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A bicycle commuter who rides four miles to work, five days a week, avoids 2,000 miles of driving and about 2,000 pounds of CO2 emissions each year.

Protect people walking and biking from trucks

Sep 30, 2016 | by Active Trans

Since June, six people have been killed while riding bikes in Chicago. Every single crash involved a commercial vehicle.

This troubling trend points to an urgent need to address the disproportionate threat these large vehicles pose to people biking and walking.

We are asking the mayor, Chicago City Council and relevant city agencies to immediately put into place proven strategies that can prevent more fatalities due to crashes involving large vehicles.  

Please stand with us by signing on to our Vision Zero Call to Action.

Other U.S. cities have already led the way on commercial vehicle safety, taking concrete steps to address this public safety issue, including:

  • Voluntary and required installation of side-guards on city trucks and private commercial vehicles
  • Strengthening commercial driver licensing programs and driver education
  • Exploring options to limit large vehicle traffic during peak hours

Check out this new case study on large vehicles from the national Vision Zero Network looking at what other cities have done to attack the problem.

Beyond common sense steps to make large trucks safer, the city’s forthcoming Vision Zero Action Plan provides a unique opportunity to address preventable crashes of all kinds, such as those that have led to the deaths of 18 pedestrians so far in 2016 and claimed the lives of an addition 100 motorists each year.

Please stand with us by signing on to our Vision Zero Call to Action.

We’re calling for Vision Zero to include a comprehensive array of action steps to eliminate all types of traffic fatalities: enhance commercial vehicle regulation, reduce dangerous speeding, restrict right turns in dangerous locations, expand education for all, improve our infrastructure and street design, and fairly enforce traffic laws.  

Together we can make our streets safer for everyone, reduce injuries and save lives.

 Learn more about Vision Zero – including our policy recommendations on hit and run crashes and speeding – on our Vision Zero campaign page.