Edgewater/Andersonville - Tap Into Your Community

• Dennis McGuire

  Bicyclists are out of control. Traffic laws and other rules of the road apply to them. Most (not all) of them pay no heed. Ticket away!

  • billeguerriero

    The thing is, more and more people are biking every day. Eventually we’re going to have to look past simply increasing fines and look forward to creating better bike outlets and infrastructure. Bicyclists tend to behave better with better roads and infrastructure.

    • Dennis McGuire

      That’s absolutely true. The new bike lanes along Dearborn in the South Loop are proof of it. The city created a dedicated bike lane and installed traffic signals just for cyclists. I see more cyclists obeying the law there than I’ve ever seen elsewhere.

      • Dell Cousins

        I was nearly hit a few weeks back by a bicyclist coming up Dearborn. Bikers seem to take stop signs and red lights as “suggestions.”

        Looking back, I did not even realize I was crossing a two-way bike lane on one-way Dearborn. This alone will result in regular pedestrian injuries.

        Not that “traveling in the correct direction” is a top priority for many bikers. Getting blindsided by a bike anywhere in the city is more likely than being blindsided by a car because most car drivers travel in the correct direction.

• billeguerriero

  I remember that years ago the fines for riding on the Sheridan Road sidewalks were steep and that police could also impound the bikes of those caught riding on the sidewalk. I’m all for the increased fine, but we’ll eventually have to look at building a better outlet/infrastructure for bicyclists who exit the lakeshore trail there (because there are more and more every day, esp. with the introduction of Divvy bikes).

  Also, it’s kinda funny that a 13-year-old has to cough up 200 bones for riding on a sidewalk, yet a 12-year-old can just ride away.

  • billeguerriero

    Ha, I stand corrected. If you’re 12 and get caught riding on the sidewalk–200 bucks.

• urbaneddie

  while i’m not against fines for biking on the sidewalk (on sheridan or elsewhere), in the 10 years i’ve lived on sheridan i’ve seen countless cyclists and ZERO enforcement. it’s not just people coming off the path at ardmore but people heading down sheridan (possibly to ardmore as well).

  we need better signs on sheridan more than anything. those painted-on sidewalk notices “no bicycles on sidewalk” are ineffective at best and wear off quickly. signs posted to alert everyone of the actual existence of the north/south bike paths on kenmore & winthrop would go much further than this.

  hopefully some day there will be an actual bike path on or closer to sheridan than the existing route to the west. but until then, better signs certainly won’t hurt.

• Jonathan

  If the city has agreed to increase fines for motorists, then they should also consider increasing the fines for motorists who drive in bike lanes on busy streets as well. I witness daily the safety of bikers compromised by these drivers.

  • Edgewater Jeff

    Since Sheridan doesn’t have a bike lane, I don’t think your point is really relevant to the story.

    • billeguerriero

      And Sheridan is too narrow and dangerous for bikes–so just walk your bike.

• Jonathan

  I meant to say increased fines for bikers, then…

• Edgewater Jeff

  In calendar 2013, I’ve been hit by a bike on the sidewalk, as has my wife and my 5 year old – all in 3 separate incidents. In all cases, the biker then continued to ride on the sidewalk afterwards, even after stopping. Thankfully, no one was hurt, although the incident with my son could have been much, much worse if the physics had been just slightly different.

  I am all for bikes in Chicago – they make sense in a dense urban setting. However, there are a small number of bikers that either ignore the bike-specific rules of the road or are ignorant of them. There needs to be both enforcement of the law and education of bikers so that they understand the law and the consequences of breaking it. Many bikers are great at self-policing, but that’s spotty process at best and certainly one that is subject to failure.

• DontbikeEdgewater

  I have never seen a dedicated bike lane in Edgewater. Are there any? When there is no bike infrastructure there are bound to be problems. Zero Bike lanes? That is an embarrassment for the community. I know from experience that trying to get to the Lakefront path on Bryn Mawr or biking on Broadway is deadly. Increasing fines on bikers is a backwards way to address the problem.

  • Edgewater Jeff

    There are dedicated bike lanes on Foster, Clark, Broadway and Bryn Mawr. The article above refers to the fact that the lakefront path continues on Kenmore and Winthrop. There is simply not enough room on Sheridan for the pedestrians, cars and bikers. Unfortunately, the only answer is to reroute the bikers.

    Since there have been 2 pedestrians killed by bikers in recent years on Sheridan, your argument is more of an embarrassment than the lack of bike lanes.

    • billeguerriero

      Didn’t know about the pedestrian fatalities. When did they occur? I don’t remember hearing about them in the news.

    • DontbikeEdgewater

      That is not true! There are not dedicated bike lanes on these streets. Clark has some paintings on the street that indicate shared lanes. There are zero bike lanes on Broadway and Bryn Mawr.

      Also, I cannot find any record of pedestrians being killed by bikers on Sheridan. Please point out some sources.

      Check Google maps and and turn on the bike lanes. You will find the only dedicated bike lanes are on Winthrop and Kenmore, at the end of the bike path.

    • billeguerriero

      There are no bike lanes on Broadway that I’m aware of and it’s particularly dangerous for bikes on Broadway north of Wilson. My advice to bike commuters would be to avoid Broadway and use a quieter north-south route.

      • duppie

        CDOT will be installing bike lanes, and a road diet on Broadway from Montrose to Foster. Scheduled to happen later this year.

        http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130801/uptown/protected-bike-lane-plans-for-broadway-underway

    • duppie

      Jeff,

      Can you be specific about pedestrian fatalities caused by bicyclists on Sheridan? I have not heard of any since I moved to Chicago (17 years ago). Links to news articles would work just fine.

      Until then I assume your statement is incorrect.

      • Edgewater Jeff

        How about a link to this very site? It’s the 7th comment down.

        http://www.edgevillebuzz.com/uncategorized/did-you-know

        I assume that you’ll now realize that elderly vs. bikes is A Problem.

        • duppie

          You point to an undated event (“several years ago”), posted by an anonymous poster on a marginally visited website, as proof that a pedestrian was killed by a cyclist?

          I will need actual newspaper links as proof. Why? Bicyclists striking and killing pedestrians are serious issues that generate a lot of publicity (and rightfully so!). The only time I know it happened in recent memory is in SF a few years back. The recent sentencing was national news.

          I am not arguing whether riding on the sidewalk poses a risk. But I do have concerns about using rumors and anonymous internet postings as proof that an issue exists.

• Scott Chasen

  the fine amount does not matter if it is not enforced, cops just watch

• mitch hudson

  signage and painting the continuation of the lane across Sheridan to alert both bikers and drivers that there is a bike lane there.