Lived in Chicago. The drivers there are fucking savages.
Uber driver side swiped me today on Rush St during my ride home from work.
What a shithole.
“The city of Chicago is openly proclaiming itself as a bike-friendly city. Is that an indication of the city’s intent?” Justice Liz Rochford asked a lawyer for the city.
“No, your honor,” replied Stephen Collins, Chicago’s assistant corporation counsel.
Any lie necessary to avoid reasonable infrastructure. Especially with bicycles banned on the sidewalk.
Stop stealing all the taxpayer money, and provide the bare fucking minimums.
Alave filed suit later that year, arguing that the city meant for bicycles to be rented and operated in the area and city officials therefore had the duty to exercise reasonable care for intended road users, as required by state law.
The city isn’t trying to avoid building reasonable infrastructure, here, they’re trying to avoid liability for cyclists hitting potholes.
Their argument seems to be that unless a road is included on the official bike plan, it shouldn’t count as one intended for biking on for the purpose of legal liability, regardless of if there’s a nearby city-operated bike rental.
Honestly, unless the ruling were that “the city is liable for bike injuries anywhere in it”, holding the city liable here might produce perverse incentives to make bike infrastructure worse.
You have to be pretty dumb to drive your bike into a huge and obvious pothole. At what point is a person responsible for their own safety?
At the point when the government is making a reasonable effort towards your safety too. Drivers are responsible for their safety and cars have safety regulations. These are complementary, not contradictory. Without safety regulations, “drivers are responsible for their own safety” rings hollow.
At the same time one should not attempt to rent a bike if you are too inept of a rider to avoid common obstacles like curbs, sewer grates, or potholes. I rode a bike for a long time. You should not go faster than your ability to recognize and avoid stationary obstacles. That is a minimum responsibility of a bike rider I would say.
You have to be pretty narrow minded and inexperienced to not be capable of imagining a situation where a massive pothole is unavoidable.
Depressing article. Freshly reinforced legal deterrent for anyone who might suggest that bicyclists are actually intended to use the roads. Can’t say that or you might be liable.
