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. ;-)
Tags:
1853 W. Polk Street
11/29/2017 @4:05pm
IL 15761T
(Driver: "It's okay, I do it everyday." http://www.firsttransit.com/)
This thread has a lot of recent posts about cars parked in "protected" lanes. Wasn't that supposed to wane over time because of education or something? The only education was drivers learning that the city doesn't care whether they park illegally. They'll be educated by passing cyclists or (more likely) not at all.
Last night, I tried to educate a guy parked in the protected lane on Des Plaines. He responded that it was okay for him to park there because his hazard lights were on. This morning, in the 2 block stretch of State north of Cermak, EVERY SINGLE CAR was illegally parked in the protected lane, directly next to a legal parking space. Then, on Dearborn, I was nearly run down by a minivan driving backwards down the protected lane. The driver explained that he was unloading at the Hotel Blake and didn't feel like using the clearly marked and completely empty loading zone directly next to the bike lane. Hotel staff was nowhere to be found.
That's the sad reality. I've seen numerous police cars zip past cars illegally parked without a 2nd look. The drivers of the illegally parked vehicles know the risk of getting a ticket is slim to none.
I think it's time to consider a little vigilante action. Fck it. Happy holidays.
Please take the age old adages to heart: 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegar' and that one about 'glass houses and stones' - be polite but firm and and certainly non-destructive in any grass roots action...
Old adages are frequently nonsense. It's clear that these people will only stop their selfish behavior if there are negative consequences to their actions. The present zero-consequence environment has only normalized and encouraged the behavior.
Ideally, the negative consequences will come from the government. But we obviously don't live in an ideal society.
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