Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ingrid Iliana Petersen on July 21, 2017 at 6:20am

Cheryl, I am so sorry to hear what your son is going through. I don't want to go through the details, but I was hit on my bike here in Chicago by a car in August 21 of 2015. I had many serious complications, and my situation did not change until I saw Dr.Janes Hutson at the University of Miami. Doctors from all over the world go to train from him. He is the doctor one goes to before they lose their leg. He is also one of the most humble, and kind human beings I ever met. I truly understand what you are going through. The recovery is long and requires a tremendous amount of hard work and patience. You, your family, and especially; your son are in my prayers.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on July 20, 2017 at 6:37am

I deleted the link to the video (worrying about the cyclist) but then DNAinfo just ran a big article on it:

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170720/university-village/bicycli...

In retrospect, I should have let it stand. This is a way cyclists receive news and communicate to each other. It's not always great news. It's not always great news for cyclists.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on July 20, 2017 at 6:52am

Thanks for sharing your thought process, Yasmeen. We appreciate all the work you do!

Permalink Reply by V W on July 20, 2017 at 10:17am

+1

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on July 20, 2017 at 7:06pm

I applaud your honesty in re-evaluating your decision, Yasmeen.  You are right. 

Permalink Reply by Bob A. on July 20, 2017 at 10:57am

Wow.  First off, I wish for a full and speedy recovery for the cyclist.  I'm glad that the eyewitness and the cyclist's mom were able to connect via this medium and are communicating privately.  I'm amazed at the clarity of the video (and wonder why police dash cam videos are never this clear).  James commented about cycling in a major city being dangerous.  This could have happened at any intersection of any small or mid-sized town though.  This particular stretch of road has a bike lane and traffic lights, which make it safer to bike on than many other places.  The cyclist went against a red light though, probably thinking that he would just clear the eastbound traffic and that the westbound traffic would have just cleared, allowing him to also make it through the other half of the intersection.  It's similar to what some drivers do when a train is coming and they ignore the lights, gates, and warning sounds.  This is a sober reminder to us all that at times we need to be patient and will need to come to a complete stop and wait at the light.

Permalink Reply by Bob A. on July 20, 2017 at 11:16am

*thinking that he would just clear the WESTBOUND traffic and that the EASTBOUND traffic would have just cleared, that is

Permalink Reply by James Alimar on July 20, 2017 at 2:10pm

Bob I'm also wishing both the cyclist (along with his family) AND the driver the best- it's a traumatic event for all parties involved- to be candid, while I've chosen to maintain anonymity in this matter, I did push for the facilitation of the accident video belonging to my reluctant (and extremely non-technical) friend as I reside in another state and only had the misfortune to see this collision while on the way with him and others to Midway to fly back to my home state.  Hopefully the video will bring greater awareness to both drivers and cyclists on the importance of obeying traffic laws/slowing down, while at the same impressing upon the potential real life consequences that poor decisions can manifest in (at the blink of an eye).

My friend's camera is a KDLINKS X1 Full-HD (1920x1080) dashcam that he got from Amazon over 2 years ago for about $350 at the time...I'm sure there are much better (and less expensive) cameras out there now, and am not surprised at the bad quality comprising the majority of police cams (budget challenges)...and yes in retrospect, I do agree this accident is not necessarily a 'Chicago' thing...could have happened anywhere- or in any big city...

 

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 20, 2017 at 8:10pm

Jim, I was just composing some thoughts about this. I may add more later.
In the past here on the Chainlink I believe I've posted this same type discussion question a number of times after catching some talk/rumor or news of a cyclist involved in a recent crash. It was an attempt to find out the facts of what happened, where, why and perhaps with the information other fellow cyclists could avoid a similar fate.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 21, 2017 at 5:35am

Adding to my ~2am response from yesterday; . . .
Most of the time it turns out no responses, either because the cyclist was not seriously injured and/or they wanted to be private about it. In this one, every thing happened rapidly. Because of the location and time a lot of people witnessed what happened here, plus the video and what it revealed.
If you're asking me to condemn the cyclist and proclaim him guilty here that would not be justifiably fair until we could also exactly determine what the driver was doing and the traffic signal/conditions she was dealing with. (Does anyone know if this intersection has the longer/delayed red signal so the intersection can clear?)
I know that some cyclists take bigger risks than I would but so do many drivers.
In this active/busy part of the summer cycling season everyone should take to heart Yasmeen's advice to all fellow cyclists to, "please be careful out there!" And we should all be learning and evolving as a community from these situations.

Permalink Reply by Waymond Smith on July 21, 2017 at 10:46am

If the person ran a red light what does it matter? Why does it matter what the driver was doing? That's ALMOST like asking a robbery victim " Why did you go down that street"?

Stevie Wonder can see what happened on the video! Why can't/won't cyclists take responsibility for poor decisions? It's NOT ALWAYS the fault of the motorist!

Permalink Reply by Justin Haugens on July 27, 2017 at 9:23am

There is ~10 seconds between the point of impact and when southbound vehicles make a left turn. That should squelch any questions about the driver's situation.

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