Reacting to a recent increase in fatal motorcycle crashes, Illinois State Police said Wednesday they are starting to keep closer tabs on speedy riders, and a Chicago alderman has proposed requiring city motorcyclists to wear helmets.
“We’re going to start specifically going out looking for this unsafe motorcycle driving,” said Sgt. Brian Windle, supervisor of the state police’s aggressive-driving unit.
Windle spoke at a news conference Wednesday, two days after a fatal crash on Interstate Highway 90 left a 20-year-old Harwood Heights woman dead and a Des Plaines man in critical condition. Police said the man was wearing a helmet, but the woman, his passenger, was not.
Illinois requires safety courses only for motorcycle drivers younger than 18 and is one of three states with no helmet requirements (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). At the news conference police said protective gear and safety classes could help prevent fatalities, but such steps are recommendations and can’t be enforced.
In Chicago, Ald. Edward Burke (14th) introduced an ordinance that would require helmets for motorcyclists and their passengers, a proposal that won immediate support from Mayor Richard Daley.
Under Burke’s measure, violators would face a $100 fine for a first offense and $200 for subsequent violations.
More Top Picks Best Luxury Handbags
“Maybe if Chicago does it, it will show legislators in Springfield that the time has come for the legislature to mandate a helmet law in Illinois,” Burke said.
City Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said the department had not yet reviewed Burke’s proposal to see whether it conflicted with state codes, which do not require helmets.
Motorcycle deaths have been climbing steadily during the last six years, increasing 10.7 percent between 2002 and 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Illinois, 130 bikers have been killed as of Monday, up from 119 during the same period last year, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation said.
Windle said the growing number of riders who zip through highway lanes in packs are challenging to catch. When bikers flee police, troopers can chase them only if the chase doesn’t threaten public safety, he said.
Now police plan to target the parts of the Dan Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways where Windle said riders frequently race.
When troopers decide not to chase the motorcyclists, Windle said, they can tell local police departments to intercept them when they get off the expressways. If troopers record license plate numbers, they also can have other authorities track the bikers down.
At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the driver in Monday’s crash was recuperating from 13 hours of surgery and preparing for a five-hour procedure to help repair his arm and shoulder, said Ilaz Kadriu, his man’s father.
Mentor Kadriu, 26, has been riding since his late teens. His father said Kadriu took up the activity because “his friends are bikers.”
Kadriu said his son was a leader of a riding group and drove safely.
Police said the son had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10, which is above the legal limit, and was driving at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash. He could be charged with reckless homicide, said State Trooper Angelo Mollo.