8 year old victim of a hit and run

I am shaking with sadness and anger and heartbreak for this child's family.

Trib article here.

 

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on June 18, 2011 at 2:19am

This is how I am feeling as well. My heart breaks for her family.

Reading the description of the crash has me in tears. Is there something that we can do to reach out to her parents?


Holly said:

Now I feel even more enraged and saddened about this crash. Thanks for sharing that article, Ethan.

Permalink Reply by Bike Bloke on June 18, 2011 at 6:10am

Exactly how I feel, too. Why on earth should this outrage be couched in terms of 'accident'?

The Sun-Times link is a good find, and very appropriate.

Bicycle Poet said:

Yes for speed bumps on high-traffic/risk residential streets.

 

Distracted driving, which I feel is most likely what ended this 8-year's life, is not an accident.  Sun-Times writer Art Golab, who covered this story and used the term "accident" twice within it, needs to read his fellow staff writer's recent published Sun-Times article on the self-absorption of distracted driving.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 18, 2011 at 4:21pm

Thanks for the excellent and very relevant article link. However, I do not agree that speed humps are a universal solution to this kind of problem. I've encountered too many drivers like those James Baum describes, those who tend to speed up between humps, often falling into aggressive road raging behavior, and slowing down as little as possible for the humps. The way that speed humps are implemented in Chicago often does a double whammy on cyclists - causing more road rage behavior AND making the ride tougher on cyclists, especially those riding with little kids or cargo.

 

Bicycle Poet said:

Yes for speed bumps on high-traffic/risk residential streets.

 

Distracted driving, which I feel is most likely what ended this 8-year's life, is not an accident.  Sun-Times writer Art Golab, who covered this story and used the term "accident" twice within it, needs to read his fellow staff writer's recent published Sun-Times article on the self-absorption of distracted driving.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 19, 2011 at 12:22am

Not only do the Speed Humps tend to cause even worse behavior amongst the very worst agressive drivers but I have to believe they help cause the proliferation of larger SUV-type vehicles.  

 

My wife owns a Mazda Miata.  It's almost undrivable in this city with the huge speed bumps.  The bottom drags on many of the massive speed bumps in the road that they are building today.   I can see a person who owns a small car justifying their decision to buy a larger SUV just because of the obstacle off-road coarses we are building in our residential streets and alleys (or creating because the almost total lack of pavement maintenance.  I really see why people buy these off-road things because the .roads in this city are rapidly becoming NOT-roads. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 19, 2011 at 3:00am

I see the worst road rage where humps are tall enough (or damaged enough) to cause damage to a fair number of cars, because many cars bottom out even at very low speeds on some of these humps.  The leading edge of some humps has been damaged by snow plows, to the point of creating small vertical surfaces, so it's almost like driving up on a low curb.

 

Evanston's Hinman Ave. is one of the few local implementations I've seen where speed humps serve their stated purpose of slowing down traffic without creating road rage or making life more difficult for cyclists.  The heights of the humps there is lower than what we have in Chicago, and the slope is exactly right.  Drivers are forced to slow down, but their cars aren't damaged by the humps.  The slope is easy on cyclists, and seems to have a more plow-friendly leading edge, so they don't seem to suffer the same degree of damage that I've seen on some Chicago humps.  Kudos to Evanston for getting it right on Hinman.


James Baum said:

Not only do the Speed Humps tend to cause even worse behavior amongst the very worst agressive drivers but I have to believe they help cause the proliferation of larger SUV-type vehicles.  

 

My wife owns a Mazda Miata.  It's almost undrivable in this city with the huge speed bumps.  The bottom drags on many of the massive speed bumps in the road that they are building today.   I can see a person who owns a small car justifying their decision to buy a larger SUV just because of the obstacle off-road coarses we are building in our residential streets and alleys (or creating because the almost total lack of pavement maintenance.  I really see why people buy these off-road things because the .roads in this city are rapidly becoming NOT-roads. 

Permalink Reply by Vilda on December 2, 2011 at 7:50am
i've seen this shmuck at my job downtown (1st district) will post his pic when i get down there and make employees aware. Anybody near jackson/state he's usually around.
Permalink Reply by Richard Jarrow on December 2, 2011 at 7:53am

It's terrible that anyone would hit-and-run.  Regardless of anything else..  But did this SUV drive up on the sidewalk and hit this girl?  That's not mentioned in the article.  If this girl was 8 years old and riding in the street then she wasn't following biking rules.   I'm just trying to understand how this happened...

