Elmhurst Fatal Crash Victim's Daughter Speaks Out

ELMHURST, IL – The daughter of the woman killed in a crash late last month in Elmhurst urged the city on Monday to take action at the intersection in question.

Patricia Hudson, who lives on Elmhurst's Howard Avenue, spoke to the City Council about the crash involving her mother, 74-year-old Rosemary Rice.

On Jan. 26, Rice was killed walking across York Street at Diversey Avenue. She lived in an apartment complex northwest of the intersection.

In her comments to the council, Hudson said the city appears to have not followed any of the suggestions after a traffic study of the intersection in 2020.

At the time, residents petitioned the city for a traffic light at Grand and Diversey. But a city consultant said a light was not warranted. The consultant made other suggestions

Hudson called for another study of the intersection. And she said her mother complained to her about the intersection.

"When I went to see the site where my mother died, I watched people running across York, children running across York. As everyone knows, Churchville (Middle School) is 600 feet from that intersection of Diversey and York," Hudson said.

She said she believed the risk remained.

"There was a previous fatality, which was mentioned the first time around that this survey was done, and it was in the Elmhurst Patch," Hudson said. "Now you have another fatality... I'm concerned that nothing has been done to make sure that intersection is safer."

"Sorry for your loss, and thank you for your comments," Mayor Scott Levin told Hudson.

In February 2020, former Mayor Pete DiCianni, then a DuPage County Board member, urged the City Council to put up a traffic light. He was responding to the consultant's recent study.

Former Elmhurst Mayor Pete DiCianni spoke to the City Council in February 2020, urging the city to install a traffic light at York Street and Diversey Avenue. (City of Elmhurst/via video)

"Today, I am asking you to do your job and make that intersection safe," DiCianni said at the time. "I know it's going to cost some dollars, maybe $300,000. Sounds like a lot of money. But what's the value of a life? What's the value of safety? I think it's imperative we act."

"I ask for a traffic control light, whether it's now or whenever we redo this corridor, but the sooner, the better because it's only a matter of time," DiCianni said.

Short of a traffic light, Engineering Enterprises in 2020 made three recommendations to help with the situation at York and Diversey:

• The city could install signs on Grand Avenue, east of the intersection with York, barring left turns onto side roads that lead to Diversey during rush hours.
• Convert side roads from Grand to Diversey (east of the intersection) into one-way, northbound streets to prevent drivers from seeking to avoid the signal at Grand and York.
• The city could work with local businesses near the intersection to reduce the number of curb cuts at each site, where feasible, in accordance with the recommendations of the North York Street Corridor plan.