A 37-year-old electrician for the CTA, a 74-year-old retired teacher and architect, a 27-year-old Jewel-Osco employee getting home from work, an 85-year-old man crossing the street a block away from his apartment building, and 82-year-old woman crossing a crosswalk in Northfield and most recently a 39-year-old Niles man have died when they were hit by cars in the last couple of months in the northern suburbs. Some were walking and others were on bicycles.
Some public officials and advocates have noticed the cluster of tragedies and have planned responses to make streets safer for non-vehicle travelers. Most police departments in the northern suburbs cooperate with the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Major Crash Assessment Team (NORTAF MCAT) to investigate the causes of crashes.
Maggie Czerwinski is the Advocacy Manager at Active Transportation Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to making cycling and walking safer for everyone in the Chicago area.
“We’ve been hearing from our members in Niles, Skokie, Morton Grove, Glenview and Northfield that one crash impacts so many more people,” she said. “People are feeling anxiety and are feeling unsettled about all of these reports.”
“It could have been my brother, my sister, my mother, my father, my child, my friend, my co-workers, my neighbors or myself,” Czerwinski said. “It’s just something that we’re hearing a lot of concern from people that we’re directly in touch with in the areas.”
Morton Grove
Michael Rapp, 74, of Skokie, was crossing the intersection of Dempster Street and Lehigh Avenue on a bicycle on July 9 when he was struck by the driver of a 2013 Ford pickup truck, according to Morton Grove police. Rapp died not survive the crash and was declared dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Morton Grove Police Chief Miko Simo said that the intersection where Rapp was killed is “fairly safe.” “No engineering issues jumped out to us, so it seems if everybody follows the law, it’s a fairly safe intersection,” Simo said.
That area of Dempster Street intersects with a bike trail, the North Branch Trail System, on Cook County Forest Preserve District land.
Simo explained that the NORTAF MCAT teams investigate the evidence of the crash to independently verify what happened at the crash. The full investigation for the Dempster Street crash is not complete yet, Simo said, and the completion of one investigation can take a lengthy amount of time.
The Morton Grove Police Department will usually determine who is at fault in a car crash and hand out citations when appropriate, Simo said. The department also looks for engineering faults in order to consider improvements, he said.
Skokie
Carlos Arturo Medina, a 37-year-old electrician from Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, was killed in a hit-and-run incident by two vehicles in the 3500 block of Oakton Street on Aug. 6. One vehicle struck Medina from the center lane of Oakton Street and another vehicle struck Media a second time from the curb lane.
Nine days later, Joseph James Center, 27, died from injuries resulting from a traffic crash at the intersection of Gross Point Road and Skokie Boulevard. Center was traveling southbound on Gross Point Road when he was struck by a vehicle heading north on Aug. 15, according to Skokie police.
Skokie Police Chief Jesse Barnes said the department also collaborates with NORTAF to investigate the cause of a crash, and partners with the Illinois Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on enforcement campaigns throughout the year and major holidays to focus on issues including distracted driving, speeding, safety belts and impaired driving.
The department also hosts bike safety events during National Bike Safety Month in May.
Charlie Saxe, the co-founder of the Skokie Bicycle Network, a grassroots organization dedicated to making cycling in Skokie safer, and a commissioner on the village of Skokie’s Environmental Sustainability Commission, said he has seen increased dangers for cyclists in the area after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are a couple of things that happened. One, COVID-19 came and people started driving faster, so we had more speed. I also think a big contributing factor, although it’s hard to get data on this, but I think distracted driving is a huge problem (post-COVID),” Saxe said as he stood on the corner of Crawford Road and Touhy Avenue during a morning rush hour period, and to his estimation about 25 to 40% of drivers were on their phone while passing through the intersection.
“(Crashes) are not unavoidable,” Saxe said. “It’s a situation that we can change. We don’t have to accept this kind of condition. The very dangerous nature of our streets is a decision that we’ve made. It’s something we’ve decided to do, and we can decide to do something differently.”
The department and Skokie Bike Network also participate in an annual Ride of Silence in May to honor the victims of cyclists killed in traffic crashes. The Skokie Bicycle Network also put out a statement in response to the deaths in the northern suburbs, with specific suggestions on how to make Skokie streets safer. The suggestions included lowering the speed limits of residential streets and McCormick Boulevard and other village-wide initiatives to make Skokie roadways more bike-friendly.
Niles:
Yalda Shabou, an 85-year-old Niles resident of the Huntington Apartments in the 9200 block of North Maryland Street, was crossing Milwaukee Avenue on Church Street on June 16 when he was struck and killed by a 2017 Toyota RAV 4 driven by a 66-year-old Northbrook man, according to Niles police.
Nearly two weeks after the incident, the Niles Police Department initiated a Data-Driven Crash Reduction Initiative to reduce car crashes in areas of Niles that have the highest number of crashes, according to Niles Deputy Police Chief Nick Zakula. The department’s patrol staff and traffic unit have begun using data to enforce in areas that have higher rates of traffic violations including speeding, distracted driving, disobeying traffic control signals, improper lane usage, and vehicles following too closely, to prevent future accidents.
Peggy Reins, a member of the Village of Niles’ Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Advisory Group and a member of the Board of Directors of the Active Transportation Alliance and Bike Walk Niles, a local cycling advocacy group, said she brought up her concern to the village that the Milwaukee Avenue clearance time for a pedestrian to cross the street was too short, particularly with the Huntington Apartments, a Cook County Housing Authority development serving seniors and people with disabilities, being so close to the intersection.
Reins was told that the village reached out to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Milwaukee Avenue, which in turn increased the stoplight’s length.
“The change in clearance time was a small win for safer streets, but much more needs to be done,” Reins said. “Advocates must press their communities to follow through on the Complete Streets policies (villages) have adopted–not cave to the interests of a few–and consider all roadway users when street improvements are made.”
Obstacles and Opportunities
When asked what challenges advocates have when advocating for safer streets, Czerwinski said that sometimes community groups will organize to keep roads only for vehicles.
“Often times, people just don’t want to change something and they’re afraid that they don’t really understand what the change is going to entail.”
Other times, community groups will also want priorities for parked vehicles and faster traffic.
Czerwinski said that organizing can also be challenging because of the different levels of bureaucracy, with local municipalities, Cook County and Illinois having control of different roads that also connect to each other.
Czerwinski said people can help advocate for safer street designs by reaching out to local elected officials, city designers and engineers, as well as joining local advocacy groups like Bike Walk Niles and the Skokie Bicycle Network.
“When you have a group, you’re just a stronger voice,” she said. “So getting involved in a group, or forming your own, can help get the point across more.”