveled by cyclists. Before I stop into the dealership to speak with a manager about this, I wanted to see if any of you have had similar experiences? If so, can you send me as many details as possible, as I want to stress the graveness of this situation.
*I'm 90% sure it has been the same person both times, but I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt
Views: 5561
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Gregorek on
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Wow Darren. I can not believe that I am going to quote Oprah to you. If you knew me you would laugh and think wth? But that is what popped in to my mind after reading your post. (An ah ha moment I guess....omg, there it goes again!!!!! help) But it's a good one......
When you know better, you do better.Darren Knox said:
I guess I think of things in a less relativistic way. I also don't think riding in the city is going to get any better until we raise our standards and its incredibly sad to me that this reckless endangerment of people is getting excused left and right by people on a cycling forum.
I also think that, being part and parcel of the industry, a dealership should have a policy regarding employees that drive recklessly. Doesn't that make sense? Maybe it's not an instant fire sort of thing but maybe they should get fired if they ever do it again.
I've lived in a few other cities (Los Angeles, Portland OR) and its my experience that Chicago has some of the angriest and most entitled streets that I've seen. It doesn't have to be this bad folks! You can choose between relativism and standards but why not set the bar high, and hold people accountable for endangering lives just because they want to cut corners?
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+1 to you notorious
and I don't even have to quote Oprah.....instead I can type my favorite line...
It is nice to be important but more important to be nice. You made excellent points!notoriousDUG said:
Actually a businesses only responsibility is to make money; that's it. Being a good neighbor, being safe or otherwise acting like decent folk is a choice a business makes and, truth be told, most businesses make the choice to be decent because, in the long run, it get them more customers and make them more money. I know it hurts to acknowledge this but no person or business has any kind of responsibility to look out for you or anyone else beyond the laws that govern them; anything anybody, individual or business, does beyond that is a personal choice they are making for whatever reason it is that drives them. The world is an inherently terrible place and we should be thankful for every person who puts in any effort to make it less terrible. Like I said, this reaction beats having a knife pulled on you after a valet nearly doors you.
You are never, ever, not going to be endangered riding a bike on the road. In case you haven't noticed it's full of people driving great big cars and paying very little attention.
You do have a choice in the matter; you are not an animal you are a person capable of reason and controlling your emotions.
You choose to be unhappy and angry because the world is not as safe as you would like it to be and people don't do as much as you would like them to about it.
I choose to be happy and grateful that the world is safer than it could be and some people so something, even just a little bit, to make it better.
And to think people call me a crank.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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+2 I also chose to be grateful because someone is choosing to make a positive difference in their piece of the world. Yes, being a good neighbor is a good business practice, but in the end we really want and need as many good neighbors as we can get. I appreciate John's continuing efforts and outreach to help make McGrath a better neighbor. Every little bit helps.
Michelle Gregorek said:+1 to you notorious
and I don't even have to quote Oprah.....instead I can type my favorite line...
It is nice to be important but more important to be nice. You made excellent points!notoriousDUG said:
Actually a businesses only responsibility is to make money; that's it. Being a good neighbor, being safe or otherwise acting like decent folk is a choice a business makes and, truth be told, most businesses make the choice to be decent because, in the long run, it get them more customers and make them more money. I know it hurts to acknowledge this but no person or business has any kind of responsibility to look out for you or anyone else beyond the laws that govern them; anything anybody, individual or business, does beyond that is a personal choice they are making for whatever reason it is that drives them. The world is an inherently terrible place and we should be thankful for every person who puts in any effort to make it less terrible. Like I said, this reaction beats having a knife pulled on you after a valet nearly doors you.
You are never, ever, not going to be endangered riding a bike on the road. In case you haven't noticed it's full of people driving great big cars and paying very little attention.
You do have a choice in the matter; you are not an animal you are a person capable of reason and controlling your emotions.
You choose to be unhappy and angry because the world is not as safe as you would like it to be and people don't do as much as you would like them to about it.
I choose to be happy and grateful that the world is safer than it could be and some people so something, even just a little bit, to make it better.
And to think people call me a crank.
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Permalink Reply by John L. Douglass on
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Hello Chainlink,
It has been several weeks since our last contact and I wanted to check in. With the nice weather as of late, I thought I would ask if there have been any problems involving the bike lane on Elston, just north of Division. Our monitoring indicates much improvement, with the exception of occasional cut through traffic.
I will most certainly check back in the spring, but ask that any issues this winter be brought to my attention.
Also, we are under heavy construction across the street, so please be aware of that traffic.
Regards,
John Douglass
McGrath Lexus of Chicago
773.342.6300 x1250
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Permalink Reply by Tim S on
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way to follow up, I have no info to share just happy to see the follow up.
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The big problem around McGrath now are all the cars parked illegally in the buffer and between the bollards of the protected lane - last night riding by the new McGrath building there were 15 cars parked illegally (which is pretty typical as of late).
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John Douglass here, hello Gopher Biker. I apologize first for vehicles that were parked illegally. I have also forwarded your concern across the street to the powers that be at McGrath Acura of Chicago. I am at the Lexus location and do walk that way upon closing, however at that hour most vehicles are already gone. What time did you come by? I would like to go out at that time today and make some notes and take some pics. We will get it sorted out, I assure you.
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Permalink Reply by Will on
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Can we get a good citizen award here for John Douglass from McGrath Lexus?
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He seriously deserves it! Checking in and replying immediately shows he's truly concerned about public safety around his place of business.
Will V. said:Can we get a good citizen award here for John Douglass from McGrath Lexus?
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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on
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It is in the works.... We talked about doing something when it first happened.
Will V. said:Can we get a good citizen award here for John Douglass from McGrath Lexus?
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John - thanks for looking into it. I usually ride through the area between 4 and 5pm. I am not talking about the vehicles that are parked legally in the marked parking spots but the ones that will be in between the bollards as well as on the striped buffer. There are usually numerous vehicles parked illegally and some in such as way as to block a turning car driver's visibility going into or out of Acura. Again, John - thanks for your concern.
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