Why is the Driver Automatically the Bad Guy 3913

(Brent P)

I understand your confusion. There are two branches of Sherman Avenue which intersect Lake Street. One runs on the west side of the railroad tracks, and dead-ends (northbound) at Lake Street. The other continues north from Lake Street at the intersection with Sherman Place.

Look up the address of Tommy Nevin's Pub, where the news conference was held. Why do you suppose they held the news conference there? Could it be because the pub stands on one of the corners where the collision took place?

You forget, I spent 20 years of my life in Evanston. My guess is you've never even been there, let alone to the intersection in question. Now, which of us do you suppose is more likely to be confused here?

I'll give you credit for one thing: no more ASCII maps. ;)

However, you've got the wrong intersection. Here is the correct one:

Picture a pedalcyclist riding north on the Sherman Avenue that runs on the west side of the tracks. As she approaches Lake Street, that branch of Sherman dead-ends. In order to continue northbound (presumably headed to her clbuttes at Northwestern), she would have to make a right hand turn onto Lake, cross beneath the Metra and "L" tracks, and then make a left onto the continuation of Sherman Avenue (the one on the East side of the tracks). In other words, the pedalcyclist would never have crossed the path of a westbound Hummer at the intersection on your maps. The only place she could possibly have crossed the H2's path is at the intersection shown on my map - the one where Tommy Nevin's Pub sits.

So either she was riding north on Sherman Place (which becomes Sherman Avenue as it crosses Lake Street) or she was making a left turn onto Sherman from Lake. In either case, she was most definitely struck at the intersection in my map, not the one in yours.

That building is an old church, and it is set back far enough from the street such that a vehicle that had come to a complete stop at the stop sign has a clear view to the east along Lake Street.

You are the exception, not the rule. There's no eason to expect a female pedalcyclist to be able to accelerate as quickly as you can.

...then she has nobody to blame but herself.

The point is, these pedalcyclists are automatically buttuming the Hummer driver was at fault for the collision.

Is it any more correct to automatically buttign fault to the driver of the automobile? -- What the heck, I'll play too. - Dave