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on December 2, 2011 at 8:00am

Maybe run him over if you see him again as that is the only punishment that I feel would be proper. What a lowlife- hit and run is bad enough when it is an adult, but a child? People like that make me sick.

Gabe said:

i've seen this shmuck at my job downtown (1st district) will post his pic when i get down there and make employees aware. Anybody near jackson/state he's usually around.
Permalink Reply by Michelle Gregorek on December 2, 2011 at 2:08pm

Richard?  I am getting tired of you.  But, but, but..you want to somehow twist this to be the young girls fault, or to look for her fault?  I really want to say a word that starts with f, followed by you.  With the "biking rules" you want to always refer to, she does not HAVE to ride on the sidewalk, but the law allows her to.  (God, please don't allow me to become hateful as I age.)

To the community....if my response is offensive, I am sorry. 



Richard Jarrow said:

It's terrible that anyone would hit-and-run.  Regardless of anything else..  But did this SUV drive up on the sidewalk and hit this girl?  That's not mentioned in the article.  If this girl was 8 years old and riding in the street then she wasn't following biking rules.   I'm just trying to understand how this happened...

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on December 2, 2011 at 4:04pm

hahahah


h' said:

Reframe, Michelle.

This is an opportunity to get someone who joined an "online bicycle community" just to vent their negative and borderline hostile feelings towards cyclists to consider getting a bike and using it for transportation.

Can we rise to the occasion?

Permalink Reply by Mike Keating on December 3, 2011 at 4:47am

That Sun Times story, in a way, adds insult to horrible injury for this family. I represented a family whose son was killed by a speeding truck in a parking lot near their apartment. It turned out the residents repeatedly complained of dangerous driving. Even worse, when the parking lot was repaved the engineers offered to put in speed bumps for $1800. The apartment complex said no. In working on the case I learned a lot about traffic control/traffic calming measures. What is interesting is what experts call "human factors." One of the human factors involving speed bumps is not only do they literally slow the cars down, but they also act as a visual and audible warning to drivers to SLOW DOWN. These warning can be as effective, if not more so, that the actual slowing of the vehicle. The warnings trigger the brain to be careful and be cautious. It's hard not to wonder if this collision could have been avoided had the city put in speed bumps.



Active Transportation Alliance said:

This story does not get any better: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/5972390-417/neighbors-of-girl-8-...

 

Our best thoughts to her family and friends. Our crash response team will most likely be reaching out to local police and alderman.

 

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Richard Jarrow on December 3, 2011 at 5:02am

I'm going to respond to both H and Michelle here..

First off, I'm not making this about blaming the 8 year old girl.   But when I was 8 years old I was not allowed to ride my bike in the street.   8 year olds have no concept of traffic, they're unaware of their surroundings and won't take into consideration the consequences of their actions.   I suspect most folks here would enforce the same rules on their young children.   The article specifically says the only witness to the accident were her other young friends.  No parental supervision, no adult to watch them - regardless of what the law 'allows' her to do, it was just a couple 8 year olds playing traffic.   That said, does this in any way reduce the blame on a hit and run driver?  Heck no!  Does it negate any sympathy I have for a family who lost their child in a stupid, senseless, entirely preventable tragic accident?  No, absolutely not.

H - I have joined online bicycling communities (not hiding and using my real name... H) because I have long felt it personally necessary to speak up in favor of better bicyclist safety and stricter adherence to the existing traffic law.   Many folks here will speak well of following the traffic signs, but this is not what people see when in traffic.  The hostile feelings cyclists have towards drivers in traffic is outrageous, as if they believe bicycles are the apex of transportation and everyone else should just get out of their way.  Now, does this mean I don't support bicycle transportation for various economic, health and traffic congestion reasons?  No, I fully support bike lanes and such in traffic.  And I'm not here to just vent or argue.. Debate, however, is a healthy and natural way to find solutions   I will challenge people to explain and justify their attitudes and actions, as I would expect to do for others.  



h' said:

Reframe, Michelle.

This is an opportunity to get someone who joined an "online bicycle community" just to vent their negative and borderline hostile feelings towards cyclists to consider getting a bike and using it for transportation.

Can we rise to the occasion?

Michelle Gregorek said:

Richard?  I am getting tired of you.  But, but, but..you want to somehow twist this to be the young girls fault, or to look for her fault?  I really want to say a word that starts with f, followed by you.  With the "biking rules" you want to always refer to, she does not HAVE to ride on the sidewalk, but the law allows her to.  (God, please don't allow me to become hateful as I age.)

To the community....if my response is offensive, I am sorry. 




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