“We Just Want Safe Spaces to Bike”

N 2016, Whitehouse, then a Northwestern University master’s student, was cycling in the Loop when a commercial truck turned right, veering into the bike lane and nearly running her over. The next year, after realizing how pervasive the problem of drivers not respecting dedicated lanes was, she launched the app Bike Lane Uprising. It allows cyclists to log the location and submit photos of vehicles parked in bike lanes, which is illegal in Chicago. The nationwide data is sortable, enabling users to spot trends. Whitehouse provides the information to city officals and companies employing drivers so they can identify problem areas and repeat offenders.