Advocacy & Safety - Fake traffic tickets for cars parked in bike lanes

I get really pissed off when their are cars parked in bike lanes, because it makes the whole bike lane thing rather useless. I use the road and am comfortable swerving out into the road, but not everyone is. A lot of people don't feel confortable on the road and want to ride in bike lanes on on bike paths. So i altered a image of a traffic ticket and am putting them on cars i find parked in bike lanes to let them know they are breaking the law and that we don't appreciae it.
Is this a childish prank, am i wasting my time, or is it good to remined those drivers to stay out and block the road instead? I just want to know what oyu guys think about it.

Keep up the good work.

You know, in a lot of states, you can actually give a parking ticket that will stand up in court! Check the laws in your local jurisdiction and file them with the prosecutor if it turns out you are in one of those areas......:D That's even better than a prank ticket, ain't it?:D

There was a story about a guy in NY who hung up some no parking/tow away zone signs and some cars got towed. City admitted later that the signs were put up by someone else but still made drivers pay to get their cars returned

Childish... yeah. But you'll get extra points if you have the tickets printed up in another language, say Spanish for example, where the driver gets extra pissed off.

What would really be good is if there can be a design for a cheap collaspsible cardboard simulated tire boot. Just whip it out of your packpack, unfold it and place it next to the driver's side front tire. Driver comes back and sees this big ol yellow thing "attached" to his wheel. Printed on it in big black letters "TIRE BOOT - Call 1-800-***-**** to have removed". And make the phone number a computer tech help center in India. Should make for hours of fun on U-tube.

Childish -yes

Childish -yes
Funny -also yes!

I'd be so psyched to actually use/have a bike lane, I'd be willing to live with occassional car parked in it. Certainly wouldn't be worth my time to stick a fake ticket under the wiper.

I think this can get you into trouble with the law.

Isn't it simpler to just call 911?

funny, yes.
And if it works to let people know that there ARE cyclist wanting
to use the lane without interuption, all the better.
Keep it up.

Isn't it simpler to just call 911?
Cars parked in BLs are an emergency?

Please don't abuse the 911 system.

Al

Car talk has tickets you can get from their web site that cover all sorts of annoying (and some illegal yet unenforced) things that drivers do: http://www.cartalk.com/content/timekill/tickets/

For this application I suggest the lousy parking offense, possibly with the owning an suv offense if it applies.

They used to have one (I don't see it now) for driving with fog lights on when there is no fog. Edit: found it, under obnoxious driving manuver.

Yes - I know you are comfortable riding in the lane outside of bike lane.

Don't swerve. Instead merge early to smoothly avoid parked cars and stay in lane if if there are shorter gaps between the parked cars. Hold a steady line and stay out of the door zone.

If you, in the primary lane, are causing other motorists to driver slower than they wish, then they only have the other motorists who parked the cars to 'blame' Other cyclists who may not be as comfortable taking the lane may see you and come to realize it is the safest and most predictable way to ride in this situation.

Still call your local traffic/parking enforcement and complain about the illegally parked cars.

Al

Here, parking in the bike lane is allowed, unless it is specially prohibited with "no parking" signs.

I think it's a great idea. The bike lanes I ride are contraflow oneway streets. Most of the time there is a car parked somewhere along the way, usually with a perfectly legal space across the road. I have to ride into oncoming traffic to go around. To be fair, it's an extremely quiet street, it's just the principle of the thing.

I think a fake parking ticket will let the driver know that they've erred in their parking, and someone else is aware of it. People don't like to feel embarassed, so that may act as a deterrent in the future. Then again, it may not.

The bike lanes I ride are contraflow oneway streets.
Crazy. How is traffic control managed at the intersections?

Al

Cars parked in BLs are an emergency?

Please don't abuse the 911 system.

Al

Agreed: 9-1-1 is for EMERGENCIES. Abuse of the system can lead to someone not getting the emergency help they need.

Childish... yeah. But you'll get extra points if you have the tickets printed up in another language, say Spanish for example, where the driver gets extra pissed off.

What would really be good is if there can be a design for a cheap collaspsible cardboard simulated tire boot. Just whip it out of your packpack, unfold it and place it next to the driver's side front tire. Driver comes back and sees this big ol yellow thing "attached" to his wheel. Printed on it in big black letters "TIRE BOOT - Call 1-800-***-**** to have removed". And make the phone number a computer tech help center in India. Should make for hours of fun on U-tube.

Simpler - combine these great ideas, and print up sheets that say:

'I let the air out of your tires because you're a jackass who parks in bike lanes, unnecessarily risking my life so you can save the 2 minutes it would take to park legally. Now you can wait for a while until AAA gets here. Or you can ask a passing cyclist to borrow his frame pump. Have fun!'

