This is the first in the two-part "Is Chicago Really What Mayor Daley Says It Is?" series. The second part will deal with recycling.
One lovely summer day, I was biking up Milwaukee Avenue towards the busy "Six Corners" intersection, where Milwaukee, Damen, North and Ironic Mustache Avenues meet. I was doing my best to enjoy the sun on my back while furtively navigating the treacherous alley ‘twixt parked and moving vehicles--the modern city dweller's Scylla and Charybdis.
My technique was to drive as far as possible from the parked cars while glancing over my shoulder every 30 seconds to make sure there were no crazy drivers coming from the rear.
Just ahead of me was another biker who didn't seem quite as concerned. A middle-aged man with a long ponytail, he rode an old junker with no helmet and a relaxed, upright posture, flanked by three full-sized Collies. Two on his right and one on his left, all trotting in perfect step with the rolling bike tires. I almost forgot my safety precautions as I gaped in disbelief.
Man and dog team together occupied about 5 feet of road space in width, the outermost dog grazing the traffic lane. They seemed oblivious to the taxis that whizzed by them with mere inches to spare. To the buses that plowed through the intersection, taking red lights as suggestions. To the hordes of distracted pedestrians dumping into the street every time the light changed. How could this biker possibly think that what he was doing was a good idea?
I open with this story partially to acknowledge that there are some silly bicyclists out there. Not foolish, foolish is giving them too much credit. Just silly. It's silly to ride your bike through one of the busiest intersections on the north side flanked by three dogs. Just like it's silly to ride a bike that's got another bike frame welded on top of it so you're cruising double-decker with no way of getting off but to fall or jump. It's silly to ride a fixed gear bike that has no brakes. And it's foolish to ride any kind of bike while drunk or helmet-less.
I won’t defend the actions of bicyclists who needlessly put themselves or others in danger by practicing various forms of “extreme biking” that should really be relegated to the skate park. But it’s important to note that these fearless few are not the majority of the bikers in the city. Most of the bikers you see around town are responsible, law-abiding people who aren’t out to beat a world record or prove their masculinity but to get some exercise or get somewhere quickly. It's these bikers I'm concerned with when I ask the question, are Chicago's streets safe for biking?
As Mayor Daley puts it, we live in a "bike-friendly" city, but what does that mean exactly? As far as I can tell, it means white parallel lines next to the parking lanes on some roads and a (sort of) bikes-only path along the lakefront. Then there are all the extras that don't make biking any safer but certainly make it more pleasant--abundant bike racks in some areas, a bike center in Millenium Park that offers lockers and showers for a fee, and numerous biking organizations. Not all cities have these amenities, it’s true. And Daley isn't the only one impressed by Chicago's biking potential. "Forbes Traveler" named Chicago one of the top ten most bike-friendly cities in North America last June. Everywhere you look in the city, you see bikers, and it seems their numbers grow by the month.
And yet, something seems amiss. I live in Logan Square, where, last spring, cars killed two bicyclists in the same week (and a third was killed earlier in the year). I personally know two people who've been "doored," or struck by the doors of parked cars when people getting out didn't look to see who was coming. One of these young women was thrown into a bus, the other flipped over her handlebars. Last year, in a bitterly ironic twist, the city's effort to promote more and safer biking, "Bike to Work Week," resulted in the death of one person from dooring and the injury of another. A quick Google search will turn up scores of similar incidents.*
Bike injuries and fatalities in Chicago occur all over town and span the demographics, from older professionals who ride their bikes to work or for leisure to the most experienced of city cyclists, bike messengers. Any big city poses certain unavoidable risks to bikers. But every few months, I hear about another biker killed or seriously injured here. It was incredibly hard finding official statistics on this, but an article on the "Commute by Bike" blog (http://commutebybike.com/2008/02/07/chicago-bike-proposals/) claimed that there were 6,000 bike/motor vehicle crashes between 2001 and 2005, with 30 of those killing the bicyclist.
