What's this doing in the bike lane?

Share your pics, videos, streets, stories of what you find in the bike lane of the non-bike variety that has an impact on your ride and/or your safety. I've decided to keep it a little more open ended - cars, snow, buses, garbage, cabs, etc. If they shouldn't be in the bike lane, go ahead and add it to this thread. Please be safe if you are taking pics or video! :-)

My hope is that we can collectively build some evidence of what we see when riding in the city with the overall hope of better enforcement of "bikes only" and improving maintenance.

Update: More Hashtags to Capture Vehicles in the Bike Lane

With popular hashtags:
#BikeLaneShaming

#LaneSpreading (Chicago Bike Selling)

#ClearTheWay (ActiveTrans), there are many options to capture violations.

We think you should use ALL of them AND post your photos on The Chainlink. ;-)

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by V W on October 6, 2017 at 3:14am

Great article, thanks for sharing

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 5, 2017 at 10:16pm

1750 W Polk Street

10/05/2017 @4:05pm

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 5, 2017 at 10:18pm

1719 W Polk Street

10/05/2017 @4:05pm

IL R759252

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 5, 2017 at 10:20pm

1737 W Polk Street

10/05/2017 @4:05pm

IL Q334776

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 5, 2017 at 10:22pm

1737 W Polk Street

10/05/2017 @4:05pm

Uber

IL Q148161

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 5, 2017 at 10:24pm

1737 W Polk Street

10/05/2017 @4:05pm

IL V448085

2nd day in a row for this vehicle

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on October 6, 2017 at 1:33am

1819 W Polk Street

10/06/2017 @7:04am

Buona Catering

IL 1257596

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on October 6, 2017 at 4:20am

My email to the 42 Ward alderman:

Good day:

This is a follow-up to my email sent earlier this year. First, I'd like to thank the alderman for replying to my letter. I'm sure he is quite busy, and it was good to see that he took time to review my concerns.

Less than 10 months after sending my initial email I've documented over 300 cases of vehicles illegally blocking a bike lane. The vast majority of these cases have occurred in the 42nd Ward. This includes taxis, Ubers, Lyft, UPS, FedEx, delivery trucks, armored cars, limos, postal trucks, and sadly, police vehicles. In each case I've posted the details in this online forum: http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/what-s-this-doing-in-the-b.... In the thread you'll see thousands of documented violations throughout the city.

In late April the city's 311 system added a specific code for vehicles blocking the bike lane. Yesterday I submitted my 200th report to the 311 system. Frankly, I have seen *zero* improvement over the course of this year. The 200 instances represent $30,000 in lost revenue for the city, as each case is a $150 fine. In less than 20 minutes on the street each (business) day I have witnessed an average of 2 violations. The number is actually quite higher, as many drivers get away before I can snap a photo. I can only imagine if someone was actually serious about cracking down on the scofflaws, how many tickets could be written.

When the 311 code was added, it was announced that the city would use the data to identify hotspots for targeted enforcement. In my case, the vast majority of violations have occurred at two locations, 125 S Franklin St, and 225 N Franklin St. Even though I have submitted over 100 reports for these locations, I have seen no change whatsoever.

An article published in August 2017 by WBEZ (https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/where-chicago-tickets-for-park...) highlights the discrepancy between the 311 reports and the locations where tickets are being written. The data provided to WBEZ only includes reports through early July. In addition, the mapping software does not identify points were multiple reports were submitted, e.g. 125 S Franklin. Even so, it is quite clear that the 311 reports are not being used to target areas where frequent violations are occurring.

I'm asking the alderman to once again reach out to the police and other city agencies to find out why enforcement of the law banning vehicles in bike lanes is not being enforced. Is it going to take a serious accident or death before something is done?

Thank you.