Lake Zurich-area officials have been discussing a plan to aid pedestrians and bicyclists safety when walking or riding down Church Street, the street on which an LZHS grad was killed this summer. State and local officials need to push for these plans to be put into action immediately, especially with school now in session.
On the night of July 22, Gabriella Drozdz, 2011 graduate, and two friends were involved in a hit and run accident on Church Street while walking to the Alpine Festival. Drozdz was rushed to the hospital but passed away a few hours later.
The two-lane street across from LZHS lacks sufficient light and a sidewalk which may have prevented the accident from happening. With the unfortunate evidence of the lack of safety on Church Street, the village must act quickly to try to put proper lighting and sidewalks in place, especially with students attending school five days a week.
“Now that there’s been an accident and a tragedy, improvements to the road are something to look into,” State Representative Ed Sullivan Jr., a Mundelein Republican, said in the Daily Herald article. “I will be reaching out to the mayor of Lake Zurich to see what can be done to improve safety.”
The village must build sidewalks to aid with student safety to prevent another incident from occurring as many LZHS students walk up and down Church Street every day to get to their cars parked at St. Peter’s Church or at Knigge Park.
LZ officials are working towards getting a sidewalk and lights put in place on Church Street, but the main priority, according to Sullivan, is making certain an accidental tragedy never happens again.
In 2010, the state passed a proposition for a stoplight to be put in front of the high school; however, that stoplight is not supposed to be put in place until 2013.
As for sidewalks and proper lighting, Mayor Suzanne Branding says the plan is in the phase I design phase, meaning they are still working on designing what a sidewalk and streetlamp on Church Street would look like. Local officials must work fast to put in place a better safety system for students walking or riding their bikes to school if they want to prevent future accidents on Church Street.
One bicyclist who would have appreciated a sidewalk is Matthew Kinne, 2011 graduate, who moved from Minnesota to Lake Zurich right before his senior year.
While living in Minnesota, Kinne rode his bike to school every day, but when he moved to LZ he stopped due to feeling unsafe while riding on Church Street, he said.
Church Street pedestrians need this plan to be implemented immediately for their own safety.
The village and state needs to work quickly to have sidewalks and streetlamps put in place before another accident occurs. Life is too valuable, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars would be worth the saving of one life.