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While the Chicago Park District doesn’t have a comprehensive system to track accidents that happen on the Lakefront Trail, an analysis by the Sun-Times shows incidents are most common than you’d think. Between 2002 and 2008 Park District employees recorded 126 “wipeouts,” which include collisions, swerving to miss other riders and hitting rough patches. Anecdotal evidence suggests this number is far lower than the actual number of incidents that occur.
Advocates say a better system to track incidents could make it easier to assess if slow zones, speed limits or more signs could make the trail safer. But police say making a list of responses to crashes is difficult to create.
Trail users and safety advocates say police or fire personnel should place a call to the Park District when they respond to a crash to help accumulate incident data.
According to the little incident data available and known patterns of congestion and traffic, the most dangerous part of the Lakefront Trail is the stretch from the Chicago River bridge to Ohio Street Beach. Plans are in the works to build a more than $40 million “flyover” ramp to improve this area, but this is contingent on as of yet unsecured federal funds and wouldn’t be built until 2011 at the earliest.
Already the Park District has made some improvements in this zone including moving concession stands further away from the trail, getting rid of pedestrian crossings and installing a new underpass at Solidarity Drive.
Google Map of five most dangerous parts of the trail courtesy Sun-Times.
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This is another list of reasons why the trail on the south side is so much more awesome. Plus the pay off of getting to Promontory Point or 67th Street Beach / Jackson Park. It's so quiet and peaceful down there. The trail is just a mess north of Grant Park.
I regard the lake front trail as a once-a-year thing. I bike the lake front trail sometime during winter where it's even too cold to walk your dog. I counted only three other bicyclists on the trail last time I used it.
What would really help safety would be if cyclists themselves would look beyond their own handlebars.
On my way to work two weeks ago, I got nailed in a head-on collision at North with another biker who swerved into my lane so he wouldn't have to slow down when a car crossed through the intersection in front of him. I had slowed when approaching the intersection and still didn't have enough time to avoid this jagoff. He just crossed his fingers and hoped nobody would be heading in the opposite direction just then. Cyclists endanger themselves and others all over the city, everyday, because they don't feel they have to follow ANY common sense rules. No, it's everyone else who has to react to them, no matter how carelessly they behave.
As a longtime bike commuter who likes to push the pace when it's safe, this incident really opened my eyes. Part of true bike advocacy has to include being responsible. To that end, bikes on city streets should need to be licensed and carry insurance.