Suburban Chicago Police Departments Focused On Driver Safety Over Halloween

According to Patch.com, the St. Charles and Crystal Lake, Illinois police departments are cracking down on drunk drivers and taking extra precautions to promote safety for Halloween on Thursday.

The St. Charles and Crystal Lake police departments announced they will be conducting DUI and seat belt enforcement, in support of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP). According to a police department news release, motorists are reminded to fasten their seat belts or risk receiving a ticket, during the campaign period, which continues through Nov. 3. The enforcement campaign is taking place along with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Sustained Traffic Enforcement Program, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over/Click It or Ticket programs.

The Crystal Lake police also provided the following tips to help make everyone’s Halloween more safe:

Plan a safe way to get home before you attend a party.
-Give your designated driver your keys before you go out.
-If you are drunk or impaired by marijuana or other drugs, call a taxi, take mass transit, use your favorite ride-sharing service, or call a sober friend or family member to get you home safely.
-Promptly report drunk drivers to law enforcement by pulling over and dialing 911.
-Make sure everyone in your vehicle wears their seat belt. Not only is it the law, it’s your best defense against an impaired driver.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago car crash or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago injury lawyer, Aaron J. Bryant, for a free legal consultation.

Chicago Mayor Proposes Rideshare Tax Increase

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot addressed the city council and the media earlier this week to discuss her proposed budget. I wrote about part of her plan in my last post. As discussed, Lightfoot has earmarked $20 million towards Chicago’s department of transportation to help improve bus lines in and around downtown. The goal is to make bus trips quicker and to encourage for CTA riders, which in turn will hopefully decrease the amount of traffic congestion downtown.

Lightfoot also proposed drastic increases to rideshares that take place in the downtown loop corridor. Her reasoning is first to raise money to fill a budget gap, and also to hopefully decrease the amount of Uber and Lyft vehicles clogging the dowtown area.

Chicago Curbed provided a nice of summaary of the proposed increases: ” Across the city, single riders will pay $1.25, about 53 cents more than they do now. In a special downtown zone, single trips fees will add up to $3 which will total to $2.28 more than riders pay now. Opting for a shared trip in the downtown zone will cost riders $1.25 in fees, about 53 cents more than now. The only riders to pay less in fees, only 7 cents, are those selecting shared rides in neighborhoods outside the downtown zone. “

I understand that many local residents will be upset about this new fees should the proposal pass. But similar fees are already going on in big cities like New York and San Francisco. There is a clear traffic congestion problem downtown, which has been caused, in party, by the increase in the number of rideshare vehicles swamping the loop during rush hour. I understand Lightfoot’s reasoning hear and would not be opposed seeing this within the new budget.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago personal injury lawyer, Aaron J. Bryant, for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076