It's important to note that biking in the city has increased dramatically since 2005, meaning deaths and injuries are now even more prevalent--such as the three bike fatalities in my neighborhood alone last year. I don't care how safe biking is here relative to other big cities, if bicycle deaths are a common occurrence then it’s not safe enough. Surely there's more that all of us--bikers, drivers, pedestrians, and city officials--could be doing to keep biking accidents from happening and ensure that even casual bikers feel safe riding in the city.
So, going back to Daley's common bike-related bragging points, how effective are the bike lanes, truly? Well, if you're lucky enough to be using a road that has one, you may feel an illusory sense of safety, as long as drivers are respecting the white lines. But the real danger is not usually drivers, it's people getting into and out of parked cars.
Because bike lanes are drawn right up to the edge of the parking lane, bikers are at the mercy of people in parked cars, and lots of people, when they're exiting cars, seem to have their heads buried in a warm safe cavern south of the Equator. I couldn’t find any statistics on the percentage of bicycle deaths related to dooring, but in all of the articles I read that described the cause of a biker’s death in Chicago, there was only one that did not mention it.
Furthermore, let's be realistic. Many drivers in the city don't respect bicyclists or bike lanes. I can't count the number of times I've felt the wind of a speeding car brush past me so closely I could touch it if I leaned a little to the side. I was blatantly cut off by a pick-up truck blasting into a gas station who must have heard the brakes screeching on my weathered bike but didn't have the courtesy to even turn around. I nearly avoided being doored once by swerving into the driving lane--good thing there was no car next to me at the time. And I was once terrified into swerving when an SUV blared its horn two feet behind me so the girls in the front seat could mockingly inform me that my underwear was showing. And I'm someone who rides infrequently, and cautiously.
Then there are the pedestrians who dart out from between parked cars, or stand indignantly in the bike lane, refusing to move for an oncoming biker, and are thus just as guilty of making the roads unsafe as poor drivers. So bike lanes are nice, but without cooperation from drivers and pedestrians, they're not enough.
Another thing that's supposed to make the city "bike-friendly" is the Lakeshore Path. The Lakeshore Path can be great, if you live near it—and if you avoid it during all rush periods, weekend days and temperate seasons. If not, you'll find yourself dodging speeding bike racers at one extreme and wobbly training-wheeled toddlers at the other. And just as varied are the approaches to sharing the path. Some bikers are experienced and polite, signaling with the proper "on your left!" before they pass you, while others weave dangerously in and out of the crowds.
Even if everyone followed the same rules, though, the sheer volume of bikers, roller bladers and walkers (yes, some people use the bike path for meandering strolls, despite the presence of a walking path right next to it) is often too much for the path to accommodate. I'm not sure if what we need is a four-lane freeway of a bike path, clearer rules or more such paths throughout the city, but the current arrangement is frustrating and dangerous. And yet it's your best option if you don't want to get hit by a car.
So, if Chicago is such an imperfect city for biking, why do you still see so many bikes on the street, even in the dead of winter? The only explanation I can come up with is the sheer tenacity of Chicago's biking population. A lesser group would surely give up as temperatures plummeted below zero, but Chicago bikers just put on their ski masks and hit the road. Though I don't know much about organizations like the Active Transportation Alliance (http://www.biketraffic.org/), I know that they're there to help bicyclists and from what I hear, the biking community here is tightly-knit and supportive one.
It seems like, even though biking is a dangerous, often difficult task in the city, people love it enough that they're willing to take on the hardships and risks to do it. And, with a little effort, these determined riders could have a city that's truly friendly to them.
Chicago has great potential for bicycling--many of the roads are wide and traffic isn't yet as horrendous as in some of the coastal cities. And the city has obviously made efforts. What we could use from them now is more bikes-only paths throughout the city. The main barrier to this could be finding the space, but how about next to train lines, old or existing?
