So what options remain for the cyclists once the police decline to pursue criminal charges?  According to state’s attorney Julia Rietz, the victims could first file a Freedom of Information Act request to get the name and address of the driver of the vehicle for insurance purposes.  They could then pursue a civil case by hiring a private lawyer.

Steve Magas, an Ohio lawyer who specializes in bicycle legal matters, confirmed that bringing a civil case against the driver is still possible, and might allow the victims to force the driver to testify.  Unlike in a criminal case, in a civil case if a defendant invokes the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, their non-cooperation can be used as evidence of guilt.  While a civil case would exclude any possibility of jail time, it could hold the driver accountable for monetary damages.

Without a confession, further evidence from the driver or owner of the vehicle, or a visual ID on the driver, a criminal case is unlikely to hold up in court. However, two Chicago-area lawyers, Jim Freeman, and Christ Tracy, who specialize in bicycle-related injury cases indicated that there is strong potential for a successful civil case in each of these instances. “I’d love to have [a photograph of the vehicle and license plate] as evidence in one of my cases,“ Tracy related. And in each case, even without a physical ID of the driver, both lawyers expressed confidence that they could get to the bottom of who was driving the vehicle during the discovery phase of a civil trial.

Freeman feels that cyclists are treated better by the legal system in downstate Illinois than Chicago, but related that, regardless of location, the amount of effort expended by law enforcement is often directly proportional to the severity of the injuries of the victims.

This article is pretty disheartening. With my more frequent run-ins with drivers passing dangerously close and then becoming combative when I explain the newly passed law if I can catch up to them, I’m seriously considering getting a GoPro rig to mount on my handlebars facing traffic to document every car that passes me in an effort to protect myself should I end up smeared across the pavement.