Tag: fatality tracker

Fatality Tracker: Woman killed after Megabus hits her crossing downtown street

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A Megabus is seen turning in 2007 at the intersection (Adams and Canal Streets, next to Union Station) of a deadly pedestrian crash last week. Photo by Thunderchild7.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 10 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

Donna Halstead was crossing Adams Street along Canal Street on last Tuesday, August 7, when she was struck by the passenger side mirror of a double-decker Megabus driven by Shemeka Hudson, fell to the ground, and later died. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the driver “was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian” while state and city law require drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks (where Halstead was crossing). Continue reading Fatality Tracker: Woman killed after Megabus hits her crossing downtown street

Fatality Tracker: Woman killed while crossing street in Jefferson Park

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Looking northwest along Milwaukee Avenue with Higgins Avenue on the left. Photo by David Wilson. 

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

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

A woman crossing the street last Sunday, August 5, was killed in an automobile collision a few hundred feet from the Jefferson Park CTA and Metra stations, on her birthday. The Chicago Tribune writes, in a decidedly non–robot car fashion:

A 54-year-old man [Jeffery Dalak] was behind the wheel of a Ford Expedition and traveling west on Higgins Avenue when he struck Lovett, who was walking in a crosswalk in the 5400 block of West Higgins Avenue, Jefferson Park District Police Sgt. Wilfredo Torres said.

According to Fox Chicago News, which is misreporting the crash address, the driver “was cited for striking a pedestrian in the roadway”.

* 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: Semi-trailer truck driver kills bicyclist in Fuller Park, flees

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American roadway design requires people riding bicycles and people driving trucks to “share the road”. Photo of a sign in California that says “bikes in lane” by Richard Masoner. Notice that the depicted bike is “in front” of the car.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 7 (6 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 4 (1, this one, is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 6

According to the Chicago Tribune, a robotic semi-trailer truck struck and killed Evelyn Dean yesterday, while she was bicycling, as it was entering a Norfolk Southern (NS) railroad yard in the block of 300 W 47th Street in Fuller Park.

The semi was entering the Norfolk Southern facility in the 300 block of West 47th Street around 1:40 p.m. Monday when it struck the female bicyclist and immediately fled the scene, Chicago police said, citing early reports.

The unidentified woman, believed to be in her 40s, was dead the scene, authorities said.

The Tribune story (authored by “staff”) used robot car language, which perpetuates a dangerous pattern in crash reporting by removing the real actors of the story, by writing “[it] immediately fled the scene”. A person caused the truck to flee the scene.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, police are seeking the driver and calling this a hit-and-run crash. The Google Street View for this location is below. The entrance to the intermodal yard is between multiple viaducts, which likely affects visibility of people cycling on this street. WGN TV has a news segment.

Transportation commissioner Gabe Klein tweeted yesterday a link to CBS Chicago’s article on the story, adding, “Very sad, why we need protected lanes”. The City hasn’t proposed protected bike lanes on this stretch of road.

View 300 W 47th block in 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.

Updated 10:01 to add unrelated photo and change what constitutes robot car language in the quoted passage. Updated 19:50 to add the woman’s name and a link to a WGN TV news story. 

Fatality Tracker: Man electrocutes himself crossing Blue Line tracks

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California Blue Line station photo by Clint. 

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 7 (6 have been from hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 3
Transit: 6

A man was killed by electrocution after apparently attempting to cross the CTA Blue Line tracks at the California Blue Line station early morning on Wednesday, August 1. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

“It looked like he wanted to get to the other side (of the platform),” and tried to do so by crossing the tracks, a Shakespeare District police sergeant said. As he did so, “he grabbed on to the third rail and that was it.”

A CTA spokeswoman said the man touched the third rail on the southbound tracks.

Electrocution was the preliminary cause of death for the victim, who remained unidentified but was believed to be in his 30s, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said Wednesday morning. An autopsy is scheduled for later performed Wednesday, but the sergeant said it did not appear to be a suicide or criminal incident.

* 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: Young woman killed by person driving on suspended license

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Photo of shops on Cottage Grove Avenue near 87th Street by Thornton29. 

