Accident-Prone Street Strikes Again: 'This Happens All the Time'

About 6:15 p.m. Monday, a Toyota sport utility vehicle and Honda sedan collided near Kenneth and Jarvis avenues, causing the SUV to flip over.

According to Lincolnwood police, the Toyota driver was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston and the other driver was able to walk away without injury.

The scene is all too familiar for nearby residents. Jarvis Avenue, which separates Skokie from Lincolnwood, has numerous side streets without stop signs intersecting it from the other streets.

"This happens all the time," said Sylwia Laniewski, who lived at her home in the neighborhood for 15 years. "People think it's a race track."

In the summer, residents started a petition asking both the Village of Skokie and Lincolnwood to place stop signs along Jarvis, but had little success.

Yet it wasn't until two serious accidents happened near Kildare and Jarvis avenues that officials finally decided to put a stop sign at that intersection, according to Laniewski. Soon after, another accident occurred just one block east of Kildare on Tripp Avenue and another stop sign was placed.

"They're probably going to put a stop sign on Kenneth and Jarvis after this accident," Laniewski said.

Officials from neither Skokie nor Lincolnwood were available for comment, as the accident occurred after normal business hours.

"You got Skokie over there and Lincolnwood over here, and the two sides won't meet," one resident said referring to the dividing line on Jarvis Avenue. "I used to panic when I was teaching my kids how to drive."

Even chatter on the scanners revealed that both police departments were briefly unsure who was responsible for securing the accident scene. 

According to Lincolnwood police, the SUV was traveling south on Kenneth while the sedan was traveling east on Jarvis when the collision occurred.

 "The rule is, right of way is to the person on the right," said one Skokie police official. "You hope people know that."