CHICAGO — Anyone who runs outside in Chicago knows it can be a dangerous endeavor.
Running store Fleet Feet Chicago asked local runners for their input on the city's most dangerous intersections. The store released its findings — a list of 11 intersections and one mention of "alleys" — Wednesday night. The input came from runners on Twitter and a Chicago running community forum on Reddit.
"It was brought to our attention that the safety of Chicago runners can be compromised at select intersections across the city," Fleet Feet owner Dave Zimmer said. He added the store wanted to "take to social media to ask our authentic Chicago running community and the responses were uplifting."
Top ranked on the Fleet Feet list was the Near West Side's Roosevelt Road and Union Avenue intersection, where the "crosswalk signal doesn't matter and the red lights are just a suggestion," one Redditor said. The dreaded traffic circle in Logan Square is another problem for runners, according to the list. The other intersections are:
* Diversey Parkway and Lake Shore Drive
* ALL Alleyways: Some people beep their horn before exiting an alleyway into the street, but others don't. So, be sure to slowly approach and check the alleyway before running past.
* Elston and Irving Park
* Halsted and Fullerton: Chicagoans are not fond of six-corner intersections..
* Fullerton and Damen: Join the club, runners.
* Ashland and Cortland
* Ardmore and Sheridan
* LaSalle and Clark
* Sangamon and Jackson
* North and Milwaukee
The Active Transportation Alliance in October 2014 released its list of the city's 10 most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. That list included the Six Corners intersection of Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues, which also is on the Fleet Feet compilation. Other intersections on both lists were: North Halsted Street/North Lincoln Avenue/West Fullerton Avenue in Lincoln Park; and North Ashland Avenue and West Cortland Street in Lincoln Park.
The Chicago Department of Transportation estimates that about 3,000 pedestrians are hit by vehicles each year in the city, resulting in an average of 30 deaths a year. As part of its Safe Crossings program that debuted in 2014, Active Transportation Alliance said 78 percent of all pedestrian crashes in Chicago occur within 125 feet of an intersection.
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