The
Illinois Bicycle Lawyers at Keating Law Offices were recently retained
to represent an Evanston bicyclist injured when a motorist cut in front
of him as the motorist attempted to enter a driveway. On September 24,
2013, our client was riding his bicycle northwest bound near the edge of
the curb on North Clybourn Avenue in Chicago. At the same time, the
motorist was driving his vehicle in the same northwest bound lane of traffic
on Clybourn. This put the car directly to the left of the bicyclist as they traveled along Clybourn. The motorist suddenly and
unexpectedly decided to turn right off of Clybourn into a private
driveway, directly in front of the bicyclist. This is an example of a "right hook" motor vehicle vs. bicycle collision where the motorist turning the vehicle right either into or in front of the bicyclist is the cause of the collision.
Due to the sudden action of the motorist, our client
had no reason to anticipate the motorist's sudden turn, nor time to
react, and the bicyclist collided into the front passenger side
of the motorist's vehicle. Upon impact, the bicyclist fell from his bicycle
and sustained significant injuries. The
Chicago Police Department responded to the scene. Following an
investigation, the responding officer determined that the motorist's
failure to yield to our client's right-of-way was the primary cause of
the collision. Our client was taken by ambulance to the emergency
department at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital where he was treated
for the injuries he sustained in the collision.
According
to the results of the Chicago Department of Transportation's Bicycle
Crash Analysis, our new client's recent collision is among the most
common type of Chicago bicycle crash. In specific, the CDOT found that
40% of all Chicago bicycle crashes result from motorists' failure to
yield to bicyclists. In addition, approximately 37% of all
injury-causing bicycle crashes in Chicago occur in the neighborhoods
extending north
from the Loop through Lincoln Park to Lakeview and extending West from
the Loop through Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Logan Square. Accordingly,
motorists in these neighborhoods need to be hyper-aware of the presence
of bicyclists and need to yield to both other motorists AND bicyclists
when navigating turns.
Keating
Law Offices is the premiere law firm handling bicycle-related cases in
Illinois. The firm is committed to the representation of bicyclists who
have been injured as a result of the negligence of others. If you have
any questions regarding this post or an issue involving Illinois
personal injury law, please contact Illinois Bicycle Attorney Mike
Keating at 312-208-7702 or MKeating@
