Tag: fatality tracker

Fatality Tracker: Three more pedestrian deaths since Sunday’s update

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This photo of two elderly Chicagoans attempting to cross Western Avenue has been featured on Grid Chicago countless times now, but it’s very relevant to the news in this Fatality Tracker update. There have been 10 pedestrian deaths in Chicago this month (so far) and 50% have been people older than 50 years old. Photo by Joshua Koonce.

Pedestrian: 18 (8 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

There are three pedestrian fatalities in this post, bringing the total number (known to us) to 18 deaths in traffic. The original reports come from the Chicago Tribune. 2010 saw 32 pedestrian deaths in Chicago and 33 in 2009. The majority of pedestrian deaths in 2010 occurred in March (6) and May (5). There was only 1 pedestrian death in August 2010 and 2 pedestrian deaths in August 2009. There have been 10 pedestrian deaths in August 2012, so far; five days remain.

Continue reading Fatality Tracker: Three more pedestrian deaths since Sunday’s update

Fatality Tracker: 5th pedestrian death in 14 days takes place in East Garfield Park


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Looking north on Pulaski approaching Congress.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 15 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

News of yet another fatal pedestrian crash this morning means that five pedestrians have died in crashes in Chicago within a last 14 days. That’s a third of all pedestrian deaths for the entire year so far, 35 weeks, within only a two-week period.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Alejandro Cruz, 33, was killed by a crash this morning at the 500 block of South Pulaski Road in the East Garfield Park neighborhhod. Cruz, an Oak Park resident, was running across Congress Parkway at 7:55 a.m. when a northbound driver on Pulaski struck the pedestrian with his Chevrolet Impala, according to Police News Affairs.

Continue reading Fatality Tracker: 5th pedestrian death in 14 days takes place in East Garfield Park

Fatality Tracker: 4th pedestrian fatality in 8 days occurs in Little Village

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 14 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

The Chicago Tribune reports on the fourth pedestrian fatality in just eight days, this one occurring in Little Village at 26th Street and Avers Avenue:

Maria Banuelos [79] was hit by a car that turned left onto 26th Street from Avers Avenue about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to police reports.

Banuelos was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, a Cook County medical examiner’s spokeswoman said.

The driver was cited with striking a pedestrian in the roadway.

Approximate scene of the crash (looking northwest, from the driver’s point of view, turning left onto 26th Street from Avers Avenue). View Larger Map

* The information is only accurate as of this post’s publishing time and includes only people who died in the Chicago city limits. View previous Fatality Tracker posts.

Fatality Tracker: 84-year-old woman is third pedestrian casualty in seven days

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Looking north at California and Granville.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 13 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

During the evening rush hour on Monday, Ilchwa Abraham, an 84-year-old woman, died in a crash as she tried to walk across a street in West Rogers Park. Following the deaths of Eric Kerestes and Kenneth Collins, both slain by drivers who lost control of their vehicles and hopped curbs last week, Abraham is the third person killed by a car in Chicago in seven days.

Continue reading Fatality Tracker: 84-year-old woman is third pedestrian casualty in seven days

Fatality tracker: driver jumps curb, kills youth counselor in Roseland

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Crosswalk at Roseland Community Hospital with “Stop for Pedestrians” sign.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 12 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

For the second time in one week, an out-of-control car crash cut short the promising life of an innocent bystander. Last Tuesday a speeding cab in River West killed engineer, grad student and husband Eric Kerestes, 30. Three days later on Friday around 7:05 AM, Albert Charles, 54, lost control of his vehicle outside Roseland Community Hospital, 45 W.111th Street, hopped the curb and killed Kenneth Collins, 43, according to police. Collins, a mental health counselor at the hospital’s juvenile unit, was on his way to pick up a paycheck. Unlike most drivers involved in pedestrian fatalities this year prior to this crash, Charles did not flee the scene. The police department’s Major Accident Investigation Unit is looking into the cause of the crash.

Continue reading Fatality tracker: driver jumps curb, kills youth counselor in Roseland

Fatality tracker: speeding cab flips, kills young man on his way to work

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Workers repair a stoplight on the traffic island that was damaged in the crash.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 11 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

Once again a taxi has taken the life of an innocent bystander, but it may be too soon to say whether the driver is to blame. According to witnesses, shortly after 6 am Tuesday morning John Kesse, 64, was driving his cab with one passenger southeast on Milwaukee Avenue in River West, traveling far beyond the speed limit.

By the time Kesse reached the complex intersection of Milwaukee, Chicago Avenue, May Street and Ogden Avenue, a seven-way junction, he had lost control of the vehicle, which veered east across Milwaukee. The taxi struck a light pole on the triangular traffic island in the middle of the intersection, which houses an entrance to the Blue Line’s Chicago stop, and flipped several times, according to witnesses.

The vehicle careened into the southeast corner of the intersection, slamming into a large sign for the CVS Pharmacy and a nearby advertising bench, and striking Eric Kerestes. A thirty-year-old engineer and MBA student, Kerestes lived just a few blocks away on the 600 block of North Racine.

Continue reading Fatality tracker: speeding cab flips, kills young man on his way to work