A Rolling Meadows Bachelor of Fine Arts student at the Art Institute of Chicago was hit and killed by a semi-trailer truck when the truck driver improperly drove into the clearly marked bike lane.
Lisa Kuivinen, age 20, was hit about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday while riding in the green painted bike lanes along Milwaukee Avenue near Racine Avenue. Milwaukee Avenue is one of the city’s busiest bike corridors, and also considered one of the busiest bike lanes in the United States. Kuivinen’s white bicycle was seen wedged under the rear tractor truck wheels after she was dragged while under the truck.
Residents and business owners in the neighborhood say the volume of traffic during rush hour has been considered an “accident waiting to happen.” They say the block between the bridge over the Kennedy Expressway and Racine is dangerous because one half of the street has protected bike lanes and other does not.
The truck that hit Kuivenen was an 18-wheeler semi-trailer flatbed carrying brick for Illinois Brick Company.
The male truck driver, age 37, immediately called 9-1-1 when he realized what happened, and remained on the scene, according to police
Chicago Police issued the truck driver two tickets — one for driving in a bike lane, and one for failure to take due care with a bicyclist.
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