Drivers Have Run Over, Flipped Off And Cursed Out Chicago’s Traffic Aides For Doing Their Jobs

CHICAGO — Michelle DiCola has been spit on, screamed at and nearly run over more times than she can count in her nearly 30-year stint working in traffic safety.

Now, as Chicago’s director of traffic management in the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, it’s her job to minimize that risk for the 200 traffic control aides she oversees.

Over the years, DiCola has grown accustomed to the impatient attitudes of Chicago drivers. But after two recent crashes that seriously injured two aides — and with Lollapalooza kicking off one of Chicago’s busiest traffic weekends — she’s speaking out on behalf of the workers whose job is it to keep pedestrians and drivers safe while ensuring traffic flows smoothly.

Michelle DiCola, Superintendent Of Special Traffic Services with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications talks while directing traffic at Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue in the South Loop on June 27, 2026. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago

On May 18, a supervising traffic control aide with over 20 years of experience was struck by a driver near Soldier Field. A week later, another aide was struck near Guaranteed Rate Field on 35th. Both were hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the Office of Emergency Management.

The driver in the first incident fled the scene, and the driver in the second incident only stopped when bystanders physically got in the way of their car, office spokesperson Joe Bird said in a statement.

The aide who was injured in the second incident has recovered and is back at work, while the supervising aide has been released from the hospital and is doing physical therapy six days a week.

“I want people to know that traffic control aides are real people with families,” DiCola said. “Yes, we are out here for public safety, but first and foremost, these traffic aides are somebody’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece. They come to work and they want to go home safe and come back and do this again tomorrow.”

Donning her black uniform and orange vest, DiCola stood in the center of South Michigan Avenue and East Ida B. Wells Drive on a busy Saturday evening in late June, mere inches away from the cars and trucks whipping past her in all directions, as she waved oncoming vehicles with her bright orange wand.

“This is a safe zone,” she said. “I don’t feel nervous because I can’t feel nervous, and all of us have each other’s backs.”

The South Loop intersection is one of the largest traffic chokepoints in the city for its proximity to I-90, DuSable Lake Shore Drive and several large event spaces — including Soldier Field, where Ed Sheeran was performing that day. Traffic aides are stationed at the intersection almost every weekend during the summer, as well as at dozens of other crossings across the city.

A traffic control aide with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications directs traffic at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and South Michigan Avenue on June 27, 2026. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago

The city’s traffic aides provide real-time human judgment in high-intensity, high-traffic situations that traffic lights cannot account for, including managing the flow of cars, trucks and buses in and out of special events.

Aides also help with pedestrian safety by ensuring that all street-crossing happens while traffic is halted — often putting themselves at risk to keep people safe.

Through her experience working the oft-maligned position, DiCola has observed a consistent and troubling pattern in human behavior: selfishness.

“When we have to hold up traffic, people are laying on their horns, they’re yelling out the window, they’re spitting, just being very aggressive,” she said. “Sometimes you’re watching a lady cross the road on a cell phone against oncoming traffic, not even paying attention, and you’re trying to save their lives, but then they yell out to you, ‘You don’t need to tell me what to do, I’m grown.’

“We get that you need to get to where you’re going, but so does everybody else, and we’re trying to make sure that happens as easily as possible.”

Since 2011, when the number of traffic aides on the city’s payroll was cut in half from 500 workers, coverage has been stretched thin across the city, putting even more responsibility in the hands of individual traffic aides, DiCola said.

With Lollapalooza bringing over 100,000 people to the Loop daily during the four-day festival, traffic aides will be working overtime this weekend, bolstered by Chicago Police and Fire Department workers, said Kayla Corbett, a traffic aide with four years of experience on the job.

A group of riders on electric unicycles and motorcycles, some filming with GoPro cameras, passes through the intersection of Roosevelt Road and South Michigan Avenue on June 27, 2026. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago

For events like Lollapalooza, the 10-to-11-hour days spent baking in the heat can wear down traffic aides, Corbett said.

“I try to like rotate the TMAs to all sit down, relax, and then we get them water and snacks,” Corbett said. “But it’s very hard sometimes, especially when it’s very cold or very hot outside.”

Corbett echoed DiCola’s sentiment regarding the unfair treatment traffic aides get from the public.

“I feel like a lot of people hate us,” she said. “Honestly, I feel like a lot of people think we’re here to make it worse for them to get to work or to get home or to the hospital, and I think that just comes with patience. I think people need to be more patient with us, and just be aware that we’re out here to help you and not stop you from where you’re going.”

Corbett was especially rattled by the recent news that two of her fellow traffic aides had been hit by drivers while doing their jobs. Three years ago, while working an event at Northerly Island, Corbett was sent to the hospital by a driver who admitted to intentionally hitting her, she said.

“I was trying to stop a vehicle, and I had my flashlight out in my hand with my vest, and the guy just continued to drive without stopping,” Corbett said. “They did find a slight tear in my thigh … They said since it wasn’t completely torn that I would be able to rebuild it with [physical] therapy, so I was in therapy for about a year.”

Corbett said traffic aides could use more reflective clothing aside from just their vests, and she suggested the city put up signage to alert drivers of the presence of traffic aides. For now, though, traffic aides just want their humanity to be acknowledged while they do their jobs, she said.

Standing in the middle of the intersection, DiCola noticed a CTA bus making a right turn and signaled to her fellow traffic aides to hold up their lines of traffic.

“We run a well-oiled machine,” she said, walking right up to the bus and motioning for it to move through. “You got to get everything back on track, and since this bus is stuck, we’ve got to get him out of here.

“People are beeping because they’re anxious … but this is all about everybody’s safety. The traffic aides are watching each other’s back, and now that the bus is through, we will resume.”

A traffic control aide with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications directs traffic at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and South Michigan Avenue on June 27, 2026. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago

Daniel Fulgencio, a traffic control aide with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, poses for a portrait while directing traffic at Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue in the South Loop on June 27, 2026. Credit: Heidi Zeiger for Block Club Chicago