There is so much reckless driving on our roads that I don’t even want to be Miss Daisy.
But last Wednesday, I didn’t have a viable option. My appointment was on the North Side in the middle of rush hour. The round-trip fare for a ride-share would have bought me a round-trip plane ticket to visit my grandchildren in Minnesota.
I said a prayer and got on with it.
By the time I arrived at my destination, I had been nearly T-boned twice — once by a driver who raced through a red light and once when I went through the intersection on a yellow light.
Even worse, streets where construction work was underway were congested with bikes, electric scooters and pedestrians carelessly darting through traffic while talking on cellphones.
It was brutal.
But it is nowhere near as brutal as the tragic deaths that are happening because so many motorists drive recklessly.
From hit-and-runs to fatal crashes, we are seeing the kind of lawless behavior that makes seniors like me feel like it is unsafe to be on our roads.
It is heartbreaking that two young lives were recently lost in a fiery crash on DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
Jalean Ewing-Gibbs and Jaida Rosado Colon, both 24, were killed when the driver of a Chevrolet Bolt changed lanes and struck the Nissan Altima they were in. Two friends in the back seat were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
The Bolt collided with the Altima so hard that the Altima went off the road, struck a tree in the median and caught fire.
The Bolt driver escaped severe injury and was arrested at the scene; two passengers were taken to the hospital in fair condition.
What is so shocking about this accident is that DuSable Lake Shore Drive is under serious road construction.
Traffic slows down to a crawl between 57th and 47th streets. It doesn’t start moving until around 31st Street, where the accident happened.
Yet some motorists ignore orange and white barriers, swerve in and out of lanes and make a stressful situation even more challenging.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “speeding and distracted driving is rising nationally.”
At the same time, the number of fatalities in Illinois dropped from 1,334 in 2021 to 1,280 in 2022, a 4% decrease, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
But while the data suggests that the roads are slightly safer than they were during the pandemic, I don’t feel safer on the road.
There was a time when you rarely saw a vehicle speed around another vehicle to run a red light or cars racing down residential streets as if on expressways.
Now, these are everyday occurrences.
I understand that police have their hands full tracking down carjackers, but do they even give out traffic citations anymore?
Some seniors have given up driving altogether because of lawless conduct on the road.
So, instead of creating ways to crackdown on the problem, the city is considering a pilot program to address the negative health effects associated with loud noises — conditions like high blood pressure, depression and even heart attacks, the Sun-Times recently reported.
Sound cameras would work like speed cameras, and drivers could face a fine.
Under a proposed ordinance, cameras equipped with microphones would be placed on light poles in the downtown area so tickets could be sent to violators, possibly as soon as the New Year.
The ordinance is still in committee, where I hope it dies. As a law-abiding citizen, I feel betrayed.
A loud muffler is indeed annoying, but it is unlikely someone has died because a muffler was too loud.
Innocent lives are at risk when motorists run red lights and weave in and out of traffic, going twice the speed limit.
Isn’t it time to make these rogues face some consequences, or are we expected to get out of their way?
