One immediate response from village officials to the accident that killed Cari Lyn Cook was to erect several bright yellow plastic signs between the lanes of 47th St to call attention to an often ignored pedestrian crosswalk that was created three years ago at the intersection with 9th Ave. At a meeting to address citizens' concerns about traffic safety, some attendees wanted the signs removed because they believed they would confuse motorists and increase rather reduce opportunities for accidents. Officials have since taken away four of the signs; only the two on the center line remain.

 

By Thom Rae
La Grange Today Publisher

The death of Cari Lyn Cook brought to a boiling point years of concern and frustration felt by La Grange residents over the dangers pedestrians and bicyclists face while traveling along and across 47th St—feelings expressed at upteen public meetings with little to show in response.

"Does someone have to die before they do something?" was a rhetorical question often heard as parents watched children darting across the street's four lanes and dodging the often heavy traffic that plies the half-mile stretch between East Ave and La Grange without a single traffic signal.

But when Cook, a 30-year old wife and mother from Countryside, was struck and killed by a silver SUV shortly before noon on a weekday morning in May while crossing 47th St at 8th Ave with her two small children and the family dog, frustration and rhetoric turned instantly to grief and then headed in the direction of anger.

Village officials felt the heat rising and called for a special "neighborhood" meeting of residents who live near 47th St. But anyone who has ever travelled its length knows that 47th is not a simple neighborhood street. It's a thoroughfare for commuters and trucks whose drivers hail from communities across the region. Its pedestrians and cyclists also often come from neighboring towns such as Brookfield, Western Springs and, as was the case with Cari Cook, from Countryside.

More than 200 residents of La Grange and neighboring communities turned out for a special meeting June 2 to discuss ways to improve pedestrian safety along 47th St. About three dozen attendees, including the woman pictured above, stepped up to a microphone to share their concerns and ideas with village officials.

So it should have surprised no one who attended the special meeting held Tuesday night in the gymnasium of Seventh Ave School that more than 200 people from all over had filled the seats and lined the walls looking for answers to the dangerous dilemma that is 47th St. Included in the crowd was Cari Cook's husband, Matt, accompanied by several other of her family members and friends.

The road is a dilemma for local officials in no small part because control of it also rests outside the village, specifically in the hands of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). So village officials smartly invited some state representatives to attend the meeting, and two of them did.

The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was used partly to explain the unique problems 47th St presents, partly to reveal some solutions officials have in mind, and partly to hear what solutions residents and other concerned citizens had to offer. More than 30 of them did.

In this special multimedia report, you will find reports about the meeting and accident that triggered it. Simply click on links contained in the index located in the yellow sidebar under our logo at the top of the page.

We'll also continue to update this special report with new information as the story develops.

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