Personal Injury Law

Chicago to Implement New Pedestrian Safety Initiatives Targeting Illinois Drivers Who Fail to Yield at Crosswalks

This week, Chicago police officers will take more aggressive steps to promote Illinois pedestrian safety. They will pose as pedestrians crossing the street at intersections without stop signs and traffic signals and issue tickets to driver who fail to yield the right-of-way to them. Violators could face fines of up to $500.

A number of high-profile crosswalk enforcement operations are scheduled to occur at Nagle and Peterson Avenues, at 86th Street and Commercial Avenue, at 119th Street and Stewart Avenue, at 103rd Street and South Prairie Avenue, and at 86th Street and Commercial Avenue. More crosswalk stings are expected to occur every week through September near schools, shopping areas, senior citizen centers, and other areas with known track records of pedestrian-auto crashes.

There are Illinois lawmakers who want to take an even tougher stance against motorists who don?t yield to pedestrians. Currently, there is legislation moving through the Illinois Senate mandating that drivers not only yield to pedestrians in crosswalks but actually stop their vehicles. The measure has already been passed in the House. The City of Chicago, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, Access Living, and AARP Illinois are among those who support the ?must stop? bill.

According to recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pedestrian statistics, there are over 6,000 Illinois pedestrian-vehicle crashes that occur each year. Over the last three years, about 50% of these pedestrian accidents occured in Chicago.

The Illinois Department of Transportation reported 171 pedestrian deaths in the state in 2007. 98 of these deaths occurred in Chicago?s six counties, with 39 of them taking place in the city of Chicago. The Active Transportation Alliance says 40% of pedestrian-auto collisions that occurred in Chicago between 2005 and 2007 took place within 800 feet of schools, while another 30% occurred within 800 feet of parks.

CyberDriveIllinois.com lists a number of situations when a driver must yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian:

? Whenever a pedestrian is in an unmarked or marked crosswalk.
? When turning at an intersection.
? After stopping completely at a flashing red signal or a stop sign at an intersection.
? When making a legal turn on a red light.
? When a pedestrian is exiting or entering a highway or street from a building, an alley, a driveway, or a private road.
? When there are people walking or standing in work safety or highway construction zones.
? When a pedestrian is disabled.
? When a pedestrian steps into a crosswalk and the light has yet to change.
? When a pedestrian is walking in the crosswalk and the ?walk? signal is flashing.

Police crosswalk stings will target drivers who don't yield to pedestrians, Chicago Tribune, April 20, 2009

Rules of the Road, CyberDriveIllinois.com

Related Web Resources:
Chicago Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Full post as published by Chicago Injury Attorney Blog on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).