Chicago Cycling

In the News – Week of June 8th

July 12, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

City Seeking Feedback on Pilot Scooter Program

In light of the city’s recent start to its four-month pilot scooter program, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) is asking for residents of Chicago to report any scooter issues they see. According to Curbed – Chicago, individuals may use the 311 website or mobile app to report their concerns. To report an issue, go to the website and find the “E-Scooter” category, from there you will be able to report your issue.

As we have previously written, the introduction of Chicago’s pilot scooter program has gotten off to a very troubled start. Not only have there been countless reports of misconduct with the scooters, but the scooters are already proving to be far more dangerous than many believe them to be. Last month, just within weeks of the launch of the scooter program, a pedestrian was actually hit by an e-scooter rider in the city. As a result of the accident, he was found unresponsive and now has trouble speaking after being forced to undergo a procedure to his jaw. Ultimately, this is to say that the scooters are continuing to pose a significant risk not only scooter riders, but pedestrians as well. Be sure to report if you see any issues in your neighborhood as the more we can make city officials aware of misconduct, the safer both riders and pedestrians will be.

Divvy Set to Expand to the Far South Side

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Divvy bikes in now set to begin expanding to the Far South Side after Lyft invested $50 million into the bike-sharing system. In addition, Lyft has decided to add 10,500 new electric-assist bikes to the city. This is big news for the entire city as it means that bike-sharing will now seek to cover each area of the city, essentially providing forms of transportation sharing ranging from ride-share, bike-share, and more recently, scooter-share. What’s more, it appears the city is inclined to ensure that these bikes are appropriately placed and integrated into new areas throughout the city with specific intent, rather than just to provide a mere presence.

The Chicago Tribune had the opportunity to speak with Sue Hofer, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. Sue stated, “We’re going to community meetings, where people will say, ‘I think it makes more sense in front of the grocery store than in front of the bar.’” Overall, we can hope that the more communities are involved prior to the installation of these docking stations, the safer the process will be. At this time, the initial community meetings have yet to secure select dates and times for the community to gather.

Nashville Bans Electric Scooters After Man is Killed

June 24, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Nashville wants scooters out until there is more oversight

Nashville mayor, David Briley, took to Twitter last Friday to announce he was submitting a recommendation to the City’s Metro Council to enact legislation that would immediately terminate its shared urban mobility device (SUMD) pilot program, effectively removing all ride-share electric scooters from the streets until further review and oversight of numbers, safety, and accessibility is completed.

As reported by the Tennessean, the crash that caused the injuries that led to the death of a 26 year old man in Nashville occurred on May 16, 2019. Three days later he was pronounced dead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. According to police, a witness reported seeing the man make an improper left turn after leaving the sidewalk and entering the roadway into the path of an SUV. A toxicology report stated that the man’s blood alcohol content was at 0.198% on the night the crash happened.

Electric Scooters aren’t generally allowed on sidewalks

These electric scooters are meant to be used within bicycle lanes and there was such a lane present in the area where the crash occurred. Riders are not permitted to operate the scooters on sidewalks in Nashville’s business district where this incident happened, according to local police. After the man’s death, his family posted a petition online calling for a ban on SUMD scooters in Nashville.

Regardless of how the crash occurred, drivers have a duty to keep a proper lookout for pedestrians, bicycles, and scooters. And, all people traveling on roads should use reasonable caution to avoid collisions. Electric scooters add an extra element to traffic that make the roads that much more congested. There were 8 companies participating in Nashville’s scooter-share pilot program. Chicago has 10 vendors supplying a combined total of 2,500 e-scooters. However, Chicago isn’t letting them go downtown yet, maybe not ever.

Is downtown the best place for e-scooters?

High traffic areas, like business districts and downtowns, may require more planning on the part of municipalities to make sure that these programs are introduced with safety in mind. Getting somewhere faster, cheaper, and easier sounds great, but that doesn’t matter if riders are more likely to get injured.

The question is, are scooters meant to be a replacement for other forms of urban transportation, or are they meant to be a go-between to allow people to travel from more residential areas to other forms of transit more quickly and cheaply? The go-between model seems to make more sense and that’s the approach Chicago is taking. Mary Wisniewski included a map in her Tribune article on the arrival of e-scooters in Chicago showing where the City will allow these devices to operate this summer. The neighborhoods, as opposed to the loop, may be a better fit for Chicago, which already has a lot of ride share vehicles taking people from place to place in addition to the busses and trains that already service passengers. People who need to get from their home to an L-stop may find a scooter more convenient than walking, hailing a cab, or ride-share. Yet, in these less congested areas, both scooter riders and automobile drivers need to keep a proper lookout for each other to avoid collisions as they share the road.

