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. ;-)

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on September 6, 2017 at 4:38am

Australia

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on September 6, 2017 at 4:02am

Lol. Well, it was just a matter of time. I had a (bad) dream last night that I was riding, and there were hundreds of cars parked in the bike lane. I was snapping pictures like crazy, but there was no end in sight. I was getting frantic, as I was going to be late for work, but I couldn't just let the drivers off the hook.

Oy. I really need to consider taking the bus for a few days. Of course, when I did ride the bus I would get p*ssed when a taxi stopped in the bus stop lane to discharge passengers, and block the bus behind it.

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Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on September 6, 2017 at 4:36am

Mount a hi-res video camera to your bike or helmet (which you should do anyway for your own good -- in case, God forbid, you need evidence) and just pass by the vehicles with the license plates in view of the lens. Go through the video when you get to your destination and get the info that way.

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Permalink Reply by Ben R. on September 6, 2017 at 5:29am

Plus - then you can also get the times when someone isn't just 'parked' in the lane but actively driving in it etc.

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Permalink Reply by Shalini on September 6, 2017 at 5:43am

Actively driving in the bike lane enrages me the most. Even when I'm also driving, I let them know they're assholes.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on September 6, 2017 at 8:57am

I actually picked up a video camera, but I haven't found time to mount it and play around with it. Hopefully before my next bad dream.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on September 6, 2017 at 11:14am

125 S Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on September 6, 2017 at 11:17am

75 S Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Maurice on September 7, 2017 at 5:35am

It's getting worse. Everywhere I've gone the past 2 days, there were stopped cars and sometimes stopped pedestrians in the bike lane, including parking "protected" bike lanes that make it very difficult to pass them. The only lane I encountered with zero cars was Dearborn this morning (though there were plenty of pedestrians standing in the lane next to cars). Not coincidentally, 2 ticket writers were on Dearborn...but one of them was yelling that passing cyclists should "slow down." She yelled at me as I was doing about 10 MPH, so I'm not sure what tiny fraction of the speed limit she thinks I should ride.

One driver, upset that I suggested "pull to the curb," sped to catch up with me and even tried to pepper spray me. (Pro Tip: Do not attempt to deploy pepper spray from a moving vehicle, and certainly not by reaching across the passenger seat of your motor vehicle.) I would've called the police on her, but the instant karma was AMAZING. This was in the University Village area where WBEZ showed an extremely high number of 311 complaints vs. an extremely low number of tickets written, which only emboldens the notion that striped bike lanes are for cars and that cyclists are trespassing.