Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on September 3, 2011 at 2:44am

So someone died?

h' said:

FYI, my wishes for when a car rolls over on me:

 

-Share your feelings about it, plant my ashes at the base of a tree sapling so I can become a tree (do it at night-- it's illegal), place a ghost bike . . .

 

-have a big sale and sell all my stuff to benefit West Town Bikes

 

-Discuss what can be taken away from however my death occurred, examine and question the details, share fears and relevant experience like a week or two later

 

-nitpick each-other to death after maybe like a 4-week waiting period.

 

 

 

No wait-- just skip that last part.

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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on September 3, 2011 at 2:50am

I doubt "flip my car" was on the driver's list.

Carly said:

Of course the driver of the motor vehicle did not intend to hurt the cyclist.  The driver did not say to herself, "there's an easy one to knock out".  However, all drivers of all motor vehicles should handle their cars the same way they would handle a loaded gun- with EXTREME caution (because both are just as highly accident prone).  Cars are deadly.  Imagine if a crowded jumbo jet crashed and killed everyone on board every single week for 52 weeks- that's how many people cars kill every year.  (I read that info out of a book called "the art of urban cycling").  Someone pressed the gas pedal down farther than it should've gone, Angela.  Someone made a decision to cheat the rules.  Unless this is a freak case of the car driving itself, it is the handler of the car that is to be put into question.      

Angela Dean said:

Like I said, I'm sure the person didn't intend to flip a car on a cyclists or pedestrian or anyone, and to have people put up another "anti car" post annoys the heck out of me. That's all. Be safe.


Daniel G said:

Angela Dean, you have a unique way of seeing things, to be sure. It's true that we don't yet know who is at fault here. But we know who is probably at fault, and we definitely know who was going way too god-damned fast to not flip their Toyota on a minor city street. You feel like folks are rushing to blame the driver, but there are pretty good reasons for that. If you want to press the point that "OMG BIKES CAN HURT PPL TOO!", (a truth acknowledged and restated here many hundreds of times), almost every other thread would be a better venue than this one.

h' said:

I've dropped a line to a few reporters to see if there's any way to get some follow-up here.

Oh, good. It's not good to know so little about this catastrophic an accident.



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Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on September 4, 2011 at 9:09am

The Chicago Tribune has an update on this collision. The driver was apparently quite intoxicated. The bicyclist is apparently in bad shape.

 

-jbn

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Permalink Reply by Dan Ciskey on September 4, 2011 at 1:26pm

.201% BAC. Can't say I'm too broken up about the prospect of this messing up her wedding.

 

Really sad for the bicyclist. Hope he pulls through.

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Permalink Reply by Davo on September 5, 2011 at 5:07am

those medians get pretty had to miss when you've had "3-6 tall drinks"

Im guessing she only remembers the first drink, one in the middle, and the last one.

 

disgusting.

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Permalink Reply by Jason W on September 6, 2011 at 3:47am

I'm not surprised she was drunk.  This is why you don't defend these idiots Angela. I hope the cyclist pulls through. Frankly I can't say I give a shit about the driver...

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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 6, 2011 at 4:53am

Sadly, maybe this will help Alderman Burnett's request to remove the median planters in order to make room for bike lanes along Madison Street.

 

http://gridchicago.com/2011/talking-transportation-with-27th-ward-a...

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 6, 2011 at 7:28am

I agree that Madison doesn't need four lanes and two are plenty. However, from my (limited) experience in these matters, I predict the argument for "needing" four lanes is: When events at the United Center end and thousands of people jump into their cars, even four lanes are not enough!

 

It's the same kind of mentality as designing shopping mall parking lots for Christmas season crowds, planning for peak usage only, and who cares what it looks like the other 330 days a year.

h' said:

The planters are traffic-calming and make streets like Madison more bikeable and less deadly.

Is there really a stretch of Madison that has planters that needs 4 lanes of automobile traffic?

 Just frikkin' lose a car lane, end of story.

Mark said:

Sadly, maybe this will help Alderman Burnett's request to remove the median planters in order to make room for bike lanes along Madison Street.

 

http://gridchicago.com/2011/talking-transportation-with-27th-ward-a...

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Permalink Reply by Mark on September 6, 2011 at 9:25am

Madison is not a four-lane street in this section.  The medians on Madison are narrower than all of the standard planters later installed on 4-lane streets.  As a result, the one driving lane in each direction is narrower than a normal two-lane street, leaving less room for cyclists.  The medians also create blind intersections along this street and create a hazard for turning cars not seeing approaching cyclists - or cars.

 

The only reason these planters were installed in 1996 was to make delegates to the 1996 Democratic Convention feel more comfortable venturing out to the West Side back then.  The City would not install median planters like this now.

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Permalink Reply by Davo on September 6, 2011 at 10:32am

I would argue that if there were reduced lanes and car traffic "sufferd" during events, then maybe people would try a different transportation mode to get to these events.

Michelle said:

I agree that Madison doesn't need four lanes and two are plenty. However, from my (limited) experience in these matters, I predict the argument for "needing" four lanes is: When events at the United Center end and thousands of people jump into their cars, even four lanes are not enough!

 

It's the same kind of mentality as designing shopping mall parking lots for Christmas season crowds, planning for peak usage only, and who cares what it looks like the other 330 days a year.

h' said:

The planters are traffic-calming and make streets like Madison more bikeable and less deadly.

Is there really a stretch of Madison that has planters that needs 4 lanes of automobile traffic?

 Just frikkin' lose a car lane, end of story.

Mark said:

Sadly, maybe this will help Alderman Burnett's request to remove the median planters in order to make room for bike lanes along Madison Street.

 

http://gridchicago.com/2011/talking-transportation-with-27th-ward-a...

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