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The CPD has issued 101 warnings in two hours today to drivers who failed to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. An undercover officer tried to cross at Belmont and Lawndale in a sting operation to bust folks who don't yield to those of us on foot. The law requires drivers stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, even when there's no stop sign or traffic light, but not everyone is so into following that rule.
The police are moving their sting to Milwaukee and Lawndale in the next few weeks, and soon after that will switch from issuing warnings to issuing tickets.
On average, one pedestrian dies from a traffic accident every week in Chicago, and more than 3,000 pedestrian/vehicle collisions happen every year. [Trib, S-T, photo by Olivia Leigh]
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This law applies to cabs too, right? I've nearly been hit twice and I've seen other people almost mowed down by cabs who run straight through red lights to make a right turn. Last time I checked, the law of the road was that cars are supposed to yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians before turning right on a red light.
But just yesterday at Printers Row, I was crossing Congress *well after* the light had turned green and I was in the crosswalk. Then all of the sudden, this cab comes barreling down the right lane with its horn blaring and I was nearly hit as it ran the red light. I don't remember much about the cab aside from the company, but I've filed complaint with the city anyway.
I was in Canada a couple weeks ago and went to walk across a ped/xing like the one in the photo and was amazed to see traffic stop even though there was no stop light or stop sign. When I got to the edge of the curb all the people just came to a stop. My Chicago sense almost wouldn't let me go on and cross because of the natural fear that somebody still wouldn't yield.
Laws are strict in Oregon too, where I visit a few times a year. Even if the pedestrian has cleared the car and is well safely past, you still can't drive through the intersection until the ped's fully safe on the other sidewalk. It's a ticket if a cop sees you.
Good. Now if they would start enforcing Right-of-way at sidewalks (9-24-060) which states that you need to stop when exiting an alley before crossing a sidewalk. In my 'hood (Albany Park) the preferred method seems to be honk the horn and step on the gas.
My guess is that this is just a big PR push. Once this pilot "warning" phase is over there will be no further sting operations. Police is just trying to make people think when they see a ped.
If they really want to catch some a-hole drivers and prevent pedestrian accidents how 'bout a full time traffic code enforcement division? Say 5 or 10 cops who target different and secret intersections every day and write actual tickets for the violations. If drives never know where this task force is hanging out the only thing to do is to slow down and pay attention.
i hope they enforce jaywalking laws just as strictly. some peds are just plain reckless idiots.
One night, I was walking north on Michigan Ave. and a cab took a very late left on green and slams on his horn as he's heading toward a large crowd of pedestrians, including myself. I'll never forget this -- not a single person so much as flinched and about a third of us greeted the driver with the finger as we casually continued to cross the street.
No doubt petey,
This morning while biking to work I had to swerve around a careless jaywalking mother carrying her infant in one hand while talking on the cell in the other. Naturally the safe stoplight crosswalk was like 20 ft away, that's too far to travel for the safety of her newborn child (and herself) I guess. Normal behavior in my neighborhood though.
haelig- about 6 months ago, i too almost got mowed down by a taxi while walking through a crosswalk by where i work. only when he nearly clipped me, i slammed my fist into his back window to let him know i didn't appreciate how close he came to running over my foot. he screached to a stop, got out of the cab & came at me yelling about 3 dozen profanities. i just laughed at him, looked over at his cab and said his cab number out loud... i sure as hell was going to report this incident to the city! he then spat at me (fortunately, no sputum actually came in contact with my being or i would have leveled him) and went back to his cab. i just received word from the city office that handles those complaints that he was served a fine.
@slaphappy
excellent! I had the exact same thing happen to me as I was walking north on Michigan crossing a street on a green. Except when the cab came barreling at me and a bunch of other pedestrians, I pounded with my fists on the trunk of his cab and yelled a la Jane of the Jungle. I like to take my rage out in small doses like that.
