Cook County presents Safety Action Plan to reduce traffic deaths; calls for local and state policy changes

Cook County transportation officials on [date not specified] presented a countywide Safety Action Plan aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries across both the city of Chicago and suburban Cook County.

"A lot of people in Cook County lose their lives in traffic crashes every year," said Jesse Elam, planning director for the Department of Transportation and Highways. Elam said traffic deaths rose roughly 50% from 2018 to 2022 and emphasized that many serious crashes are preventable with targeted interventions.

The plan, developed in partnership with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and consultants under the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program, covers public roadways countywide, not just those under county jurisdiction. Elam noted the county’s own jurisdiction covers about 5% of roadway mileage, so the plan aims to coordinate with municipalities and other agencies.

The report identifies several emphasis areas based on crash data: distracted driving, intersection-related crashes, speeding (especially in suburban areas), roadway departures and the disproportionate share of fatalities affecting pedestrians and bicyclists. Elam said bicyclists and pedestrians account for roughly 2% of crashes but about a quarter of fatalities, which he described as an equity concern because Black residents face higher per-capita fatality rates.

Key recommendations include applying complete-streets principles more broadly, prioritizing projects on a high-injury network that accounts for a disproportionate share of serious crashes, and using a systemic analysis to find and address risk factors before crashes occur. Elam also urged improvements in crash-reporting standards and greater design flexibility from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to speed project delivery.

The plan recommends expanding automated speed enforcement beyond the city of Chicago, but Elam noted that change would require an amendment to state law. "That would require a change to state law, which currently forbids it anywhere outside of the city of Chicago," he said.

DOTH said implementation will involve multiple funding streams and partners. Officials pointed to local programs such as Invest in Cook, pending federal funding rounds for Safe Streets and Roads for All (Elam cited a remaining national pool of about $1,000,000,000), and IDOT’s Highway Safety Improvement Program as potential sources to underwrite engineering and construction.

The department said community outreach informed the plan: over six months DOTH held several in-person sessions and online engagement that generated thousands of website visits and several hundred survey responses. DOTH also plans to convene a semiannual safety plan advisory committee to monitor implementation and performance measures.

Commissioners asked questions after the presentation about data sources, underreporting of bicycle and pedestrian crashes, whether suburban/city comparisons were population-adjusted, and the interplay of local regulation for e-bikes. Elam said the primary dataset used was the IDOT crash-data file (police reports) and acknowledged underreporting of some bicycle- and pedestrian-related incidents. He said some comparisons were adjusted on a per-community basis and that e-bike regulation is an emerging issue being discussed at the state level.

The committee voted to receive and file the Safety Action Plan item during the meeting.

What’s next: DOTH plans to pursue grant applications, use Invest in Cook funds for local projects, and work with CMAP and municipalities to begin implementation and track performance measures.