The city’s pedestrian safety campaign
The thirty-two ghostly white mannequins installed along Wacker Drive last October weren’t Halloween decorations. They represented the thirty-two pedestrians killed by cars in Chicago last year, part of Chicago’s new shock-and-awe campaign to draw attention to traffic safety. The “It’s Up To You” campaign also includes placard ads with graphic images of the tragic results of dangerous driving, such as a motorist cowering in her vehicle with a body sprawled across the shattered windshield. “Some of it is a little hard-hitting,” says transportation chief Gabe Klein. “But we want to remind people that when you’re frustrated behind the wheel, these are real people and real lives.” The city recently relocated nine of the mannequins to CTA stations and plans to install four in the State Street median between Wacker and Lake Street.
Best of Chicago 2011
