Fulton / Milwaukee / Clinton

Does anyone else experience a complete lack of awareness (or maybe its respect) for the traffic, both vehicular and non-vehicular, at the intersection of Fulton & Milwaukee? It seems like for the most part, cyclists traveling north on Clinton hardly stop at the stop sign. Not sure if that's because it's a small sign and not visible or simply because they are going at a higher speed coming from that direction.

I'm amazed that there aren't more accidents at that intersection as it has poor visibility and there's high traffic especially after-work rush hour. I  travel up Milwaukee and make a left onto Fulton every day and am constantly shocked how many cyclists just coast right thru the intersection.

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Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on July 10, 2019 at 11:20am

That is the strangest intersection I've traveled over the years and have also always wondered how I never see anything calamitous throughout all times of the day.

Maybe it's just got it's own strange voodoo of sorts and we should just let it be regardless of how tricky it all seems.

Permalink Reply by David P. on July 11, 2019 at 2:42am

I've started going through this intersection on my way home (Harrison/Clinton is nicer than Jackson/Dearborn) and don't disagree with you. Few people on bikes seem to even yield to anybody else - I'd probably find it aggravating if I were in a car. 

Permalink Reply by Yaniv on July 11, 2019 at 6:18am

I find it aggravating as a cyclist.

Permalink Reply by Gary Adams on July 11, 2019 at 4:42am

I used to ride through there daily. I changed my route to avoid it, sadly, because of other cyclists. 

Permalink Reply by ad on July 12, 2019 at 11:10am

As others have noted, that has to easily be one of the weirdest intersections to ride through.  I don't just blindly run it, but I have to admit I don't stop and just queue all the time because cars yielding the right of way to cyclists (and even pedestrians) is weird with the sightlines at that intersection.  

Permalink Reply by ketoguychicago on July 12, 2019 at 2:40pm

This is a great example and it was good of you to share this Yaniv.

One of the most important things we can do from a safety perspective is abiding by the rules of the road, and right up there with problems in this regard is non-compliance with stop signs.  The problem is beyond this intersection, but it is a unique example because the work that went into creating this intersection to help legitimize cycling's rights and rules of the road by creating the two-way bike lane along with the stop signs for it and the rest of the intersection and the other lanes through and beyond the intersection.

Do people run stop signs there and elsewhere and get away with it?  Sure, and like with people who don't wear seatbelts in cars, it usually works out just fine.  Except when it doesn't.

Then it is too late to put the seat belt on or to unrun the stop sign or whatever the risky behavior was. People who break the rules of the road and are alive can easily argue that breaking the rules is fine, with themselves and others who also do so as great examples.  There's circular self-teaching of this bad and risky behavior which includes also one-way streets, shoaling pedestrians, riding in truck blind spots, etc  The safer play is to buckle up, and to stop at stop signs.  Don't be the person who has been wrong about all this, but can't tell us because it's too late.  Again, people get away with it, until they don't. 

Permalink Reply by ad on July 15, 2019 at 4:58am

Speaking for myself, I don't strictly abide by the rules of the road at this intersection, and practice more of an Idaho stop mentality when safe, because this intersection was clearly NOT designed with either pedestrians or cyclists in mind.  It's a total cluster, with so much pedestrian and car traffic interacting now with all the development that cars start getting frustrated and going when they do not have a clear right-of-way in the intersections.  

This is the perfect example of a spot where I ride in a way necessary to ensure my safety, which may mean that I roll a stop, etc.  That doesn't mean that I ride recklessly, and I yield the right of way when appropriate, but it does mean I will not strictly follow the rules of the road when as a vulnerable road user it will make me less safe here to do so.     

Permalink Reply by ketoguychicago on July 15, 2019 at 7:28am

For sure ad.  The whole thing is messy, and may even cause things to be worse elsewhere.  These spots and others seem to give rise to improvisational approaches with respect to bike lanes and other rules, and so car and truck drivers too substitute their own analysis about what's best at large or for themselves.    

What I mean is, two wheels or four, people have equally heartfelt justifications for their roadway maneuvers.  One party offers that the other party should merely do x or y and it would work, but that isn't the overall design, which is sort of a three-parter of design + rider x + driver y.  

Where we are also at risk, present company excluded, in that the for my own safety idea has people riding the wrong way on one-way streets, driving home intoxicated instead of waiting for an absolute stranger to give them a cab ride, avoiding getting tangled in a life jacket so they can't swim, not wanting the weight of a helmet to contribute to a neck injury in an accident, speeding to get home before dark or stay ahead of the rain and do forth.  This intersection and efforts on the part of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers to navigate it probably won't deescalate it all. Re-routing, even if further, is what I try to do elsewhere anyhow but this is a tough spot to avoid when having to be somewhere near there are get over all the other things in the area. 

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