A local attorney has called on rideshare companies to step up after an accident involving a rideshare vehicle and bicyclist was caught on camera. NBC 5’s Chris Hush reports.
A Chicago-area attorney is offering a $5,000 reward to someone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of two people responsible for landing a Lincoln Park cyclist in the hospital with severe facial injuries.
During the afternoon of Sept. 25, Josh Dicker, 25, was riding his bike near Lincoln Avenue and Wisconsin Street when a rideshare driver in a white Honda CRV pulled into the bike lane to let a passenger out.
Before Dicker could stop, the passenger opened the door.
“I had no chance. It came out of nowhere,” the bicyclist said. “It was pretty gory. Basically, my face went right into a car.”
Dicker underwent multiple surgeries for the severe injuries to his face.
“I had two fractures in my nose that needed to be fixed. The surgeon really wanted to stitch back together the lip as soon as possible,” he said.
Although the driver and passenger got out of the car to check on Dicker, he says both left the scene before police arrived.
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Bryant Greening, an attorney with LegalRideShare, is demanding rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber educate drivers and passengers about Chicago’s bike lane ordinance which prohibits vehicles from idling or parking in bike lanes.
According to the city, violators can face a $150 fine.
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“Any reasonable person would have understood that they needed to stay there to provide aide, provide information,” Greening said. "Despite the fact that the city has an ordinance on the books, it’s not doing enough to protect the bike lanes for vulnerable people.”
Lyft tells NBC 5 it provides stickers to drivers telling passengers to watch for bikes and scooters. The app also sends push notification to riders and drivers on their phone, alerting them to bike lanes.
Uber says it has partnered with the League of American Bicyclist for bicycle safety education.
In 2019, it launched bike lane alerts for users.
Just last month, the city of Chicago revealed a $17 million dollar investment to upgrade and build protected bike lanes throughout the city. That project is expected to take up to two years to complete.
In 2017, the city published a study highlighting how cyclists in Chicago were five times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash.
Dicker hopes his story will raise awareness about the dangers of sharing the road with vehicles who don’t follow the law in Chicago.
