Most hit by cars in Chicago are in crosswalks

[southsider2k5]

If you could get rid of the Cabs, downtown would be a great place to walk. And it is way more than "just a few bad apples".

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/a...,2404951.column

 

About 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian crashes in Chicago occur at intersections and commonly involve people crossing the street with the walk signal, according to a new city study.

 

The exceptionally high rate of pedestrians being struck, predominantly by turning vehicles, while they are inside the presumed safe haven of crosswalks was an unexpected finding that will prompt increased police enforcement of the No. 1 cause of pedestrian accidents — drivers failing to yield, officials said. More traffic safety technology is coming too, they said.

 

The city's most detailed analysis of crashes to date, which the Tribune obtained exclusively, revealed a rising number of hit-and-runs as well as other alarming trends over a five-year period, touching all parts of Chicago from the Magnificent Mile to some of the poorest and most crime-plagued neighborhoods.

 

The sheer number of accidents between 2005 and 2009 — 17,487 crashes involving 18,377 pedestrians — represents a traffic safety crisis despite a downward trend in the rate of pedestrians killed, experts said. Pedestrian fatalities in Chicago hit a 16-year low in 2009 with 34 deaths, down from 88 deaths in 1994, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

 

A band of areas extending from the Loop and Near North Side on the east to the Austin neighborhood on the west showed the highest number of pedestrian crashes. A 2-mile stretch of 79th Street contained four of the top 20 crash intersections. A total of 12 high-crash corridors were identified in Chicago neighborhoods, information that city officials plan to use to tame unsafe streets.

 

Vehicle-pedestrian crashes still number about 3,000 a year in Chicago. Signs of dangerous driving can be found everywhere you turn. A 9-year-old girl was critically injured Wednesday by a hit-and-run driver on 87th Street in Gresham, and on Aug. 7 a taxi driver struck and injured two children crossing the street on North Michigan Avenue, police said.

 

The study found that 78 percent of all crashes and 80 percent of fatal and serious crashes occurred within 125 feet of the midpoint of an intersection — at crosswalks or nearby.

 

A 2010 state law requires drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. The previous law required drivers to yield and stop when necessary.

 

It's too early to assess the impact of the law, officials said. But IDOT provisional numbers for 2010 show 2,943 vehicle-pedestrian crashes in Chicago last year, 32 pedestrian fatalities and 409 serious injuries. Those accidents were not factored into the new study.

 

Among the more troubling findings of the study commissioned by the Chicago Department of Transportation is that an average of two hit-and-run pedestrian crashes resulting in deaths or injuries take place each day in Chicago. Hit-and-runs account for 33 percent of vehicle-pedestrian collisions and 41 percent of those that are fatal, double the national average, officials said.

 

That's 5,534 hit-and-runs over the five-year stretch, causing 3,683 deaths and injuries, officials said.

 

"It's unbelievable, and it's a real crime,'' Chicago Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein said. "I think we have this culture of speeding and reckless driving."

 

Pedestrians ages 15-18 represent the biggest segment of crash victims, the study found. It also determined that a large number of the crashes in which youths and teens are the victims occurred on the West and South sides, primarily in the Austin, Chicago Lawn and Auburn Gresham neighborhoods.

 

"The spike we saw in teens as more highly represented in the crash data is a surprise we didn't expect, and it tells us that we need to improve the type of outreach we are doing to teens on pedestrian safety,'' said Kiersten Grove, CDOT's pedestrian safety coordinator.

 

The individual accident reports showed that young people are more likely than adults to not use crosswalks.

 

Cabdrivers were involved in 28 percent of pedestrian crashes and 34 percent of pedestrian accidents in high-crash corridors downtown, the study said. The rate fell to 2 percent outside the central business district, a change perhaps reflecting the concentration of taxis downtown, officials said.

 

Klein said the majority of taxi drivers in Chicago pose a public safety menace. He vowed to implement strict reforms with the help of the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates the taxi industry.

 

"It isn't just a few bad apples," Klein said. "The overwhelming number of taxi drivers, unfortunately, speed on a regular basis and set a pretty bad example for everybody else. They hit the gas at every green light and slam on the brakes at every red light a block later."

 

Klein urged taxi customers and others who see reckless driving by cabbies to call 311 to report incidents, noting that a cabdriver who receives three complaints will be investigated.

 

An advocate for the taxi industry said there is no excuse for negligent cabdrivers, but he said the new crash data didn't account for the large number of cabs operating in Chicago, especially downtown, and the huge numbers of pedestrians around cabs.

 

"Nobody wants to see these kinds of accidents, especially cabdrivers because it gives us a bad name,'' said George Lutfallah, publisher of Chicago Dispatcher, a monthly newspaper about the taxi industry. "But the reality is that cabs flock to pedestrians and pedestrians flock to cabs. It's not surprising that there would be a higher incidence of accidents."

 

The study also examined various factors ranging from race to income in connection with vehicle-pedestrian crashes. The strongest correlation found was between vehicle-pedestrian crashes and crime. Areas of Chicago with more crime were more likely to see high numbers of serious pedestrian crashes.

 

"When there is anarchy in the streets, it relates to other public safety issues," Klein said. "Whether it is people getting hurt or killed by cars, or people getting shot in their living room by accident (during drive-by shootings), which has happened all too often lately, there is a connection. It's a certain recklessness in our society and in our city that is causing too many innocent bystanders to get hurt.''

