Virginia Murray, 25 Was Killed Riding a Divvy After Being Hit By a Truck 07/01/16


On Streetsblog:

A female bike rider was critically injured by a truck driver this morning at about 9:10 a.m. at Belmont Avenue and Sacramento Avenue in Avondale, according to Officer José Estrada from Police News Affairs. The cyclist was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, Estrada said.

According to an employee of a nearby business, the bike rider had been using a Divvy bike-share vehicle.

This appears to be the second case of a bike-share rider being critically injured in Chicago. In November 2014, medical student Travis Persaud was struck by two different drivers while riding a Divvy bike on Sunday, November 22, at 2:50 a.m. on Lake Shore Drive. He suffered a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder, and was placed in a medically induced coma. Family members believed he had been trying to cross Lake Shore Drive on his way home. Persaud’s current medical condition is unknown.

Full Article: http://chi.streetsblog.org/2016/07/01/police-divvy-rider-critically...

Update on Chicago Tribune: 

A 20-year-old woman riding a Divvy bike who was killed Friday morning in a crash involving a flat-bed truck in the city's Avondale neighborhood is believed to be the first person killed riding a bike-sharing bicycle in the United States.

The crash happened about 9 a.m. near Sacramento and Belmont avenues, said Officer Jose Estrada, a police spokesman, citing preliminary information. The truck and the woman were both going north on Sacramento, when they both turned east at Belmont and collided, Estrada said.

Initially, the woman was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center but later was pronounced dead, Estrada said.

Full Story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-female-bicycli...

Our thoughts are with Virginia Murray's family and friends. 

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 2, 2016 at 5:12am
"Is it me, or is Chicago just getting too crazy to bike these days?

That sounds like a good discussion topic to start.

mweerd, the answer is probably yes. Especially in summer when everything is happening. Yes, being more scared happens in cycling when we have close calls. It doesn't mean we should stop cycling. It just makes us more aware and tempers us to realize that cycling in the big city is a serious mode of transportation that has to evolve and be improved with bicycle infrastructure improvements and lanes throughout the city.

And wherever you must move to in the future. Good luck and keep cycling!
Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on July 1, 2016 at 10:46am

Long vehicles when turning will go as far away from the curb as possible yet the tail wheels still might go up on the curb or sidewalk.  You can't be beside a long vehicle when they are turning.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on July 2, 2016 at 8:04am

It is sometimes referred to as "in-tracking" and every vehicle with more than one axle does it, including bicycles.  The rear wheels do not track the path of the front wheels. The rear wheels tracks inside of the front wheel.  The longer the vehicle, the more pronounced it is.

Permalink Reply by Renee Patten on July 1, 2016 at 1:49pm

This is just devastating. Co-workers and I were talking at lengths about this at work today. Just months ago the news was going around about how there were zero deaths on bike share since the program's inceptions across the country and now this... Chicago just can't catch a break, and right before a holiday weekend where there there is bound to be too many other killings. 

I ride my touring bike and have a Divvy membership and I always feel so much safer on the Divvy...

I posted on my FB today, hoping Chicago friends that ride would see: Everyone on a bike: Just stay away from semis - take the lane so they can't pass you or don't even attempt to pass a truck, just stay many, many feet behind them and do your best to stay safe this weekend. Advocate for your own safety.

I used to feel bad about taking the lane so a semi couldn't pass me, I refuse to feel bad about it anymore. 

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 1, 2016 at 1:54pm
Bravo Renee, that's the way to ride! Stay safe!
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 2, 2016 at 12:32am

I ride my own bikes as well as Divvy. Getting kinda tired of people stereotyping about Divvy riders because I see a full spectrum of skill levels out there among people riding Divvy.

I am not making any judgment about who was at fault in this tragic crash.

Yes, we need to build more awareness of how to stay safe around trucks. They have HUGE blind spots on the sides. Some of them have a reminder sticker on the back along the lines of: "If you can't see me in the side mirrors, I can't see you."  I've driven large rental trucks and found it true.
http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2008/11/30/what-cyclists-need-t...

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 1, 2016 at 4:05pm
https://m.facebook.com/abc7chicago/

Partial surveillance video of the incident. (Caution. Hard to watch)
Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on July 2, 2016 at 8:45am

Everyone should watch this, to see how it happens.   Bike defensively: don't pass moving vehicles on the right at intersections.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on July 2, 2016 at 10:07pm
Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 3, 2016 at 4:08am
I didn't want to post the abc7 direct link to the clip because it has all the 'haters' awful comments just below it. I don't want to put the 'haters' garbage on this community site. I think we are going through enough right now.
Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 3, 2016 at 4:40am
Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on July 3, 2016 at 5:47am
Sorry Brittney, copied and pasted for you. :-)

Doug Hartley

So many ignorant, bike-hater comments on this post after after a horrific, fatal, preventable event. So much automobile hubris. So much animus toward sharing the road. So much lack of automobile self awareness. Truckers could say the same thing about vehicles smaller than them ("I hate them and they shouldn't be on the road with us!"), but the owners of the smaller vehicles aren't removing themselves from the road, are they? This loss and others like it, when looked at intelligently, calls for road safety improvements, education, and a heavy heart for the falability of humanity that is much too slow to correct itself on matters such as this.

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