More deterrents to keep motorists out of bike, bus lanes are worth trying

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times,

Motorists in the city commonly grumble about being stalked electronically every time they hit the road.

Red-light and speed cameras can thwart dangerous driving. But there’s been evidence that the technology disproportionately targets those in Black and Latino neighborhoods. And nabbing and ticketing relatively safe drivers who are going just a tad over the speed limit strikes many Chicagoans as little more than a money-making ploy.

It’s important to have fair enforcement and monitor ‘Big Brother.’ But drivers getting behind the wheel have to always keep in mind that the safety of everyone who use the roads — including pedestrians and bicyclists — must come first.

So we’re behind the proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and downtown City Council members who last week introduced a pair of pilot programs aimed at keeping motorists from blocking bus and bike lanes and commercial loading zones.

Yes, that will lead to more surveillance cameras and automated ticketing. But if these initiatives do more to hold motorists accountable and keep them from creeping into spaces where they shouldn’t be, count us in.

Under the “Smart Streets” and “Smart Loading Zones” pilot programs, wayward motorists would get a warning notice before they are ticketed for their infractions, in a zone that extends from Lake Michigan west to Ashland Avenue, and from North Avenue south to Roosevelt Road.

Over the summer, we called for higher fines for motorists who drive, park or sit idling in a bike lane after 3-year-old Elizabeth “Lily” Grace Shambrook was killed by a driver in a cycling accident in Uptown last summer.

Months later, in December, the City Council did just that, raising the fines to $250 along with making it easier to fine and tow such drivers and requiring companies to place signs whenever a bike lane is blocked for construction.

Lily’s parents filed a lawsuit in Cook County last week against several entities, including the city and ComEd, whose truck driver was parked in a bike lane. That sparked the chain of events leading to the child’s death. 

“[O]ur little Lily paid the ultimate price for others’ misconduct and disregard for the safety of bicyclists,” the family said in a statement. 

Testing out another possible deterrent, which entails cameras mounted on CTA buses, light poles and other city properties, is worth it if a life can be saved.

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