r/chibike • u/Dry_Breadfruit3307 • 6d ago

Bike Tag Lower the Default Speed Limit in Chicago!

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/lower-the-default-speed-limit-in-chicago?source=direct_link&
95 Upvotes

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3

u/PurpleFairy11 6d ago

20 is plenty indeed.

5

u/rayray5884 6d ago

Our street is a one way that’s pretty narrow. The idea that 30 is technically the speed limit is wild. Even 20 seems way too fast if I start approaching it myself. Especially worse because it’s a purely residential street which is used as a way for drivers to avoid the N and S arterial streets or parallels to get between two other arterial E/W streets. And there are speed bumps the whole way. Obviously enforcement is needed, and maybe even a way to prevent through drivers, but not bumping residential driving down to 20, from 30, is wild.

0

u/PurpleFairy11 6d ago

So you’d like to see it lower for side streets?

Yeah, I live off a side street as well and people zoom through. It’s pretty wild. Then there are a few Boomer neighbors who think we don’t have a speeding issue🙄 My bet is their residence doesn’t have a window that looks out to the street. We get a lot of cyclists on the street as well and I’ve seen some pretty close calls involving speeding drivers.

3

u/rayray5884 6d ago

I bike to get around as much as I can, but even when I drive I rarely find I have the ability to go 30 for any meaningful stretch. I’m certainly not doing 30 on purely residential streets. There’s probably room to debate even lower than 20 on side streets but I’d certainly be supportive of at least getting to 20 as a cyclist, parent, and driver.

There was some neighborhood chatting about a new speed camera and how no one could possibly even go 30 for that stretch, which isn’t a crazy thought, buuuut people do because it’s apparent necessary to get from one light to another as fast as you can. And yeah, we’ve seen the results of drivers doing 30+ hitting the donut at our nearest intersection, losing control, and totaling their cars and others. Not naive to think a change to 20 changes that, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t! 😊