As memorial grows for 3-year-old Lily Grace, demands intensify to make streets safer for bicyclists in Chicago

Definitely need to improve cycling infrastructure.

But this incident underscores a broader danger to everyone including car people. This little girl was killed when an 18 wheeler drove on a side street and pinned her mother between its trailer and an illegally parked ComEd vehicle. Large semi trucks at best should be limited to streets such as Pulaski, Western, Peterson and 63rd Street.

18 wheelers were designed for interstate driving. Not city streets. Certainly not a mixed residential and small business street such as Leland.

When I was visiting recently I was waiting at the Damen stop and saw two different cars just stop in the bike lane like it was a parking spot. Even the cars going around them almost caused accidents the whole time and I can’t imagine what cyclists were supposed to do. It definitely needs to be physically blocked off.

Yeah all lanes need to be protected. I don't even take them most of the time because this city has so much goddamn street parking that I'm terrified of being doored

Biking in the loop reminded me of biking in downtown Houston. Bunch of potholes, crazy drivers who got way too close for comfort, barely any protected bike lanes...if any part of your city can be compared to Houston, it desperately needs improvement.

My biggest question is if the family can sue Com Ed for flagrant disregard for public safety by chronically blocking bike lanes.

Other things that need to improve:

• instant ticket for asshole uber drivers stopping in bike lanes or double parked or stopping anywhere they want because they have not been trained to not block traffic and don t give a f*** any driver that is not an asshole uber driver (can you tell I have a history with these people being the worst drivers on the planet) but you would need the cops to do something so not going to happen

• instant ticket for assholes with super loud mufflers, engine or music including (insert south park ref) on bikes that wake up my kids at midnight but you would need the cops to do something so not going to happen

• Instant tickets for assholes who leave their cars parked after 4pm blocking the lane and creating mile long jams but you would need the cops to do something so not going to happen

In fact all this crap could be improved with more tickets issued by cops but you would need the cops to do something so not going to happen

Did the world really get meaner and nastier within the last decade or were insane people always blaming literal infants for not understanding roads and traffic?

This is so sad. That poor little girl and her parents. 😢

I don’t bike much (or at all), so this didn’t even enter into my mind until I saw a similar comment on this subreddit:

If every biker on the road just started taking the lane, we’d suddenly have a great network of bike lanes within the next two years.

RIP

these roads are crazy… I’m a social worker but the most stressful part of my day is biking to work

I read the story and it is awful. I can not imagine the grief the parents have from their daughter's death being run over by a semi because a freaking comed van was double parked.

This is why I ll never ever take my kids on the back of a bicycle. There was a story two weeks ago about a mother who in the same way lost balance and the infant died and I can t stop thinking about this when I see kids in bike now and it scares me to death for my own babies

Just build protected bike lanes that are elevated from the street level but below the curb. If you can put paint down you can put down concrete barriers the same way. Fuck this car centric bullshit killing people and the planet. We have the geography and the density to make an American Amsterdam or Copenhagen. Just need some politicians to give a shit.

Also, Christ, bike lane stuff is cheap! Just build it so if a car tries to use bike lanes it ruins the car. Paint and flex posts ain’t it.

Lily was a light in this world and I will miss her.

I ride practically the entire length of Lincoln ave to get to work every day and the amount of delivery drivers and yuppies who just throw their car into the bike lane like it’s overflow parking is ridiculous. Just because you have flashing lights on doesn’t mean you’re not a nuisance or even a danger to me riding down the street

Thanks for all being here and recognizing that we can make this city safer for bikers and pedestrians. RIP RAFI & LILY

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Article Title: As memorial grows for 3-year-old Lily Grace, demands intensify to make streets safer for bicyclists in Chicago

That’s how I almost died in Fort Lauderdale when I was a kid. Landscaping truck was blocking the bike lane, I rode around it and almost got ran over by a speeding dump truck.

Have never seen my father so distressed and pissed.

Perhaps instead of discussing "dedicated bike lanes" we should refer to the project as creating "dedicated car lanes". It seems there are a lot of "car people" who hate the idea of dedicated bike lanes because cyclists are asshole who are always fucking up and getting in the way of cars.

Well, I've got great news for you, a dedicated bike lane keeps bikes out of the dedicated car lane too. The idea is a physical barrier that keeps the cars out of the bike lane and the bikes out of the car lane.

Not trying to pick on "car people", sometimes I am a car person and I definitely see a ton of dumb cyclist behavior. I'm mostly just pointing out how dumb it is to poo poo the dedicated bike lane idea because cyclists are a nuisance to car drivers.

High chance I’ll eventually be killed riding my bike in the city. It kinda sucks but that’s life. Least I can justify spending money on expensive lights and helmets for now.