Plus: How fatal are those crashes?
October 5, 2012, By: Kate Dries
The death of cyclist Neill Townsend in downtown Chicago Friday morning who, to prevent being doored by a parked car, ended up being hit by a passing semi truck, has drawn outcry from individuals inside and outside the biking community, as Chicagoans grapple with how to best prevent these accidents in the future.
Many commented on WBEZ’s story about the accident that an increase in protected bike lanes in the city would prevent doorings, while others weren’t sure that a protected bike lane would make much of a difference, and that alertness on the part of bikers and drivers would do the most to prevent accidents.
WBEZ obtained data from the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Traffic Safety from 2009 through September 7, 2012 of this year, to see exactly where these dooring accidents are occurring — and what type of accidents they result in. There have been 577 reported doorings during that time period.
Map: Where are Chicago’s bike dooring accidents happening?