“What is an acceptable number of children who are hit by cars per year?” asked Riverside resident Valerie Kramer. “If that answer is, ‘Zero,’ we need to actually make changes to get there.”
Kramer, the founder of the bicycle slow ride and transit advocacy group Ride Riverside, is behind a petition advocating the end of traffic injuries and deaths within the village. So far, 176 people have signed the petition, including 170 residents, Kramer said, calling for the implementation of Vision Zero within Riverside.
“Vision Zero is a commitment to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by prioritizing safety and street design, not just managing accidents after they happen,” said Charles Wiegand, another Ride Riverside leader.
“People thought that injuries and deaths were inevitable, but we have evidence that they’re not. If we believe that it’s not inevitable, then traffic accidents aren’t accidents; they’re actually crashes that happen because they’re built in,” Kramer said. “If we know that 50 people are going to get injured every year in Riverside from crashes, then that’s not a surprise. That’s not an accident. We can actually take steps to decrease that number.
Data from the Illinois Department of Transportation, compiled by Kramer, shows 41 child cyclists and 15 child pedestrians were injured in Riverside from 2010-2023. Six people have been killed in car crashes in the same period, and 675 people have been injured in some way in a car crash.
The nonprofit Vision Zero Network describes Vision Zero as a “multidisciplinary approach” to ending traffic-related casualties by accounting for human error when designing roadways and enacting policies. A Vision Zero plan could lead Riverside to make use of “daylighting,” or extending curbs to increase pedestrian visibility at crosswalks, or other traffic-calming measures like raised crosswalks, pedestrian islands or dedicated bicycle lanes.
While the goal may seem lofty to some, Kramer said its efficacy has been proven.
“In Hoboken, New Jersey, they adopted their Vision Zero plan, and, since then, they’ve had zero traffic fatalities,” she told the Landmark. “In contrast, Riverside has had four fatal injury crashes in the past six years. We’re much smaller than them, so you would think we would have fewer injuries and fatalities.”
Kramer said she first heard of Vision Zero more than 10 years ago, but a personal experience last fall pushed her to take action through the petition and rally her group around it.
“We started Ride Riverside over a year ago, and that was a way to build momentum, get people biking. We also had a goal of improving safety, but I don’t think we really had a concrete ask. Then, I saw the aftermath of a crash with a child, and a child’s mangled bike is etched in my memory,” she said. “At a certain corner [Delaplaine and Michaux roads], every time I pass by, I remember that, and I remember that feeling. Then, little orange flags were up on the stop signs, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s our solution?’ And those went away, so they’re not even there anymore.”
Ride Riverside brought the petition, then with 170 signatures, to Riverside trustees at their May 1 board meeting. While Kramer was sick that day, her husband, David Oppenheimer, gave a speech on her behalf during public comment encouraging the board to adopt a Vision Zero plan to keep residents safe.
Since then, Kramer said village officials, namely Village President Doug Pollock, have said the board will consider a possible Vision Zero plan concurrently with the village’s 2026 budget.
Assistant Village Manager Ashley Monroe said Monday that Riverside staff are preparing to bring a “bike plan” to the village board on Aug. 7 alongside other items in the village’s capital improvement plan for 2026. While she couldn’t say how the plan might materialize in Riverside’s budget next year, she said residents can expect the board to consider the budget ordinance in a public hearing at the Oct. 16 meeting.
“I think Riverside is a place where we’re not just going to make a document and put it on a shelf. I think people here really care,” Kramer said. “They’re going to be talking about money and the plan at the same time, as opposed to, ‘Yay, we got a plan. We can pat ourselves on the back,’ but then, what’s going to happen next?”
Wiegand said the implementation of a plan would benefit everyone who uses Riverside’s roads, not just those on bikes.
“I’m not only a cyclist. I’m a frequent pedestrian. I walk to work every day; I walk my dog every day. I spend a lot of time running on our streets. One reason why it seems to be more necessary now than maybe 10 years ago is, vehicles are so much larger than they used to be, and I feel like we need to put more effort to make vulnerable road users more visible,” he said. “Thoughtful street design shows that pedestrians and cyclists are intended users of our roadways, not obstacles to traffic. They’re a part of traffic.”
Kramer emphasized that safer traffic would have benefits across the board.
“Whatever we do to improve safety for bicyclists, especially for children, that’s going to improve safety for motorists, for pedestrians, for the elderly, for the disabled, for everybody, because we’re working towards improving safety for the most vulnerable,” she said. She compared it to adding accessible ramps to the front of a building: “That’s going to help more than just people who use wheelchairs. That’s going to help people with strollers, people who have bad knees. It’s going to help everybody, and I think, in the same way, we’re going to be able to help everybody be safe in Riverside.”
Correction, July 1, 2025, 9 a.m.: This story originally misstated the number of signatures on the petition when Ride Riverside brought it to the village board. That number was 170. The Landmark apologizes for the error.
