$150 to $500 fines possible under new bicycle ordinance

How will this be enforced?

so the motorists get penalized for the idiot bicycle riders that flaunt the law! I mean the racer (illegal at that) running a red light and gets hit...come on....whose fault was it that he decided to race.
I guess I will be attaching a big fog horn to my car to blow at the cyclists that don't obey the rules of the road and that includes one the wrong way down a one way street.

With stern warnings and letters home to parents, of course. They should "clamp down" on bike dorks, too, though that's probably less enforceable.

while i agree motor vehicles should be more careful, let me emphasize two points from the article:

unofficial street race &
crossing against a red light

cyclists have just as much obligation to follow traffic rules

This is insane. The city streets are already too congested with "bike lanes" built into them, even though the bike lanes don't leave enough rooms for cars to navigate. Now we have to add even more of a buffer between the car and the cyclist. Since there isn't enough space for another 3-foot buffer, then cars will have to cross the middle line to the other side of the road in order to avoid the cyclist or be fined. Just look at the width of the bike lanes, add three feet, and you will see that cars are driving on the opposite side of the road because of this stupid law.

I also want to know how this will be enforced...and I would also like to know how they will measure 3ft between biker and driver...considering a lot of times, the bikers ride the line closest to moving traffic...does that mean that drivers need to move closer to oncoming traffic? Things need to be done...but at the same time that biker that died last month was because he failed to follow the rules of the road. Are bikers going to get fined as well now? especially when they run red lights? just seems a bit one sided since our mayor is "an avid bike rider."

How about fining bicyclists for going through red lights and almost hitting pedestrians? Or riding on the sidewalk? What happen to that ordinance? As someone who walks 6 miles a day, I can't tell you how many times I've almost been hit by bicyclists who obviously don't care or don't feel the need to follow the rules.

It should be required from all "street bicyclists" to have lights installed on their bicycles for their evening, night or early morning rides. It's ridiculous how irresponsible some people can be. A few dollars spent for the light can save lives. As an early ( 6 a.m.) morning car driver I've witnessed some bike riders on their bikes in the dark with no lights and once almost hit one.

How about a link to the actual ordinance that tells me the exact law instead of one that it is similar to.

Just curious, is there a fine for a bicyclist that passes a stopped car with less than 3 ft to spare?

I don't have concrete numbers to back this up, but I'd bet that more than half of the Car vs. Bike accidents quoted in the ordinance summary were caused by the cyclist.

Ease up on the cyclists here! We know there are bad cyclists. There are also terrible drivers out there who seem to think that the road belongs only to them. If nothing else, these laws should help by making negligence on the part of motorists far easier to prove when they are trying to recover their $5K in medical bills caused because some dimwit didn't check their mirror or glance over their shoulder when they open their car door, or thinks they can turn right in front of the biker parallel to them.

I wonder, however, whether or not these new laws, good intentioned as they are, will be enforced at all. Seems to me there wouldn't be very much need for new laws if Chicago's cops had any interest in enforcing traffic laws whatsoever, for either the motorists or the cyclists.

how many pedestrians have been practically run down by cyclists not stopping at stop signs. I see it happen almost everyday.

Great I wish they would do something about people on bikes riding on the sidewalk; especially on Wacker Drive during evening rush hour. It's not fun getting clipped because they are afraid to ride in the street as they are supposed to do.

excuse me wrote:

I also want to know how this will be enforced...and I would also like to know how they will measure 3ft between biker and driver...considering a lot of times, the bikers ride the line closest to moving traffic...does that mean that drivers need to move closer to oncoming traffic? Things need to be done...but at the same time that biker that died last month was because he failed to follow the rules of the road. Are bikers going to get fined as well now? especially when they run red lights? just seems a bit one sided since our mayor is "an avid bike rider."

Our Mayor is an Idiot!

reader1 wrote:

so the motorists get penalized for the idiot bicycle riders that flaunt the law! I mean the racer (illegal at that) running a red light and gets hit...come on....whose fault was it ...

I agree. This is ridiculous!!!! The bike rider in that incident clearly and obviously was blatantly disobeying the law. I really felt bad for the driver who hit him. It was not her fault.

But I've had bikers riding so close to my car - on the left - that I couldn't even see them. I've ALMOST opened my car doors right in front of them because they don't let you know they're there - on your left (again).

I've been sideswiped by them riding on sidewalks when I was walking. I've seen them run stoplights and stop signs as thought they weren't even there.

They're small and quiet. It's up to them to follow the rules of the road and be aware that sometimes drivers just can't see them.

They disobey every traffic rule in the book and it's the DRIVER'S fault?????????

What about the crazy bicyclists who ignore the roals of the road?

Driver wrote:

Another example of a stupid, unenforcable law. While driving, if I have to make a choice between hitting a cyclist or another car, I'll choose the cyclist...to avoid damaging another vehicle and having my auto insurance premiums go up.

Brilliant.
Your premiums won't be affected at all by hurting or killing someone!

The bike riders need to follow the rules of the road. I am a walker. I have had the light and a bike blows through a red light and almost hits me. I believe the bikers need to be controled as well as the cars. The seems to give the bikers a free pass.

this is wrong.

How about this scenario: You're stopped at a stop light (first car) waiting to make a right turn. While waiting for the right of way, a bicyclist scoots his (or her) way to the front, but remains in your blind spot. The light changes and you make your turn (in front of the bicyclist) and Johnny Law pulls you over and hits you with a ticket. Nice!

the three foot rule just means you can't pass a cyclist if you're in the right lane unless you can cross into oncoming traffic. Big deal. People do this to pass slow moving traffic all across the country. If you're driving downtown and really expect to get moving quickly, you haven't been here long.

Every bike is one less car on the street and hundreds fewer gallons of oil per year burned.

Cyclists should definitely obey the law, including stop signs, one ways, stoplights and such. They're supposed to, but there are rarely penalties. Besides, most cyclist scofflaws are professional bike messengers. How law-abiding are their motorist counterparts, taxis? Only as law-abiding as they have to be.

Bike commuters save all of us a lot of money and generally aren't a danger on the road. Lets keep anger in check and try to share the road. On both sides.

"The bike safety issue was highlighted in February when a cyclist was hit and killed by a sport-utility vehicle during an unofficial street race."

It's good that a bicyclist who was killed while running a red light is what brought about a new money-earning scheme. So basically, Daley and the aldermen have taken advantage of someone's death as a new opportunity for earning money for the city (and themselves). What else is new...that's what Daley does every year in his anti Second Amendment speeches.

Really nice, you greedy animals. Hey, Daley...when are you going to run a red light on your bicycle?
Ooops, sorry.