What happened in the Dearborn bike lane yesterday?

Yesterday I was heading North on the Dearborn bike lane when I saw... something.  It was between Madison and Wacker (I don't remember which intersection exactly, and it wasn't at the corner, it was closer to the middle of the block), and there were emergency vehicles.  I exited the bike lane to take the street, because there were three emergency people crouched around someone laying in the lane.  Their bodies were blocking the face, but there was a white sheet over the person.  There was another person standing off to the side, who didn't look overly upset.  I saw one bike but there could have been another somewhere.

Any ideas?   The bike lane always feels so safe.  I am wondering if perhaps it was a pedestrian/cyclist collision?  And if so, I don't know which was which.

I hope everyone will be ok :(

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on October 30, 2013 at 4:40am

what time?  I did not  hear of anything.  About 550 pm I saw a guy had apparently fallen on the lane right at Kinzie. He was riding in front of me but got a light ahead. I asked if he was alright and he waved me on. He seemed more embarrassed than injured. I don't know how or why he went down.  The white sheet that you describe is ominous. 

Permalink Reply by Christine (5.0) on October 30, 2013 at 4:42am

It was between 5:30 and 6:00pm.

Glad the guy you saw slip was ok.

This other woman saw it with me, she has one of those fancy helmets, and it had an argyle pattern on the back.  She said she doesn't post on the Chainlink, but reads it sometimes.  Maybe she'll see this and know better which intersection it was/what time it was.

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on October 30, 2013 at 4:54am

For some reason pedestrians simply don't look when suddenly walking in the bike lane as I have experienced. Would not be surprised if a speeding cyclist and mindless pedestrian met in a most spectacular collision.

Permalink Reply by David Barish on October 30, 2013 at 5:02am


I got to the lane about 545 at Washington and did not see anything you describe. I assume your accident was between Madison and Washington.


Christine (5.0) said:

It was between 5:30 and 6:00pm.

Glad the guy you saw slip was ok.

This other woman saw it with me, she has one of those fancy helmets, and it had an argyle pattern on the back.  She said she doesn't post on the Chainlink, but reads it sometimes.  Maybe she'll see this and know better which intersection it was/what time it was.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 30, 2013 at 5:03am

This was posted about 6:00 p.m. on Twitter. I haven't heard anything else about it.

17h

Just saw what looked like the aftermath of a horrible crash in at Washington. Anyone know what happened? :(

Permalink Reply by Duppie on October 30, 2013 at 5:16am

John Greenfield over @ Streetsblog Chicago says that Police has no record of a crash.

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/10/30/todays-headlines-196/#disqus_...



Anne Alt said:

This was posted about 6:00 p.m. on Twitter. I haven't heard anything else about it.

17h

Just saw what looked like the aftermath of a horrible crash in at Washington. Anyone know what happened? :(

Permalink Reply by Christine (5.0) on October 30, 2013 at 7:28am

Because I'm a horrible person, my thinking on the matter was: Of the two people I saw, if it is a cyclist and a pedestrian, I hope the pedestrian is the one on the ground.  That will show 'em, for walking in the bike lane.

I'm thinking now maybe it was a cabbie?

https://twitter.com/cbschicagorob/status/395321013967134720

h' $550 said:

Of course no pedestrian ever gets hit by a car, or trips on a curb, or just collapses due to a medical problem, so with 100% certainty we can say that they were hit by someone on a bicycle.

Permalink Reply by Abby Crisostomo on October 30, 2013 at 12:17pm

Hi Christine, nice to meet you...I'm the one who was with you when we spotted the accident (and the one who tweeted)...just joined Chainlink! In any event, the explanation that it was a cab that hit a pedestrian seems to make more sense, considering how far back from the intersection the person was laying. Perhaps the bicycle that was parked next to the scene was just a bystander's (it certainly didn't look damaged). I do hope that they were ok, as they were very tightly wrapped up on the stretcher. I don't remember seeing a cab pulled over nearby, so it seems the cabbie got away?

Christine (5.0) said:

It was between 5:30 and 6:00pm.

Glad the guy you saw slip was ok.

This other woman saw it with me, she has one of those fancy helmets, and it had an argyle pattern on the back.  She said she doesn't post on the Chainlink, but reads it sometimes.  Maybe she'll see this and know better which intersection it was/what time it was.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on October 30, 2013 at 1:46pm

Thanks for the update, Abby, and welcome to The Chainlink.

Permalink Reply by Rich S on October 31, 2013 at 3:33am

He says emergency crews were already there. 



h' $550 said:

Did some really witness the cab they were in hit a pedestrian, and instead of calling 911 all they did was send out a cryptic tweet? We're all doomed.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Lewert on October 31, 2013 at 6:40am

I rode past just as the fire truck got there. There was a woman laying in the bike lane and the person standing over said she hit her head on the pavement, but didn't say what happened. It initially, to me at least, looked like it was fairly minor, but because she hit her head, the fireman said "let's stabilize her head, bring over the collar"

Permalink Reply by Abby Crisostomo on October 31, 2013 at 7:03am

Glad to hear that it looked "fairly minor." She was wrapped up so tight, I couldn't tell how bad it was. 

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