CTA to pay $5.45 million in bicyclist's 2007 death

By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporter November 15, 2012

The CTA will pay $5.45 million to the estate of a Chicago woman who was hit and killed by a bus while she attempted to remove her bicycle from a bike rack on the vehicle, under a settlement the transit agency board approved Wednesday.

Ludwika Szynalik, 59, was taking her bike off the rack on the front of the No. 152 Addison bus she had been riding on Dec. 31, 2007, when the driver accelerated and dragged her more than 100 feet, CTA general counsel Karen Seimetz said. The transit board met in executive session to approve the settlement, which ends a lawsuit Szynalik's family filed in Cook County Circuit Court in 2008.

Images from bus cameras showed Szynalik, a housekeeper and mother of two adult sons, exit the bus at Addison Street and Neenah Avenue and start to remove her bike from the rack, officials said.

"The bus driver proceeded to move the bus forward before she was able to retrieve her bike, and the decedent went under the bus and was dragged,'' Seimetz said.

Szynalik, a resident of the Northwest Side, died several hours later at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

Martin Stark, the CTA driver, was cited by police for negligent driving and failure to exhibit due care for a pedestrian on the roadway, officials said.

A CTA and Chicago police investigation determined that Stark was negligent and should have seen Szynalik, CTA spokesman Brian Steele said. Stark was immediately put on an unpaid suspension and later dismissed from his job, Steele said. Stark had only about one year of experience driving buses, the CTA said at the time.

"The CTA for five years has denied liability on this case. They've now finally done the right thing,'' said attorney Tim Cavanagh, who represented Szynalik's estate.

The CTA revised its operating procedures for bus drivers after the accident to ensure that close attention is paid to riders who use the bus-mounted bike racks, officials said.

In addition, a public safety campaign by the CTA and the Active Transportation Alliance was launched to remind bicycling transit commuters to exit the bus by the front door and let the driver know that they will be removing their bicycle from the rack.

Separately, the CTA board approved a $450,000 settlement to resolve a grievance filed by the bus driver's union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, over compensation during training to learn new bus routes. Under the agreement, 2,800 bus drivers will each receive $161.

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