The Right to Ride
The city implements new fines for drivers to curb bicycle accidents
By: Matthew Kordonowy
You don't have to check with the weatherman to know when it's springtime in Chicago. One drive through the city after the warm weather hits and you see the restless bustle of downtown spring to life. The city is swarmed with tourists, runners, dog walkers, street vendors, street performers, musicians, and - most notably of all - bikers.
To many cyclists, taking to the streets in Chicago means taking a risk. Accordingly, on March 12, the Chicago City Council unanimously approved new laws that protect bicyclists' rights to the road by penalizing the drivers who don't respect them. The fines begin at $150 and are raised to $500 if the violation leads to a crash.
The Chicago Department of Transportation cited that between 2001 and 2005 there were 6,000 bicycle related accidents, which resulted in 30 deaths. The ordinances target four common driving behaviors that lead to many of these accidents. The new laws are:
-“Overtaking a Bicyclist at an Unsafe Distance” allows a minimum space of three feet for a driver to pass in front of a biker.
-“Opening a Vehicle Door into the Path of a Bicyclist” puts a fine to an existing Illinois law that prohibits opening a door into moving traffic. Most bikers know the act called “dooring” to have particularly violent consequences, many times killing the biker and/ or causing a major accident.
-“Turning Left or Right in Front of a Bicyclist” dictates that drivers must yield to bikers, like other motor vehicles, when making a left turn. The law adds that vehicles cannot cut off a biker in order to make a right turn.
-“Driving, Standing or Parking Bike Lanes or Marked Shared Lanes” increases the current minimum fine of $100 to $150 for clogging designated bike lanes.
The dooring law is especially consequential to taxi drivers, who can be fined if their passengers open the door on a biker.
Nate Kemphues, secretary of the Chicago Couriers Union, said that in the event of a dooring, “I think that both [the driver and the passenger] should be held responsible. It's his car… he should be making sure that no one is doing anything illegal. [But] the drivers can't be locking their doors, or that kind of holding somebody. It should be part of their standard mode of operation, to tell [their passengers] to get out on the curb side.”
As a part of Chicago's 2015 Bike Program, the new laws put an increased burden on drivers to keep the streets safe for cyclists. The program also includes mandatory bike safety instruction for those seeking a Chicago taxi license, provided through the Dept. of Consumer Services. Mayor Daley, an avid biker, supports the program “to make the City of Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the United States.”
For more information on the 2015 Bike Program, visit www.bike2015plan.org
did i just read this right? we are going to be responsible for our passengers braking laws?
this says that taxi drivers can be fined if their passengers open the door on a biker. how are we supposed to stop them from opening their door? are we now police officers?
This is total bull****. Another way for the city to **** with us. We are already tax collectors for their airport tax. Now they want us to prevent our passengers from not opening the street-side door?
