The Royal Scumbags - In the sky

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Moc Artsy

With all due respect to truck drivers and visibility issues involving semi-trailer rigs, the article does explain that the driver is being sought because he was traveling at a high rate of speed eastbound on Pershing. Does anyone on Chainlink--truck driver or cyclist--want to defend a professional driver piloting a semi rig with an extended cab at a very high rate of speed on Pershing? I live in McKinley Park and ride Bridgeport/Canaryville/Bronzeville all the time. There are neighborhood-specific issues that I have encountered and continue to encounter, and a number of these issues have involved trucks. Not to assign the blame to truck drivers or to anyone in broadly general terms. Part of the issue to me seems to be the routing of truck traffic through what are swiftly becoming residential neighborhoods, but that still have not only industrial pockets and delivery routes, but access to 55 (right next to my place) and the Dan Ryan (near where the accident took place). I think every seasoned cyclist knows from experience to exercise special caution when riding near trucks. Evidently not all drivers know not to drive at expressway speeds on streets like Pershing. That said, we also know nothing about the man on the bicycle who was struck and killed. For every assumption about him being a part of a Chicago cycling "community," in that neighborhood it is also quite possible that this was someone who simply relied on a bicycle to get around. There are all kinds of people on bicycles in these neighborhoods who are not on the Chainlink and whom most of us hardly notice. They are worth worrying about.

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