Streetsblog Chicago Editor Seriously Injured on Bike Tour in Southern Illinois

During one of his regular multimodal bike tours of the Midwest, John Greenfield was injured while bicycling and is currently in a hospital in Carbondale, Illinois. The crash happened around noon on Friday. Many details of the crash are unknown and we are withholding what may be known but unconfirmed while John’s family and attorney attempt to learn more.

Streetsblog Chicago readers are well aware that editor in chief and co-founder John Greenfield goes on a couple of multimodal bike tours in the Midwest every year, and 2023 is no different.

He rode Amtrak from Chicago to Carbondale on Thursday and started the bike tour on Friday morning, posting a photo of his bike in front of a house with two Egyptian gods statues.

John’s brother Dave informed me that John was in a medically-induced coma for most of Saturday as a precaution because of a possible head injury. Last night John’s doctor stopped administering the anesthesia. John is also opening his eyes and appears to be slowly awaking from the coma. The doctor is emphasizing we won’t know the extent of cognitive effects until he wakes, but there are many signs for optimism.

Update April 24, 11 AM: Dave said that John’s condition is steadily improving and that the doctors hope he will be off of the ventilator in the next few days. 

Also surrounding John are four Chicago friends.

Regular publishing on Streetsblog Chicago will be paused until further notice.