| Ch.G, Ch.G |
Feb 17, 2009 4:30 PM |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...692,full.story
Quote:
Pedestrian deaths in Chicago are up despite safety measures
Agency looking into reasons for 56 fatalities in 2008
By Tracy Swartz | RedEye
February 17, 2009
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in Chicago, despite increased safety measures such as red-light cameras, countdown signals and crosswalk awareness initiatives.
Fifty-six pedestrian fatalities were logged last year—up from 49 deaths in 2007 and 48 deaths in 2006. Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Steele said the agency is reviewing the reasons behind the uptick but said in certain cases, problems with pavement markings, faulty signage and construction projects may be to blame.
Steele also pointed to an increase in pedestrians in Chicago—named the country's fourth most walkable large city in 2008 by Walk Score.
Still, Steele said, "One fatality is one too many. Fifty-odd pedestrian fatalities is close to an average of one a week, and that's far too many. We're committed to this, and the most difficult part of this is changing driver behavior."
A RedEye analysis of pedestrian fatality data provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation revealed deaths occurred across the city, but there were clusters of fatal crashes at intersections along Lake Shore Drive, Stony Island Avenue, Madison Street and Ashland Avenue. RedEye found problems persist at intersections that employ even the costliest safeguards.
One of these hot spots is the intersection of Chicago and Cicero Avenues. Children are constantly crossing the thoroughfare, which is near an elementary school. A nearby health clinic run by Cook County draws a fair amount of foot and motorist traffic to the area. Two major CTA routes, the No. 66-Chicago Avenue bus and the No. 54-Cicero Avenue bus, also cross paths there.
When Stormi Davis crosses the intersection, she doesn't walk—she jogs.
"You're taking a chance with that light," said Davis, 21, who lives in Austin. "It's just hectic traffic. Like being on the expressway."
But motorists shouldn't shoulder all the blame, said Jansen "John" Daoud, who runs a convenience store that faces the Chicago-Cicero intersection.
"Kids and adults cross ... illegally," said Daoud of Skokie. "Then cars come too fast."
Daoud says he sees two to three accidents there a week, including some that involve pedestrians.
Last year, there were 29 calls to 311 about the Chicago-Cicero intersection, said Jennifer Martinez, spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Residents phoned about potholes, street marking paint requests, malfunctioning traffic and street lights and traffic issues.
The city tried to address some traffic issues by installing a red-light camera there in 2007. Two pedestrians died at or near that intersection in separate cases in 2008.
In October, a motorist gunned the engine to hit a pedestrian, Steele said, citing police reports that suggested the death may have been a homicide. In June, a child was hit by a car near the intersection.
After a pedestrian death, CDOT goes to the crash site and tries to determine what caused the fatality, Steele said. In some cases, CDOT has replaced a traffic signal with a signal that has a timed countdown for pedestrians, repainted crosswalks so the lines were more visible and added signs.
On residential streets, the department plans to employ more traffic-calming measures, including traffic circles in the center of intersections, Steele said.
On busier thoroughfares, the department is looking into implementing small "pedestrian refuge islands" in the medians of roadways. Pedestrians who can't cross all the way before a light changes would be able to wait on one of these islands—which can be raised concrete or street-level partitions—until they get the right of way, Steele said.
But improving crosswalks for pedestrians doesn't come cheap.
•A red-light camera costs $24,500. The city's new contract with Redflex called for more installations, which lowered the unit price of the camera from $100,000, Martinez said.
There are 133 red-light cameras across Chicago, and the city plans to install about 50 more this year, Martinez said.
"We do feel like it's creating safer intersections," she said. "We've seen a 59 percent average reduction in red-light running. That means safer motorists and safer residents."
•New signs cost $60 to $75 to manufacture and install, Steele said, and most installations require multiple signs.
•A $27,000 grant from IDOT paid for crosswalk awareness initiatives at two intersections on the Northwest Side last year. Chicago police pulled over and warned 179 motorists for failing to yield to undercover officers posing as pedestrians at the intersections of Belmont and Lawndale Avenues and Milwaukee and Lawndale Avenues.
Police Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said 48 similar initiatives are planned for this year, but she declined to say where and when they will occur.
•Repainting a crosswalk for a 40-foot-wide street (one lane in each direction, plus parking lanes) costs $150 to $525 per crosswalk and $600 to $2,100 per intersection, Steele said. Wider arterial streets would cost more to repaint, Steele said.
The city restriped the crosswalks at Roosevelt Road and State Street in 2008, Steele said. The South Loop intersection is a hotbed for traffic. The Roosevelt train station for the CTA's Red, Green and Orange Lines is near the intersection.
A pedestrian, "apparently intoxicated," was struck by a car there last year after repeatedly running across the street, Steele said.
The intersection is set this month to get a new signal-timing device that increases the duration of the flashing "don't walk" sign, he said.
There's also a red-light camera there, but that doesn't seem to slow cars down, said Mare Deros, 24, of Berwyn, who crosses the intersection by foot three or four times a week — and drives through even more frequently—to go to work.
"That doesn't help at all," Deros said.
tswartz@tribune.com
|
|
Prev