The bottom line is, no matter if you’re walking, biking, riding, or driving, it’s important to pay attention to other people on the roadway. That means keeping off cell phones and getting a ride from someone else if you’re tired or had too much to drink. And, with decriminalized marijuana coming to Illinois, fellow travelers need to add cannabis to the list of things not to combine with operating a vehicle. Safety should be foremost in everyone’s mind wherever they go.

Are helmets a false sense of security?

July 20, 2017 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

While the public continues to scrutinize the world of football for its high concussion rates, one thing’s clear: the development of safer equipment is finally catching up to the modern era. But these new developments often neglect that helmets aren’t foolproof; no matter how much impact a helmet might absorb, the fact remains that helmets are mostly a false sense of security.

Now let’s take a closer look at cyclists. The perception that cycling is safe as long as you wear a helmet is a scenario similar to that of football players, perpetuating a false sense of security and ignoring the need to learn safe-riding skills; you wouldn’t give a driver’s license to a teenager simply because they know how to use a seat belt, so why should it be different for those riding bikes?

Controversy swirls around the debate over whether helmets actually benefit cyclists in the long run. In the 1990s when helmet usage began to increase in the U.S., the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that head injuries among cyclists increased by 51 percent, despite the fact that the total number of riders decreased. While it’s not clear what caused the spike, the statistics underline the idea that helmets, while beneficial, are not foolproof or even effective. More important is the need for cyclists to understand and put to practice the techniques of defensive riding.

As more people study the types of problems associated with helmet use, football seems to have found a way to address the issue by changing how the game is played. It’s notable that football coaches are beginning to take a page from the book of rugby and force their players to tackle opponents without making head contact, as if they had no helmets at all. Many speculate that it would change the game for the better, eliminating or at the very least minimizing severe head injuries by discouraging helmet-to-helmet contact.

The same type of techniques should theoretically apply to cyclists by prioritizing safe-riding skills instead of creating a dependency on helmets alone. The state legislature continues to pass bike helmet laws that, ironically, draw attention away from the need to teach safe-riding skills. If we’re serious about making the roads better, it starts with better education.

Chicago’s cycling initiative takes aim at South and West side

June 9, 2017 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Free lessons this summer highlight the city’s ride-sharing program

Since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011, Chicago has installed 115 miles of protected bike lanes to pair with 300 miles of on-street bikeways and trails. The message from the mayor’s office seems clear: Chicago is a biking town, and it’s got more room to grow. That growth appears headed for the city’s South and West sides.

Between June 12-August 28, the Chicago Department of Transportation is offering free, two-hour bike riding classes for adults at the Center for Green Technology and Kennedy King College, part of an effort to highlight the Divvy ride-sharing program. Bicycling Ambassadors will provide instruction, and, in the words of the city, “encourage adults who have never ridden a bike or not ridden bikes recently to feel comfortable riding a bike on the city’s streets.”

The classes may be part of a broad marketing campaign in coordination with Divvy sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield (which will be giving out free helmets), but it’s an honest one that looks to correct one of it’s biggest criticisms. Divvy has expanded in recent years, completing its second major renovation in 2016 by adding 85 new bikes stations around town. Yet despite having at least 580 stations and 5,800 bikes total, according to information provided by the city, people like Bernard Lloyd, co-founder of Bronzeville Bikes, and community activist Dolores Lucas, believe that Divvy figures more prominently in places like Lakeview and Lincoln Park, whereas it’s mostly an afterthought in minority neighborhoods like Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale, and Archer Heights.

Offering free classes on the South and West side isn’t going to fix the discrepancy overnight, but it does move the needle in the right direction. What’s more, it’s an opportunity for people to take advantage of a program that’s trending upward. In the long-term, that means at least two things: the city’s status as one of the best cycling cities in the country will remain intact, and perhaps, we’ll begin to see a residual effect as it pertains to safety.

Back in 2015, the Bicycle Advisory Council crafted a plan that aims to reduce the number of bicycling fatalities by 50 percent from where it stands now. To do that, part of the plan includes creating a cycling network, serving all residents and neighborhoods. In theory, that means more cyclists and more changes to the infrastructure of the city.

Divvy is the one of largest ride-sharing program in North America, and some 10 million trips have been taken since its launch in 2013. Hopefully, we’ll add more to that total soon.