Then you let the air out of his tires, natch.

Why not set up a Bike Lane Trials Riders Team? Since they're afraid to ride out of the lane, they can't ride round the car and they can't ride on the sidewalk, so over would be the only choice they'd have... officer.

bad idea. Generally this sort of stuff just pisses the people off and makes them more likely to do it in the future. At worst it may change how they view and interact with cyclists on the road.

Why can't you just pass them and leave it be?

If you see a habitual offender just call the cops and have them do a little parking enforcement.

Simpler - combine these great ideas, and print up sheets that say:

'I let the air out of your tires because you're a jackass who parks in bike lanes, unnecessarily risking my life so you can save the 2 minutes it would take to park legally. Now you can wait for a while until AAA gets here. Or you can ask a passing cyclist to borrow his frame pump. Have fun!'

Then you let the air out of his tires, natch.

Sounds like a great idea. Except when the angry JAM decides to teach the next cyclist he or she sees a lesson by running them off the road. Let it be and just complain to the local by-law enforcement unit. Believe me, those guys just LOVE getting the scoop on promising areas for inflicting parking fines. Perhaps the point can be made without making the rest of your two wheeled brethren targets of opportunity.

Crazy. How is traffic control managed at the intersections?

Al

4-way stops. Lights at major intersections with a "cyclist" button.

Better make sure it is actually illegal to park there. And make sure your tickets don't have the official county seal or whatever on them. Then have at it. I'm sure lots of people get annoyed at people who park illegally.

bad idea. Generally this sort of stuff just pisses the people off Generally this sort of stuff just pisses the people off and makes them more likely to do it in the future. ...
I have left notes on a few cars at work that I've seen repeatedly double-parked, particularly when they're taking up two spaces front and back (as in, the space looks empty until you pull partway in and realize there's half a car there). Rather than sounding angry I've just written something like, "The way you've parked makes you appear to be selfish and inconsiderate." It might have pissed them off, but haven't yet noticed one of these cars double-parked after a note.

Not that it's a perfect fix, but I think in ~some~ cases people just don't think that it affects anyone else, until it's pointed out.

So i altered a image of a traffic ticket and am putting them on cars i find parked in bike lanes to let them know they are breaking the law and that we don't appreciae it.

Why not just call Parking Control ?

If this happens to you in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; this is what you can do:



Parking Control at 905-896-5678 (Monday to Friday) any time from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.


Simpler and more effective. ;)

=v= Fake tickets rule. I've been involved in a few varieties of them myself. Can you make the graphics available? I can put it on http://www.scorcher.org/screed/ if you'd like.

Why not just call Parking Control ?

If this happens to you in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; this is what you can do:


Parking Control in the Greater Toronto Area is awesome to watch in operation. Leaving your car on a street with no-stopping after 4PM mean you WILL get towed, in about 10 minutes. I used to work on King St. in TO. We would go for a smoke at 3:55 PM just to watch the coordinated beauty of cars being towed. It was ballet with tow-trucks.

The parking control in Winnipeg is the same, the rush hour starts at 15:30 and by 15:35 any cars still parked in the diamond lanes are ticketed and 5 minutes later they are towed away. The diamond lanes here are shared between busses and cyclers so in this respect the bus drivers are our friends. They radio the parking control and get the cars towed.

just make sure it has this graphic on it...

http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/72/39/23303972.jpg

I think it's a good idea. Not confrontational way to get your point across without harming anyone/anything. Perhaps some of the drivers will consider that it could have easily been a real ticket and might think twice next time.

Some bike shops in NYC give out free stickers that say, "I parked in a bike lane." They do not condone putting them on cars, of course!

why not just buy a BB gun and shoot out their windows while you drive by ? or better yet, install some of those metal blades that rotate on your wheels like the movie Grease and when you ride by you can puncture the tires of hundreds of parked cars ? OR....make a few pipe bombs and stuff them into your back pack and throw them under the cars ? dude, you have to stop thinking childs play and step into the big leauges....

Better check your local, county, and state laws. Some places may interpret this as "Impersonating A Police Officer" Which is a felony. You get a felony on your record. You can say goodbye to a lot of high paying jobs and carriers . Because most don't hire felons.

Funny,

But instead of carrying fake tickets around just flip their break-away mirrors forward.

Put on your 661 Hurricane boots ( http://sixsixone.com/Catalog_661Moto.aspx?id=dc9d7f07-7825-4d23-a5a8-9aac25fc200b&product=efd0f242-d24d-4f75-b419-df0f91cc7bb4 ) and do whatever you wish to do as you ride on by.. I probably wouldn't do it to someone parking in a bike lane. Maybe if it was the same car that almost killed me earlier. It would also just start more violence so maybe its not a good idea.