Another thing the city could do, and should be doing already, is to impose harsher penalties on drivers who hit bicyclists. Daley deserves credit for pushing through a fine penalty to punish drivers who endanger bicyclist's safety. And I will be the first to admit that accidents are not always the drivers' fault. But if aggressive or negligent driving is at fault in an accident that kills someone, a fine of $500--also Daley's idea, and one he was lauded for--is not enough. In my opinion this is manslaughter, or at the very least reckless endangerment, and should be charged as such. Being lenient on drivers who cause fatal accidents is not only unfair to the victims’ families. It also sends the message that the road belongs to cars, not bikes, and if a bike gets in the way of a car it's probably the biker’s fault--an opinion that was shockingly widespread in a Chicago Tribune forum on the topic.
Drivers and pedestrians need to realize that bikers have just as much claim to the roads as they do. Just acting on this assumption would greatly increase the safety of all involved. And it goes without saying that bikers should reciprocate by treating pedestrians and drivers with respect.
Until things change, I may take my bike out every now and then, but if there is room on the sidewalk I plan to share it with the walkers. I realize this may anger a lot of people, and I know it's against the law here. But in a lesser of two evils scenario, a pedestrian who’s hit by a bicycle has a much better chance of surviving the accident than a biker who’s hit by a car. And there are plenty of sidewalks that are wide enough for both pedestrians and bicyclists.
Maybe if all bikers started riding on the sidewalk, the city would finally get the message that, despite all its pretty-looking amenities, bicyclists in Chicago take their lives in their hands every time they go for a ride. And despite the size and traffic volume of the city, it doesn’t have to be that way.
If biking here were truly encouraged, were truly easy and just a little less stressful, more people might try it, and traffic volume would go down a bit, making it even safer for bikers. Nothing would make me happier than to see every able-bodied person use their bikes for transportation even 10 percent of the time. Until my hippie pipe dream is realized, however, I just hope drivers, bikers and pedestrians can learn to share the roads with one another. Because, ultimately, the city can only do so much towards making our roads safer. Then it's up to us.
One lovely summer day, I was biking up Milwaukee Avenue towards the busy "Six Corners" intersection, where Milwaukee, Damen, North and Ironic Mustache Avenues meet. I was doing my best to enjoy the sun on my back while furtively navigating the treacherous alley ‘twixt parked and moving vehicles--the modern city dweller's Scylla and Charybdis.
My technique was to drive as far as possible from the parked cars while glancing over my shoulder every 30 seconds to make sure there were no crazy drivers coming from the rear.
Just ahead of me was another biker who didn't seem quite as concerned. A middle-aged man with a long ponytail, he rode an old junker with no helmet and a relaxed, upright posture, flanked by three full-sized Collies. Two on his right and one on his left, all trotting in perfect step with the rolling bike tires. I almost forgot my safety precautions as I gaped in disbelief.
Man and dog team together occupied about 5 feet of road space in width, the outermost dog grazing the traffic lane. They seemed oblivious to the taxis that whizzed by them with mere inches to spare. To the buses that plowed through the intersection, taking red lights as suggestions. To the hordes of distracted pedestrians dumping into the street every time the light changed. How could this biker possibly think that what he was doing was a good idea?
I open with this story partially to acknowledge that there are some silly bicyclists out there. Not foolish, foolish is giving them too much credit. Just silly. It's silly to ride your bike through one of the busiest intersections on the north side flanked by three dogs. Just like it's silly to ride a bike that's got another bike frame welded on top of it so you're cruising double-decker with no way of getting off but to fall or jump. It's silly to ride a fixed gear bike that has no brakes. And it's foolish to ride any kind of bike while drunk or helmet-less.
I won’t defend the actions of bicyclists who needlessly put themselves or others in danger by practicing various forms of “extreme biking” that should really be relegated to the skate park. But it’s important to note that these fearless few are not the majority of the bikers in the city. Most of the bikers you see around town are responsible, law-abiding people who aren’t out to beat a world record or prove their masculinity but to get some exercise or get somewhere quickly. It's these bikers I'm concerned with when I ask the question, are Chicago's streets safe for biking?
