Category: Bike Law Illinois
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Chicago Bike Shop Continues Fight Against Wealthy Condo Owners
There are things the world needs less of. Poverty. Traffic. Condominiums. Bike shops would not make the list. Fixers and sellers of bicycles are folks who only the most irascible curmudgeon would wish to see fewer in number. Yet, battle lines have been drawn in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood between the owners of high end…
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Door Zones: A Dangerous Game of Russian Roulette For Cyclists
Advocacy / Bike Law Canada / Bike Law Colorado / Bike Law Illinois / Bike Law Louisiana / Bike Law New York / Bike Law USA
Dooring crashes. You know the danger if you live in any U.S. or Canadian city where older roads have been retrofitted with bike lanes. Those bike facilities are often shoehorned into the space next to car parking. When car passengers open their door without looking, they can hit passing bikers. Here’s how Daniel Flanzig, a…
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Bike Law Attorney Fights “Recreational Property” Status for Chicago Bike Lanes
Illinois Bike Law attorney Brendan Kevenides made the news last week in his legal fight to block Chicago from calling its bike lanes “recreational property.” Brendan is representing a 35-year-old cyclist who was seriously injured in 2014 when she hit a sinkhole in a bike lane on North Damien Street. The cyclist’s injuries included facial scars and…
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Chicago Cannot Deny Responsibility For Bike Lane Hazards
In a hearing last week in the Circuit Court of Cook County the City of Chicago sought to have all of the bicycle lanes installed throughout the City declared “recreational facilities.” The effect of this creative legal maneuver would have been to immunize the municipality for injuries to bicyclists caused by the City’s failure to…
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Resolution of a Case That Highlights Car Door Danger
“Your client has a duty to pay attention to where she is going.” That was the response we received from an insurance company after its driver doored a woman whom we represented as she rode her bicycle on a residential road in Chicago last summer. The 39 year old business owner, wife and mom sustained…
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Loop Link BRT; First Impressions.
By Jim Freeman Chicagoans who work in the loop have been enduring construction on Madison and Washington for the last several months. We’ve seen bus station islands emerge from what was the middle of the street. Now complete, the stations’ roof resembles the rib cage of some prehistoric animal. The glass ceilings lifted with steel…
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Hit and Run Driver Leaves License Plate Behind, Pays In the End
Here’s a tip for any would-be hit and run drivers out there: Make sure you do not leave your vehicle’s license plate at the scene before you flee. We will find you. That’s what happened after a husband and wife struck a Chicago bicyclist at the intersection of North Franklin Street and West Hubbard Street. Recently,…
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Cook County Illinois Jury Finds For Injured Bicyclist Ticketed By Police
After deliberating for more than five and a half hours on Friday, a Cook County jury decided to compensate a male bicyclist injured in a 2011 collision with an SUV in Palos Heights. Our firm represented the cyclist at the week-long trial. The case was a tough one and the verdict of $37,000 reflects the jury’s finding…
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Taxi Driver Flees Crash With Chicago Bicyclist, Later Pays
A taxi driver who fled the scene after striking a Chicago bicyclist from behind in Wicker Park could not escape accountability. The driver, Tilek Tulemyshev, and the cab company, Best Cab Corp, have paid $300,000 to the injured biker, a 33 year old airline attendant, following a lawsuit filed against them by FK Law. On September…
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Quick Thinking Chicago Bicyclist Snaps Photo of Vehicle That Hit Him, Helps His Own Case
He thought he got away with it. When the driver of an Infiniti SUV struck a Chicago bicyclist earlier this year, fracturing his collar bone, he chose to flee. What he did not count on was the bicyclist, a 35 year old Chicago pastry chef, having the wherewithal to snap a photo of his license…
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Ignore NPR, Bicycling Is Safe
An irresponsible piece of journalism about biking injuries and deaths was published yesterday by National Public Radio under the headline, As More Adults Pedal, Their Biking Injuries and Deaths Spike, Too. The story noted the fact that the number of people biking regularly has substantially increased over the past several years, while spotlighting a “striking”…
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Drivers May Be Liable When A “Near Miss” Causes Injury
To horseshoes and hand grenades I would add bicycling in traffic to the list of activities in which close may be enough to do damage. While riding a bike, coming close to physical contact with a vehicle, i.e. a car door, may be enough to cause a crash and serious injury. In a video making…