 

Meanwhile, five high-crash corridors were identified in the central business district, accounting for about one-fifth of all fatal and serious-injury vehicle-pedestrian crashes downtown: Michigan Avenue from Chicago Avenue to Oak Street; Dearborn Street from Ohio to Huron streets; Canal Street from Jackson Boulevard to Washington Street; Columbus/Fairbanks from Water to Ontario streets; and Jackson from Clark Street to Wabash Avenue.

 

The study, funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, also identified high-crash corridors and intersections in other areas of the city where additional safety measures are needed, officials said.

 

In addition to a crackdown on drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians, officials said the study's findings will spur faster deployment of more technology. It includes installing pedestrian countdown clocks at all of the city's 2,900 intersections with signals and deploying Leading Pedestrian Interval devices, which flash the walk signal several seconds before the traffic light turns green to give pedestrians a head start and help alert drivers that the crosswalk may be occupied, transportation officials said.

 

Experts said high-visibility enforcement is the key to changing behavior.

 

"In many areas of traffic safety, people break laws because they don't properly perceive the risk or the harm they are causing themselves or others by breaking the law. People also break laws in part because the threat of being caught is minimal,'' said John Ulczycki, who coordinates strategic initiatives at the National Safety Council, headquartered in Itasca.

 

The city of Chicago has for years compiled statistics on accidents involving motor vehicles, but the pedestrian crash study pinpointed crash hot spots and unearthed high-risk patterns that the cumulative data don't show.

 

"This analysis really tells the story and helps us focus more efficiently and effectively,'' said Christopher Wuellner, CDOT projects administrator. "We plan to expand our reach to target specific behaviors and populations.''

 

It will be a difficult job. Many of the reasons behind the findings are not known, officials said. For instance, during the five-year study, pedestrian crashes occurred most often on Thursdays and least often on Fridays and Saturdays. Nationally, Fridays are the biggest day of the week for vehicle-pedestrian crashes.

 

"Is Thursday the new Friday in Chicago?'' Wuellner said. "We don't know.''

 

Contact Getting Around at [email protected] or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Read recent columns at chicagotribune.com/gettingaround.

[RockRaines]

Cabs do nothing but run red lights and try to sneak by cars on the right side at every green light. They are all awful.

[Balta1701]

Now wait a second.

 

What percentage of the miles driven within the urban core are driven by taxis? From walking downtown if you told me it was 30%, that wouldn't seem obscenely high to me.

 

The question is always whether they are a problem beyond everyone else, and that number doesn't prove it.

[southsider2k5]

Now wait a second.

 

What percentage of the miles driven within the urban core are driven by taxis? From walking downtown if you told me it was 30%, that wouldn't seem obscenely high to me.

 

The question is always whether they are a problem beyond everyone else, and that number doesn't prove it.

 

In the loop? Probably half of the traffic is cabs. Pretty much every accident I see involves at least one cab.

[Balta1701]

In the loop? Probably half of the traffic is cabs. Pretty much every accident I see involves at least one cab.

Well, if half the traffic is cabs, then a large majority of 2 car accidents would involve 1 cab, and 50% of the pedestrian accidents should involve 1 cab.

[southsider2k5]

Well, if half the traffic is cabs, then a large majority of 2 car accidents would involve 1 cab, and 50% of the pedestrian accidents should involve 1 cab.

 

That doesn't make their driving any less dangerous.

[Balta1701]

That doesn't make their driving any less dangerous.

If they're involved in a disproportionately low number of accidents relative to their fraction of traffic, that means the safest thing you could do is get rid of all the non-taxi traffic.

[southsider2k5]

If they're involved in a disproportionately low number of accidents relative to their fraction of traffic, that means the safest thing you could do is get rid of all the non-taxi traffic.

 

Then I am sure my numbers are wrong, because they stand out as by far the most dangerous. The only other thing in their neighborhood are the bus drivers and delivery bikers.

[Balta1701]

Then I am sure my numbers are wrong, because they stand out as by far the most dangerous. The only other thing in their neighborhood are the bus drivers and delivery bikers.

That's entirely possible, too, I just want to see numbers that convince me either way, and this number by itself can't do so, even if its high, without an accompanying piece of data.

 

You can say, for example, that the cabs are far more aggressive, and still have them cause less accidents because they know the area a lot better and know where people are likely to jump out in their way.

[southsider2k5]

That's entirely possible, too, I just want to see numbers that convince me either way, and this number by itself can't do so, even if its high, without an accompanying piece of data.

 

You can say, for example, that the cabs are far more aggressive, and still have them cause less accidents because they know the area a lot better and know where people are likely to jump out in their way.

 

I can tell you haven't walked through the financial district very many times.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

A friend of mine just posted this status on her facebook:

 

So, in the span of two days, I've almost been hit by cars on three separate occasions in crosswalks. The drivers in all three cases were not looking at what they were doing. One blew through a stop sign, another tried to turn right without looking in the crosswalk for pedestrians legally crossing. Seriously now. Drivers, watch what you're doing.

[Cali]

That's one thing I alway have to remember when visiting Chicago the walk sign don't mean s*** haha.

 

It's so weird that in California of all places the "pedestrians have the right of way ALWAYS" thing is just beaten into the driver's here. You know about it as a little kid crossing the street and as you you grow up and get that license you stop for the people in crosswalks. Some people are assholes and speed by, but it's never as blatant as I've seen in Chicago.

 

For you residents, is there just no way of enforcing that? Or do the cops not care enough to pull people over? I know a couple Chicago cops, one retired one current and they both seem to shrug their shoulders about it and laugh, like, "just watch out".