As Mayor Daley puts it, we live in a "bike-friendly" city, but what does that mean exactly? As far as I can tell, it means white parallel lines next to the parking lanes on some roads and a (sort of) bikes-only path along the lakefront. Then there are all the extras that don't make biking any safer but certainly make it more pleasant--abundant bike racks in some areas, a bike center in Millenium Park that offers lockers and showers for a fee, and numerous biking organizations. Not all cities have these amenities, it’s true. And Daley isn't the only one impressed by Chicago's biking potential. "Forbes Traveler" named Chicago one of the top ten most bike-friendly cities in North America last June. Everywhere you look in the city, you see bikers, and it seems their numbers grow by the month.
And yet, something seems amiss. I live in Logan Square, where, last spring, cars killed two bicyclists in the same week (and a third was killed earlier in the year). I personally know two people who've been "doored," or struck by the doors of parked cars when people getting out didn't look to see who was coming. One of these young women was thrown into a bus, the other flipped over her handlebars. Last year, in a bitterly ironic twist, the city's effort to promote more and safer biking, "Bike to Work Week," resulted in the death of one person from dooring and the injury of another. A quick Google search will turn up scores of similar incidents.*
Bike injuries and fatalities in Chicago occur all over town and span the demographics, from older professionals who ride their bikes to work or for leisure to the most experienced of city cyclists, bike messengers. Any big city poses certain unavoidable risks to bikers. But every few months, I hear about another biker killed or seriously injured here. It was incredibly hard finding official statistics on this, but an article on the "Commute by Bike" blog (http://commutebybike.com/2008/02/07/chicago-bike-proposals/) claimed that there were 6,000 bike/motor vehicle crashes between 2001 and 2005, with 30 of those killing the bicyclist.
It's important to note that biking in the city has increased dramatically since 2005, meaning deaths and injuries are now even more prevalent--such as the three bike fatalities in my neighborhood alone last year. I don't care how safe biking is here relative to other big cities, if bicycle deaths are a common occurrence then it’s not safe enough. Surely there's more that all of us--bikers, drivers, pedestrians, and city officials--could be doing to keep biking accidents from happening and ensure that even casual bikers feel safe riding in the city.
So, going back to Daley's common bike-related bragging points, how effective are the bike lanes, truly? Well, if you're lucky enough to be using a road that has one, you may feel an illusory sense of safety, as long as drivers are respecting the white lines. But the real danger is not usually drivers, it's people getting into and out of parked cars.
Because bike lanes are drawn right up to the edge of the parking lane, bikers are at the mercy of people in parked cars, and lots of people, when they're exiting cars, seem to have their heads buried in a warm safe cavern south of the Equator. I couldn’t find any statistics on the percentage of bicycle deaths related to dooring, but in all of the articles I read that described the cause of a biker’s death in Chicago, there was only one that did not mention it.
Furthermore, let's be realistic. Many drivers in the city don't respect bicyclists or bike lanes. I can't count the number of times I've felt the wind of a speeding car brush past me so closely I could touch it if I leaned a little to the side. I was blatantly cut off by a pick-up truck blasting into a gas station who must have heard the brakes screeching on my weathered bike but didn't have the courtesy to even turn around. I nearly avoided being doored once by swerving into the driving lane--good thing there was no car next to me at the time. And I was once terrified into swerving when an SUV blared its horn two feet behind me so the girls in the front seat could mockingly inform me that my underwear was showing. And I'm someone who rides infrequently, and cautiously.
Then there are the pedestrians who dart out from between parked cars, or stand indignantly in the bike lane, refusing to move for an oncoming biker, and are thus just as guilty of making the roads unsafe as poor drivers. So bike lanes are nice, but without cooperation from drivers and pedestrians, they're not enough.
Another thing that's supposed to make the city "bike-friendly" is the Lakeshore Path. The Lakeshore Path can be great, if you live near it—and if you avoid it during all rush periods, weekend days and temperate seasons. If not, you'll find yourself dodging speeding bike racers at one extreme and wobbly training-wheeled toddlers at the other. And just as varied are the approaches to sharing the path. Some bikers are experienced and polite, signaling with the proper "on your left!" before they pass you, while others weave dangerously in and out of the crowds.
