suntimes.com
Police cracking down on biking on sidewalk
August 12, 2002
BY JULIE PATEL STAFF REPORTER
Jim Mall had no idea what he was getting into when he rode his purple bike to the supermarket.
"Here comes a little old guy, me, with two huge grocery sacks hanging from the bike's handlebars, driven off Sheridan by homicidal maniacs in SUVs," said Mall, 62, who lives in the Margate Park area of Uptown.
So he got off the street and onto the sidewalk. He didn't get far before he saw eight police officers and a crowd of angry condo owners at the corner of Ardmore and Sheridan.
Two police officers on bikes acted quickly, slapping Mall with a $250 ticket and immobilizing his bicycle with an 18-inch plastic strap--the bike version of the Denver boot--that they looped into the pedal and around the bike frame. The bike boot, which allows a cycle to be moved but not ridden, can be cut off with wire cutters, a sharp knife or strong scissors.
Mall was among about 50 sidewalk-riding bicyclists who have been booted and more than 250 who have been given citations by police in June and July, said Sgt. Jeffrey Sacks, a team leader for his Foster District Bicycle Mission, which monitors half the area--a seven-block strip of Sheridan between Ardmore and Devon--affected by an ordinance passed in May.
Officials at the 2,500-member Chicagoland Bicycle Federation say it doesn't make sense that a ticket for biking on a sidewalk can cost you $175 more than one for driving a car on it.
But Sheli Lulkin, president of the association of Sheridan Road Condo Owners, said the ordinance was desperately needed to protect the 15,000 people, including many senior citizens, who live on that part of Sheridan. No one seems to have hard data on injuries resulting from bicycle-pedestrian collisions on Sheridan, but Lulkin says there have been two deaths and many injuries over the last decade.
Sacks said the numbers of citations issued in June vs. July indicate fewer people are riding on sidewalks. His team gave out 171 in June after spending 2,945 minutes working on bicycle patrol. In July, they only gave out 82 even though they spent 2,565 minutes.
"Our officers don't like giving out tickets for bicycling," he said. "But it seems to be making a difference." |
