The epidemic in Chicago’s rising number of fatal pedestrian accidents is a crisis facing much of our country. More and more pedestrians are being killed in motor vehicle collisions in the United States each year.
According to the Department of Transportation (“DOT”), not only are motor vehicle accidents “…one of the leading causes of unintentional death in the United States,” but a significant percentage of these crashes occur where pedestrians are killed or seriously injured. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (“IIHS”) warns us that: “[p]edestrian motor vehicle crash deaths have increased 59 percent since reaching their low point in 2009 and account for 17 percent of crash fatalities.”
We know from news reports that Chicago is suffering a pedestrian death each week in 2023, and several factors contribute to the unacceptably high number of Chicago pedestrian accidents. Read, Why is Chicago So Deadly for Pedestrians? and Chicago Pedestrian Accidents: How Dangerous Are Chicago Streets?
A critical issue remains: what are the main reasons for all these tragedies? What causes so many people to die in a pedestrian accident where an individual is struck by a moving motor vehicle?
Flawed Infrastructure Design: Unsafe Streets
One core problem, especially for Chicago, is our existing roadway infrastructure. Street design is unbelievably dangerous for pedestrians, especially for many of our intersections. Three intersections in Chicago are some of deadliest intersections in the country according to a recent Inrix study. They are: South Rockwell and West Cermak Road; North Fairbanks Court and East Erie; and West Diversey. See, “Inrix: City Crash Rates,“ written by Bob Pishue, Transportation Analyst and published in October 2022, page 4.
What can be done when Chicago faces unsafe street design? From the DOT comes the following suggestions in making streets safer for both pedestrians and bicyclists:
Design safer streets that protect all users of the transportation system, particularly vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Potential safety improvements include design elements such as speed bumps or traffic circles to reduce vehicle speeds. Other elements include bicycle lanes and sidewalks that create a dedicated travel space for cyclists and pedestrians.
The IIHS also suggests changes in road engineering and design that includes:
- Separating vehicles from pedestrians through (1) sidewalks, (2) refuge islands, (3) overpasses and underpasses, and (4) barriers;
- Increasing street illumination through things like (1) improved signal timing at intersections, and (2) beacons that note pedestrians entering a crosswalk and then immediately alert drivers to stop, giving the pedestrian the right-of-way; and
- Lowering speed limits.
Alcohol: Drunk Drivers, Buzzed Pedestrians
Sadly, alcohol is all too often a cause of a pedestrian accident today. When studying pedestrian fatalities, the federal government defines “alcohol involvement” as “whether alcohol was consumed by the driver and/or the pedestrian prior to the crash; the presence of alcohol may or may not be a contributing factor in the crash.” Read National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2021, May). Pedestrians: 2019 data (Traffic Safety Facts. Report No. DOT HS 813 079). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), almost half (46%) of all fatal pedestrian accidents with alcohol involvement in 2019 had either a driver or a pedestrian with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit. The CDC reports that in one-third of these accidents, it was the pedestrian who tested at a high BAC.
For more on drunk driving accidents, read:
- Factors in Drunk Driving Fatal Car Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
- Drunk Driving Accidents in Indiana and Illinois: Danger of a Fatal DUI Crash.
Speeding
The faster the motor vehicle moves at the time of impact with the pedestrian, the more likely that the individual will perish as a result of bodily injuries sustained in the accident. Read, Nassiri H, Mohammadpour SI. Investigating speed-safety association: Considering the unobserved heterogeneity and human factors mediation effects. PLoS One. 2023 Feb 21;18(2):e0281951. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281951. PMID: 36809530; PMCID: PMC9943019.
Research into “speed-crash risk relationships” confirms that Chicago drivers that are speeding on our roadways are much more likely to kill a pedestrian in a pedestrian collision.
For more on speeding and motor vehicle accidents, read:
- Speeding Causes Almost Half of All Fatal Car Crashes in Illinois (Around 25% in Indiana)
- Speeding Kills: Driving Over the Speed Limit Still Causes Too Many Fatal Crashes in Indiana and Illinois.
Failure to Obey Illinois Traffic Safety Laws
The impact that disrespect or disregard of state safety laws and insufficient enforcement of those laws by local law enforcement is another reason for the high number of pedestrian accidents, according to DOT.
Chicago drivers have specific traffic safety laws in place that, if followed, would omit many of the pedestrian collisions in the research databases. Existing Illinois statutes include the following safeguards as provided by the Illinois Secretary of State, which if obeyed by Chicago drivers would protect Chicagoans from deadly pedestrian accidents:
- Drivers and pedestrians both are responsible for traffic safety. Drivers should always be prepared to yield the right-of-way and should not drive unnecessarily close to pedestrians.
- When approaching a pedestrian with a disability who is utilizing a guide dog, a white cane, a wheelchair or other assistive device on a sidewalk or roadway, the pedestrian has the right-of-way and is granted the same rights as any pedestrian.
- A driver must come to a complete stop (and yield):
- When a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk.
- On school days, when children are in close proximity to a school zone crosswalk.
- A driver must yield to a pedestrian:
- When a pedestrian is in an unmarked crosswalk on the driver’s side of the roadway and there are no traffic control signals.
- When making a turn at any intersection.
- When making a lawful turn on a red light after coming to a complete stop.
- After coming to a complete stop at a stop sign or flashing red signal at an intersection.
- When a pedestrian enters a crosswalk before the traffic light changed.
- When a pedestrian is walking with a green light, to a walking person symbol or a walk signal.
- When a pedestrian is leaving or entering a street or highway from an alley, building, private road or driveway.
- When a pedestrian is entering an intersection with a flashing yellow arrow.
There are laws on the books designed to protect pedestrians from harm. Drivers either being ignorant of these laws or failing to obey them is often the cause of Chicago’s fatal pedestrian accident crisis.
Causes of Chicago Pedestrian Accidents and Victim’s Claims for Justice
Each deadly pedestrian accident in the Windy City where an accident victim does not survive their injuries deserves individual and independent investigation into the reasons why the tragedy happened.
These investigations may need the involvement of expert accident reconstruction specialists to learn the causes of the crash. Things like speeding, as well as buzzed driving or driving under the influence of alcohol, may show the driver to be negligent and the cause of the victim’s harm. Flaws in the roadway design or infrastructure, as well as other circumstances of the case, may establish claims where other defendants may be found to be legally liable, as well.
The pedestrians of Chicagoland, especially our senior citizens and schoolchildren, deserve better than the realities that exist today. Our roads are too dangerous for Chicago pedestrians, and this must change.
We must all work together to make Chicago streets safer for everyone. This may include civil claims filed in our courts that spotlight the failure of drivers to obey existing state statutes as well as the failure of other parties to comply with their legally defined duties of care and safety, where heartbreak is the result.
For more, read:
- Liable for Drunk Driving Accidents in Indiana and Illinois: Social Party Hosts, Bars, Restaurants
- Road Infrastructure, Traffic Congestion, and Fatal Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
- Fight To Stop Fatal Pedestrian Accidents: Federal Government’s Action Plan Begins Immediately
- Protecting against a Fatal Pedestrian Accident in Indiana and Illinois
- Fatal Accidents and Wrongful Death Lawsuits in Indiana and Illinois.
Chicago streets are far too dangerous today for all pedestrians. Anyone walking on our streets must understand the dangers involved for all Chicagoans. Please be careful out there!