Even if everyone followed the same rules, though, the sheer volume of bikers, roller bladers and walkers (yes, some people use the bike path for meandering strolls, despite the presence of a walking path right next to it) is often too much for the path to accommodate. I'm not sure if what we need is a four-lane freeway of a bike path, clearer rules or more such paths throughout the city, but the current arrangement is frustrating and dangerous. And yet it's your best option if you don't want to get hit by a car.
So, if Chicago is such an imperfect city for biking, why do you still see so many bikes on the street, even in the dead of winter? The only explanation I can come up with is the sheer tenacity of Chicago's biking population. A lesser group would surely give up as temperatures plummeted below zero, but Chicago bikers just put on their ski masks and hit the road. Though I don't know much about organizations like the Active Transportation Alliance (http://www.biketraffic.org/), I know that they're there to help bicyclists and from what I hear, the biking community here is tightly-knit and supportive one.
It seems like, even though biking is a dangerous, often difficult task in the city, people love it enough that they're willing to take on the hardships and risks to do it. And, with a little effort, these determined riders could have a city that's truly friendly to them.
Chicago has great potential for bicycling--many of the roads are wide and traffic isn't yet as horrendous as in some of the coastal cities. And the city has obviously made efforts. What we could use from them now is more bikes-only paths throughout the city. The main barrier to this could be finding the space, but how about next to train lines, old or existing?
Another thing the city could do, and should be doing already, is to impose harsher penalties on drivers who hit bicyclists. Daley deserves credit for pushing through a fine penalty to punish drivers who endanger bicyclist's safety. And I will be the first to admit that accidents are not always the drivers' fault. But if aggressive or negligent driving is at fault in an accident that kills someone, a fine of $500--also Daley's idea, and one he was lauded for--is not enough. In my opinion this is manslaughter, or at the very least reckless endangerment, and should be charged as such. Being lenient on drivers who cause fatal accidents is not only unfair to the victims’ families. It also sends the message that the road belongs to cars, not bikes, and if a bike gets in the way of a car it's probably the biker’s fault--an opinion that was shockingly widespread in a Chicago Tribune forum on the topic.
Drivers and pedestrians need to realize that bikers have just as much claim to the roads as they do. Just acting on this assumption would greatly increase the safety of all involved. And it goes without saying that bikers should reciprocate by treating pedestrians and drivers with respect.
Until things change, I may take my bike out every now and then, but if there is room on the sidewalk I plan to share it with the walkers. I realize this may anger a lot of people, and I know it's against the law here. But in a lesser of two evils scenario, a pedestrian who’s hit by a bicycle has a much better chance of surviving the accident than a biker who’s hit by a car. And there are plenty of sidewalks that are wide enough for both pedestrians and bicyclists.
Maybe if all bikers started riding on the sidewalk, the city would finally get the message that, despite all its pretty-looking amenities, bicyclists in Chicago take their lives in their hands every time they go for a ride. And despite the size and traffic volume of the city, it doesn’t have to be that way.
If biking here were truly encouraged, were truly easy and just a little less stressful, more people might try it, and traffic volume would go down a bit, making it even safer for bikers. Nothing would make me happier than to see every able-bodied person use their bikes for transportation even 10 percent of the time. Until my hippie pipe dream is realized, however, I just hope drivers, bikers and pedestrians can learn to share the roads with one another. Because, ultimately, the city can only do so much towards making our roads safer. Then it's up to us.
*Sources:
http://www.forbestraveler.com/adventure/north-americas-bike-friendly-cities-story.html
Good info to know, Katie. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteif you think biking in chicago is bad..try lima! everytime i see a biker i think they have a deathwish or are suicidal
ReplyDeleteHello, are you ok?
ReplyDeleteDo you want be my friend?
I wait yes!
Kisses and bye.