I am amazed that Chicago does so little traffic enforcement. It's a fricking gold mine. Chicago is the city that unblinkingly operates a street cleaning revenue generation scam. Surely the bright minds in City Hall could, um, serve and protect us while making lots of money off the jerks in the process. That and a No Turn On Red law would make this city so much more livable.
"I pounded with my fists on the trunk of his cab and yelled a la Jane of the Jungle."
A boss of mine did this after a cab brushed him while he was crossing Wacker Dr with the signal in the crosswalk. The cabbie got out of the cab, and unfortunately he was a cross between the Incredible Hunk and Tarzan. He literally picked my boss up and had him hanging there, feet dangling in the air. Before he could be hurled across Wacker Drive, a truck driver stopped, and yelled at the cabbie to let go of him. My boss dropped to the ground like a little rag, even though he was NOT small guy. Some cabbies just aren't into getting feedback from people they nearly run over.
mikely1 -- there are a TON of 'no turn on red' signs all over the city. i prefer them when they're from 7 am to 7 pm, cause it sucks to sit there at 12 am when there's NO traffic.
i take public trans most of the time, but yeah ... i'll give the people a good trunk slap if i can get to it ... just let them know .. hey, that could have been my leg, shithead.
the thing that i've taken to dealing with in linc. square is the people who are racing up to a four-way stop sign intersection and clearly have NO intention of really stopping. they are going to barely even do a tap/roll. and i hear them coming and i definitely am cautious before strolling out into the crosswalk. cause, as much as i have the right of way, i'd also like to keep my right leg.
Smussy, I live in Lincoln Square, and I've also seen the new way of stopping. In the old days people driving in Lincoln Square used to use something called the 'brake.' Now the new way of braking means "take your foot off the gas a little."
Even the few drivers that do pause and find their brake are already going through the intersection when people are only half way across. God forbid anyone should actually be able to cross the street without having the front grill coming at them. This new rudeness seems to have become more prevalent in the past few years.
Smussy and tamalechica
Interesting you mention Lincoln Square. I put a video camera in my window and recorded the intersection of Sunnyside and Artesian, a four way stop intersection half a block from a school. Due to a crosswalk that is exactly 6.5 feet wide I was able to calculate the speed that cars entered the intersection (distance over time=speed). The average speed of vehicles ENTERING the intersection was just over 8 miles per hour and the max was just over 20 mph. The sample size was around 400.
Side note: I also caught footage of Blago jogging by with his entourage in tow.
They said they were going to do this in the early winter of 2007. I remember writing them to request that they start with the corner of Cermak & Wolcott.
Can't come too soon for me. I felt safer crossing the street at Picadilly Circus.
I've been down by Cermak and Wolcot, and that too can be an exciting place to cross. Lately, most city crosswalks have that distinction. The only time I've had less exciting close encounters of the wrong time was when I was pulling a buba cart behind me. I think it has more to do with wanting to avoid scratching their car.
Occasionally I will be thoroughly shocked when there is a polite driver (who isn't actually a neighbor that I know) that waits for me to get across the street before flooring it. So, they do exist, there just aren't that many of them.
I've often wished I could had the authority to provide careless drivers with a moving violation for the way they bust through intersections. Once I was at Western and Lawrence. The signal is not a long one, and even if you walk fast, the "Don't Walk" sign starts flashing as you get to the middle of the intersection. Some hot headed driver nearly hit me because he wanted to make a right turn and I was obviously in the way. I pointed to the signal and yelled at him. He yelled back, "it say's don't walk." Hello, it was a green light for pedestrians. I didn't know there were different shades of green for traffic signals.
Bravo Chicago Police for doing this!
just saw the abc segment on this - i applaud the cpd for trying to make drivers more aware of pedestrians - but picking an intersection that doesn't even have a stop sign is a pretty stupid idea. we shouldn't be encouraging people to cross at intersections that don't have stop signs or stop lights - and we shouldn't be encouraging people to slam on the brakes at unregulated intersections.
