I’ve experienced and witnessed several other near misses while crossing the street along N Carpenter St at the intersections with N Milwaukee Ave and W Chicago Ave (Fig 1 - scroll down). Motorists are required by law to yield to pedestrians when they are in marked crosswalks, but they often do not and approach these crosswalks at high rates of speed. Crossing W Chicago is particularly dangerous because traffic always gets backed up in the middle lanes and obstructs the intersection and the view of the far lane - drivers speed through the intersection on that lane without visibility/concern of possible pedestrians who are about to enter their lane (Fig 2).

This petition is for Alderman Burnett Jr, who’s ward covers this area, to work to improve pedestrian safety at these intersections. Ideally, we should have pedestrian activated lighting like Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons, which have been shown to reduce collisions by 47% and increase motorist yielding rates up to 98% (article​, video - these are from the US DOT).

Help advocate for your community by signing this petition and sharing your thoughts and experiences! I will present this to Alderman Burnett Jr’s office once we have at least 50 signatures and provide updates about their response.