Patrick A. Salvi of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. says Chicago’s recent efforts to add bike paths will improve safety for bike riders just as the popularity of cycling is on the rise. “Bicycle riding continues to be more popular due to the health benefits it provides to riders and the environment, and it’s proper for the city to take steps to make it safer,” said Salvi, the managing equity partner at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., a leading Chicago personal injury firm with offices in Cook and Lake counties. Medill Reports, a Northwestern University online journal, recently featured a report on the City of Chicago’s push for increasing its bike lane miles. “We hope riders and others interested in the future of the city will support efforts to plan bike paths in the months and years ahead,” Salvi said. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Active Transportation Alliance (ATA) have plans to construct 25 miles of new bike lanes by mid-summer and another 100 miles of bike lanes by 2015, according to the City of Chicago website. Several projects are underway, and the city is holding public hearings to build public support, learn where people bike most often and decide where additional bike lanes should be installed. Chicago currently has 117 miles of on-street bike lanes, more than 30 miles of marked shared lanes, and many miles of off-street paths (including the 18.5-mile Lakefront Trail), the city’s website says. “As the weather warms, we’d expect the popularity of bicycle riding to grow, and if the cost of gas continues to rise like it has, biking may grow in popularity even more,” Salvi said. Salvi, whose firm handles personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of Illinois residents injured in car and bicycle accidents, cautioned that bike riders and motorists must share the road properly, regardless of whether a cyclist is in a defined bicycle lane. Cyclists naturally are more vulnerable to serious injury or death in a bike-car collision, he said. “Rules like allowing three feet of clearance when passing a bike rider and yielding to cyclists at intersections are important, as is simply watching out for riders,” Salvi said. A bicyclist hurt in a crash caused by a negligent driver has the right to seek compensation, the Chicago personal injury attorney said. If a person dies because of injuries suffered in a bike-car collision, his or her survivors might pursue a wrongful death claim. “Anytime someone is hurt in an accident that was not their fault, they should look into their legal options for recovering damages for such losses as medical expenses, property damages and lost wages,” Salvi said. “Someone hurt because they were riding their bike has the same rights as anyone else.” About Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. is a leading Chicago personal injury law firm with offices in Chicago and Waukegan. In addition to representing clients in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, aviation and product liability cases, the firm focuses on car and truck accidents, airplane and train accidents, construction injuries, birth injuries, brain injuries, unsafe properties and animal attacks. The firm has obtained more than $620 million on behalf of its clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases, including 175 multi-million dollar verdicts or settlements. For more information, call (312) 372-1227 or use the firm’s online contact form. Christina Solomon |
