The Chainlink

Soooo...they just installed these making Humboldt Drive from 2 to 1 lanes at various places. I experimented (Allstate Mayhem style) to get across and see if any one would stop. HA,Ha. after 25-30 cars and my exagerated movements to cross while walking my bike was met only by someone talking on the phone slamming on the brakes then waving me on. I'll add that several school buses went by and even a police car that didn't stop.

 

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I wonder if it just takes a while to catch on.  They have one of these in front of the VA Hospital on Damen.  It's been my experience that 9 out of 10 cars do stop.

Hopefully the message will sink in - soon.

Just curious but does this make riding on Humboldt Drive any better?  

 

I rarely go thru the park but I've heard that Humboldt Drive isn't the best for biking due to motorists driving fast and treating it as a 2 lane.  

What's just as bad is people who stop for the crosswalk when nobody is in sight!

Reminds me of the annual(?) CPD crosswalk sting.  I've seen them do it on Belmont and I found it pretty hilarious.  It goes like this: plainclothes cop begins crossing at crosswalk, and if car doesn't stop, plainclothes gives signal, and in seconds lights and sirens are on the scene, offender pulled over and ticketed.  Repeat ad nauseum.  Lots of pissed off cabbies that day, I'll tell ya.  

Those signs got installed a while back on Wells near Walter Peyton College Prep. Most people seem to stop for pedestrians in that location.

It won't be morning for a few hours, but if you want to see what it looks like when drivers obey, and/or if you're a Beatles fan, lookie here:

http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/

 

There has been a similar crossing on Harrison by UIC for about 2 years (actually 2 crossings) and motorists do tend to respect the sign unless they're unusually distracted (as opposed to the usual level of distraction).

 

I don't ride on Humboldt drive as it is crazy, besides you can easily ride on the trail through the park.

Rich S said:

Just curious but does this make riding on Humboldt Drive any better?  

 

I rarely go thru the park but I've heard that Humboldt Drive isn't the best for biking due to motorists driving fast and treating it as a 2 lane.  

Just FYI that those "Stop for Pedestrian" signs on Wells south of Division were actually bought by Cornerstone Center and are not permanent signs, but rolling signs, that are put out every morning by Cornerstone staffers around 6:45 am, and then taken in some time in the evening. I stopped and spoke with a staffer one morning and he said they had taken the initiative to do that after a grandmother picking up her grandchild from childcare at Cornerstone was struck on the street recently and severely injured. Cornerstone purchased the signs and have the city's approval to put them out.

 

That stretch of road needs so much work. There's a senior housing center, two high schools (Payton and an alternative HS within Cornerstone), a public elemetary school, and a daycare center, all within two blocks, and yet cars speed through like it's an expressway. I haven't had a chance to follow up on all this, but I'm hoping this stretch is on CDOT's radar to put something more permanent in to help pedestrians and prevent future crashes. They have put in nice new pedestrian islands (like the one pictured above on Humboldt) on North Avenue and Halsted, not too far away, so hopefully we'll be seeing many, many more soon.

Duppie said:

Those signs got installed a while back on Wells near Walter Peyton College Prep. Most people seem to stop for pedestrians in that location.

Thanks, I did not know that.


I agree that Wells can get a little crazy, In addition to the speeding, there is the neverending line of parents dropping of their kids and the steady stream of bicyclists. 

Lately I've taken to riding Franklin to Orleans to Sedgwick going north in the afternoon, just to avoid Wells, which sucks from Oak all the way to Lincoln.


Michelle Stenzel said:

Just FYI that those "Stop for Pedestrian" signs on Wells south of Division were actually bought by Cornerstone Center and are not permanent signs, but rolling signs, that are put out every morning by Cornerstone staffers around 6:45 am, and then taken in some time in the evening. I stopped and spoke with a staffer one morning and he said they had taken the initiative to do that after a grandmother picking up her grandchild from childcare at Cornerstone was struck on the street recently and severely injured. Cornerstone purchased the signs and have the city's approval to put them out.

 

That stretch of road needs so much work. There's a senior housing center, two high schools (Payton and an alternative HS within Cornerstone), a public elemetary school, and a daycare center, all within two blocks, and yet cars speed through like it's an expressway. I haven't had a chance to follow up on all this, but I'm hoping this stretch is on CDOT's radar to put something more permanent in to help pedestrians and prevent future crashes. They have put in nice new pedestrian islands (like the one pictured above on Humboldt) on North Avenue and Halsted, not too far away, so hopefully we'll be seeing many, many more soon.

Duppie said:

Those signs got installed a while back on Wells near Walter Peyton College Prep. Most people seem to stop for pedestrians in that location.

Duppie,

I've incorporated Franklin/Orleans into my return commute as well.  Doesn't hurt that it passes Twin Anchors (great ribs) either!



Duppie said:

Thanks, I did not know that.


I agree that Wells can get a little crazy, In addition to the speeding, there is the neverending line of parents dropping of their kids and the steady stream of bicyclists. 

Lately I've taken to riding Franklin to Orleans to Sedgwick going north in the afternoon, just to avoid Wells, which sucks from Oak all the way to Lincoln.


Michelle Stenzel said:

Just FYI that those "Stop for Pedestrian" signs on Wells south of Division were actually bought by Cornerstone Center and are not permanent signs, but rolling signs, that are put out every morning by Cornerstone staffers around 6:45 am, and then taken in some time in the evening. I stopped and spoke with a staffer one morning and he said they had taken the initiative to do that after a grandmother picking up her grandchild from childcare at Cornerstone was struck on the street recently and severely injured. Cornerstone purchased the signs and have the city's approval to put them out.

 

That stretch of road needs so much work. There's a senior housing center, two high schools (Payton and an alternative HS within Cornerstone), a public elemetary school, and a daycare center, all within two blocks, and yet cars speed through like it's an expressway. I haven't had a chance to follow up on all this, but I'm hoping this stretch is on CDOT's radar to put something more permanent in to help pedestrians and prevent future crashes. They have put in nice new pedestrian islands (like the one pictured above on Humboldt) on North Avenue and Halsted, not too far away, so hopefully we'll be seeing many, many more soon.

Duppie said:

Those signs got installed a while back on Wells near Walter Peyton College Prep. Most people seem to stop for pedestrians in that location.

We have these ALL OVER Purdue's campus because we had something along the lines of 20 retarded freshman get nailed because they weren't paying attention.  The issue is now that the pedestrians think they can just walk out into the street with cars coming at a decent clip towards them, physics be damned.  They get all upset if you have to do a hard stop, as if we should treat crosswalks as stop signs.  For a while there, they even had crossing guards because apparently freshman are too stupid to cross the street or wait until all the cars go by.  Maybe if they turned down their music a little and realized that mommy was no longer there to hold their hand, they'd not get hit.

 

It's ridiculous.  

 

(Can you tell I'm a little jaded about these frikking signs?  On top of the fact that they installed them too close to the road so they scrape my car.)

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