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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Permalink Reply by Ben R. on May 30, 2017 at 11:43am

This sounds familiar, typical even.

I think there's an aspect of cognitive dissonance where if someone calls them out for being wrong its easier to get mad at the person calling them out rather than realize that they themselves were actually in the wrong. Knowing this, doesn't make it possible for you to change this aspect of human behavior in others. But only to be aware of it and watch out for it in yourself.

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on May 31, 2017 at 10:52am

260 S Wells St. 311 report submitted.

225 N Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 1, 2017 at 12:52am

Ah, I had a wonderful dream last night. I was shown a prototype of an autonomous bike lane patrol vehicle that was being developed by the CPD. It was basically a self-driving Bobcat tractor with a small bulldozer blade that also had tank treads. With the wheels lowered, it would patrol the streets that had bike lanes. When it spotted a vehicle in the bike lane it would use an automated license plate reader to pull up the owner data, and issue a ticket on the spot. It would then raise the wheels (i.e. lower the tank treads), and shove the vehicle out of the bike lane. 'Probably solved on the spot. Instant justice.

Hmm, maybe I should have patented the idea before posting it here. Oh well, if someone steals the idea and builds it, I'll still be very happy. Sweet dreams!

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 1, 2017 at 11:35am

150 S Wells St. 311 report submitted.

225 N Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 2, 2017 at 1:27am

1850 W. Roosevelt Rd - 06/02/2017 @7:20am

IL Z86 5792

311 Report filed

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 2, 2017 at 2:25am

With this thread now being 68 pages long, i'm addmittedly too lazy to read through them all to see if someone explained how to report this to 311 in a convenient manner? I dowloaded seeClickFIx, but got lost in in the confusing interface.

Any one want to give good step by step instructions? Can we then make that a sticky post?

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 2, 2017 at 5:22am

https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/311/supp_info/request_s... - in the drop down menu select 'vehicle parked in a bike lane' (near the bottom) and then fill in the blanks. In the additional information box I typically put the date, maybe a comment, and a link to any picture I may have posted. (Note: you don't want 'bicycle program' in the drop down- that is for requesting a bike rack, etc.)

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on June 2, 2017 at 5:47am

Is there any indication these reports are effective? Since 311 calls are for non-emergencies, I suspect the violators will probably have moved on before someone shows up to write a ticket (most of the time, anyway). Maybe for some commercial drivers the report itself is a ding on their record?

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on June 2, 2017 at 6:42am

The 'vehicle parked in a bike lane' reporting via the above-mentioned 311 form is informational. The City claims they will use this data to determine which areas need enforcement. We can take their word for it, or not, but I think it is too soon to know if it is effective.

There was quite bit of discussion about it here on the Chainlink and here is an ActiveTrans post about it: 
http://activetrans.org/blog/chicago-adds-new-311-code-report-blocke...

If you want immediate enforcement, I think you can still call 311/911 and report the situation. We've seen that that course of action is hit or miss.

Permalink Reply by Cooper Hofstad on June 2, 2017 at 7:11am

Good thing there's no "what is this bike doing in the [insert any place they're not supposed to be?"  Would crash the server.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on June 2, 2017 at 7:28am

Oh goody! It's TROLL time. SMH

Permalink Reply by Cooper Hofstad on June 8, 2017 at 2:42am

How could you say that?  Don't make snap judgments about people.    You don't know me, so consider this:

1.  I ride my bike

2.  I push one pants leg up while riding.

3.  I usually carry some sort of messenger bag or, on the weekends, wear heavily-branded lycra.

4.  I seldom stop at red lights and never at stop signs.

5.  I believe in sharing the road, as long as it's not with cars, trucks, or pedestrians.

6.  I once road naked in critical mass and took great pleasure in dragging myself out of bed at 4 pm to stop people from coming home from work after a long day, because they own cars.

7.  I swerve around pedestrians at crosswalks at high speeds, and enjoy nearly clipping people and, better, strollers.

I'll accept your apologies, since you obviously didn't know my bona fides. It's a good lesson in not judging people.  Thanks.

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