"Skitching"? No ticket? No way!

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
June 15, 2010

The Northwest Herald is reporting that an unnamed 16-year-old boy in Lakewood was airlifted to Lutheran General Hospital on Monday evening, after he fell off his bike while "skitching." Sure glad that word was explained in the article; I'd never heard it.

According to the story, the kid was on his bicycle and was hanging onto the right outside mirror on a car driven by 17-year-old Brandon Klemm. After the 16-year-old fell off his bike, Klemm took him home. When the boy complained of head injuries, paramedics were called. And then Flight for Life was called.

Lakewood Police Chief Larry Howell is quoted as saying that he does not anticipate the filing of any charges.

Oh, really? Maybe not in Lakewood but, if this had happened anywhere else in the County, you can bet charges would be filed. Perhaps the accident didn't happen on a public roadway. If it happened in a driveway or on private property, it would be pretty hard to cite the driver for a violation of the Illinois Vehicle Code.

If it happened on a public roadway, thought, then how about charges against both the boy on the bicycle and the driver of the car?

625 ILCS 5/11-1504 Clinging to Automobiles might be a good place to start, except for the sloppiness of the legislators, who used the word "clinging" in the title but who used the word "attach" in the language of the statute. The statute reads, "No person riding upon any bicycle ... shall attach the same or himself to any vehicle upon a roadway."

Has a bicyclist "attached" himself to a car when he latches onto a mirror? A sharp lawyer would fight that one, but an equally strong prosecutor ought to prevail.

Careless Driving would be a reasonable ticket for driver Klemm. Surely, Chief Howell is not going to give both of them a pass for a dumb stunt like that, is he?