Chicago Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

During my career as a personal injury attorney in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, I have represented numerous individuals who have been struck by vehicles while they were crossing the street in the crosswalk, which is supposed to be a zone of safety.

Pedestrian safety is now on the agenda in the City of Chicago. Under the law, a motorist must yield to a pedestrian who has entered the crosswalk. At crossings with traffic lights, motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians must obey their signal. At stop signs, pedestrians have the right of way, unless they begin crossing the street after the car has legally stopped and begun to proceed across the street. The City is planning on cracking down on drivers who do not yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

The City's plan consists of "at least 50" operations involving undercover police officers posing as pedestrians. Fines for violators will range from $50 to $500.

Sadly, last year alone, there were more than 3,000 pedestrian-related accidents on Chicago streets. More than 50 of them resulted in pedestrian fatalities, an average of one a week.

The first two-hour sting will take place April 20, with at least two a week through the end of this year. The locations of the undercover operations have not been revealed yet, bu tthey will be publicized in order to give motorists fair warning.

Each of the city's 25 police districts will get at least two stings at crosswalks near schools, senior housing and commercial districts. Most if not all of the locations will be "at or within a few blocks" of the site of a pedestrian crash in 2006 or 2007. The worst intersection in Chicago for pedestrian accidents is King Drive and 79th Street, with 13 accidents over a two-year period ending in 2005. That's followed by 79th and Ashland (11); North and California (10), and Madison and Cicero (9).