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 7 (6 have been from hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 3
Transit: 5

Caprice Cunningham, a 23-year-old mother of three children, was killed while riding her bike near the intersection of 87th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. Cottage Grove has two lanes in each direction, while 87th Street has a single lane in each direction. The collision happened on Thursday, July 12, 2012. “Cunningham was riding her bike east on 87th Street when she hit the front driver’s side door of a 1964 Ford truck that was northbound on Cottage Grove Avenue, [Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John] Mirabelli said.”

The family is looking for more information about how the crash occurred. From the Chicago Tribune:

While Mirabelli said that a witness provided details to police, the family said they want more witnesses to come forward.

She said she believes the busy intersection has surveillance cameras and they want police to share details of the accident with them.

“We want somebody to come foreword, we want witnesses to come forward, 87th and Cottage, that”s a busy street,” said Michelle Cunningham [relation wasn’t given].

The intersection sees about 40,000 automobiles pass through each day, according to counts conducted by the City in 2006. The intersection is outside any future, potential speed camera zone. Crash data from the Illinois Department of Transportation shows 19 pedestrian-automobile collisions and 1 bicycle-automobile collision at this intersection from 2005-2010 (all “possible injury” or greater, but no fatalities). Including all crash types, there were 307 in the same time period, with no fatalities.

The Chicago Tribune also reported the driver’s history on the road (bottom line, this person, who the police nor the newspaper haven’t identified, wasn’t allowed to be driving):

According to Illinois Secretary of State’s records, the driver [a 29-year-old woman] has a troubled driving history dating back to 2001 when she was ticketed for backing up in an area where this was not allowed.

In 2009 and again in 2010 she was ticketed for speeding. Her license was suspended in 2010 after being convicted for not having injurance and suspended again last year after she failed to get high-risk insurance as required, according to records.

The driver was cited for the following infractions:

  • Driving while license suspended or revoked
  • operating a vehicle without insurance
  • Violating restrictions on her driver’s license [the Chicago Tribune article didn’t specify what these restrictions were]
  • Driving an unsafe vehicle [the Chicago Tribune article didn’t specify what was unsafe about the vehicle]

This Google Street View image is looking east along 87th Street at the intersection with Cottage Grove Avenue, where the bicyclist collided with a northbound ice cream truck. View larger.

The Chicago Sun-Times also reported on this story. Visit Cunningham’s page on Every Bicyclist Counts.

* 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: Second bicycling fatality in Chicago in 2012 occurs on Independence Day

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 7 (6 have been from hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 2 (both are described in this post)
Transit: 5

Updated July 5 at 0:09: The first bicycling fatality occurred on June 25, 2012. Thank you to reader Jim Krok for pointing this out in the comments. That crash’s victim was 11-year-old Christopher Fonseca, of the southwest part of Logan Square. He died 5 days after the crash happened on June 20, 2012. Moved the Street View map west one block to show the location of the crash according to a commenter who claims to have witnessed the crash. Read the comment below.

I was really hoping that 2012 would see 0 bicycling fatalities. Unfortunately, today, July 4th, an 81-year-old man crashed and side-swiped an automobile today in the Edgebrook neighborhood. He died less than two hours later. The Chicago Tribune reports:

Robert Vanpelt of the 6300 block of North Hiawatha Avenue was pronounced dead at 12:05 p.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The accident [crash!] happened on the 5100 block of West Devon Avenue at 10:40 a.m. as the man was cycling westbound in the middle of the street, said Chicago Police News Affairs officer Veejay Zala.

The bicyclist hit a Toyota 4-Runner SUV and was critically injured as he side-swiped the SUV. No citations are expected in the incident, Zala said.

The Chicago Tribune’s report doesn’t make it clear if the automobile Vanpelt crashed into was moving or parked; the report seems to blame the person cycling for the collision. A look at the Street View shows that there is no street parking and the road has qualities found most often in suburban communities: many driveways, no bike lanes, and no sidewalks (the south side has a sidewalk, though). The wide travel lanes and lack of automobile parking here are probably connected to higher-than-speed limit speeds.

See Robert’s page on Every Bicyclist Counts.

Open Street View in 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.