Illinois Injury Law Blog

In late April, as her husband and screaming passengers watched, a 50-year-old woman whose arm was trapped in closed CTA bus doors was dragged about 20 feet before the bus driver stopped. The victim has since been treated to address possible nerve damage. Earlier this week she filed a Cook County personal injury lawsuit against the CTA and one of its drivers, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Meanwhile, a Chicago Sun-Times article reveals that incidents of theft and robbery on CTA buses have been climbing steadily for five years. Robberies alone are up 77 percent since 2006. In 2009, there were 1,942 reports of criminal acts on CTA buses. So far in 2010, crime on CTA buses is up 12 percent despite only a 0.4 percent increase in ridership over last year.

CTA authorities assure their buses are safe, citing a decline in the number of aggravated assaults and batteries occurring on their transports. Nor have there been any homicides since 2008, when a Julian High School senior was killed by gunfire after being caught in a shootout between two men arguing on a CTA bus.

In an effort to undermine criminal activity, the CTA is mounting an aggressive public awareness campaign using flyers and posters that remind passengers to keep an eye on their electronic gadgets and pay attention to their surroundings. And, they’ve added more security cameras which have helped law enforcement in making arrests.

But the bottom line is this: CTA has an obligation to its employees and passengers to provide an environment free of hazards – criminal- or traffic-related – that may cause injury to those who rely upon public transportation. When the agency fails, and someone is serious injured or killed, the CTA can and should be held responsible.