The Bloomingdale Press is reporting that the pro-bicycling group Carol Stream Bikes has requested that a pedestrian island be added to County Farm Road at its intersection with the Great Western Trail. County Farm Road is a very busy street in a part of Chicagoland that has seen massive growth over the past 20 years. Current traffic control devices may not be sufficient for current needs.
The laws in Illinois currently in place provide numerous immunities to municipalities that protect them for lawsuits for failure to provide traffic safety devices such as pedestrian islands. Section 3-104 of the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act provides as follows:
Neither a local public entity nor a public employee is liable under this Act for an injury caused by the failure to initially provide regulatory traffic control devices, stop signs, yield right‑of‑way signs, speed restriction signs, distinctive roadway markings or any other traffic regulating or warning sign, device or marking, signs, overhead lights, traffic separating or restraining devices or barriers.