Jimbo that was the whole point of the sting. Crosswalks when occupied by a pedestrian should be treated as stop signs by drivers. This is the law. Encouraging people to cross in crosswalks is a fine idea. Pedestrians obviously need to use caution and not step in front of a car going 30mph only 40 feet away. But more importantly drivers need to be aware of their surroundings and slow down in residential areas.
Where I work, there is a crosswalk between near a hospital on a major street. You play chicken with traffic everytime you cross, because people are coming at you at 40mph+. After a patient got hit crossing the crosswalk, the police posted signs stating "State Law: Yield to pedestrians". Most still ignore the warning. I have nearly been hit a half dozen times.
Dopplerd: that is awesome nerdy shit you did. You rock. Could you set up a camera on Rockwell and Ainslie? Or Washtenaw and Carmen? I was in the intersection of Rockwell and Ainslie and witnessed a bike and a car both go through the stop signs as I was crossing the street. Each thought the other was at fault.
*CORRECTION*
I looked at my spreadsheet again when I got home and realized I posted some incorrect information above about my analysis of the Sunnyside/Artesian intersection.
The mode was just over 8 MPH and the average was 5.4 MPH
How many school kids have been shot and killed this school year? 27? I think the CPD have bigger issues and consider this a huge misallocation of resources.
"I think the CPD have bigger issues and consider this a huge misallocation of resources."
Huge?
I see a relative few officers over a relatively limited amount of time this year working to reduce the rate of 1 pedestrian, on average, killed each in Chicago, according to published reports. I see nothing unreasonable about this, even if a good part of the effort seems designed for PR effort.
According to published reports:
3,000 + vehicle-versus-pedestrian accidents occur in a year, according to the Trib. There is roughly 1 death a week.
"More than 6,000 crashes between bicycles and motor vehicles were reported in Chicago between 2001 and 2005. Unfortunately, 30 bicyclists were killed," According to Daley.
Given that pedestrians are the most vulnerable population on the street, and given the death rates of pedestrians, and given the effort that Daley has made to protect cyclists, I think a handful of cops ticketing drivers is a worthwhile effort.
Wrigley, I'm curious: do you mostly drive in the city, or do you walk?
Thunderbelly - I'm well aware that it's the law, but if we are going to start enforcing this law - start at intersections with stop signs and traffic lights. If we are going to consider this a problem, we have to be reasonable in our approach to solve it - and starting out at an intersection without even a stop sign is pretty dumb imo.
The law is clear, and drivers are expected to yield. According to a 2004 national report, the majority of accidents occur in a midblock crosswalk and/or unsignalized crosswalk. So why not target an intersection like that, where the most accidents seem to occur?
Jimbo the intersections that are not regulated are the ones with the biggest problems. Teaching drivers to respect crosswalks that are not at regulated intersections is the point of this sting. I think the problem is much less severe at stop signs and lights, and starting out at intersections with stop signs is pretty dumb imo.
thunder - we (society) should be encouraging efficient and safe transportation/mobility for everybody. ironically, somebody slammed on the brakes for me as i was waiting for her car to go by so i could cross armitage last night - and it almost resulted in her getting rear-ended by the car behind her. this is not the smart way to go about this. if this continues, pedestrians will take for granted that the driver will stop (which i think we both know won't happen on every occasion), and more pedestrians will get hit. that really solves the problem, right?
if this continues, pedestrians will take for granted that the driver will stop
I see your point, but I really doubt that is a danger. Even if the stings continue, and produce thousands of tickets, it would take a while to change the driving/pedestrian culture in Chicago to the point where pedestrians expect drivers to stop, as in the case in some other cities in the US and Europe. The pedestrians who already "take for granted tha the driver will stop" are idiots anyway, subject to the cruel realities of natural selection--there is no hope for them, and we should not worry about them. The responsible ones remain skeptical, and careful, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
I do not think a pedestrian should take anything for granted when trying to cross a street. You take caution, look both ways and cross. This sting is to help drivers realize the law. I think a lot of drivers think someone crossing at an untendered intersection has no right of way. This is wrong. This sting is directed exactly in the right place IMO. We disagree. Fair enough.