Rider risks injury to beat bike lane ticket

Bike Lane Sign with Speed LimitBike lanes are both a blessing and a curse, and anybody that has done much commuting in urban environments has likely experienced both sides of that.  On the blessing side, studies have demonstrated that bike lanes do, in fact, encourage more folks to ride.  However, it may also create a false sense of security, and can even create greater danger in some situations.  Here in US cities, most bike lanes are right in the “door zone” along parallel parked cars, causing cyclists to need to dart into traffic unexpectedly should a car door get opened in front of them.  Couple that risk with the pretense of “Mandatory Use Laws” and the dark side of bike lanes shows itself.

New York cyclist Casey Neistat put together a video in response to a ticket he received for riding outside of the bike lane on a New York street.  The video has taken off, due in large part to his rather dramatic demonstration of the utter absurdity of the uneducated interpretation of exactly what mandatory means.  Here’s to you Casey – for putting your self on the line to demonstrate to the world what should have already been obvious – but wasn’t.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ’]

In contrast, the fuzz on the other coast in San Francisco does a great job of illustrating exactly why and when “mandatory” is anything but.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M-_ueoU2E’]

  • guest

    Did Mr Neistat have a helmet on at any point during his little movie?  I get the impression that he cares more about his precious $50 than he does about really being safe.  Nice try tho.

    • jonk

      You’re right.  Because he wasn’t wearing a helmet in his video, his point is invalidated.

    • http://twitter.com/jakeefer jakeefer

      Get doored with or without a helmet, either way your going to get jacked up. 

    • https://justanothercyclist.com/ JustAnotherCyclist

      Actually, I don’t think that he was trying to make a statement about safety specifically, but rather about what he saw as a silly law requiring bikes to remain in the bike lane.

      That being said, to jonk’s point, I’m not exactly sure why the lack of a helmet invalidates someone’s opinion.

  • Falk_josh

    this is fucking hilarious. that cop is full of shit. i heard that isnt even a real law. anyway.. if someone put a bunch of shit in the middle of the car lanes the cops would be the first ones to shit a brick but because it was in the bike lanes the bastards didnt car. fuck them.

  • Falk_josh

    and what the fuck about helmets? if you get hit by a car a helmet isnt gonna do you any good. your still gonna get fucked up. “invalid argument” your an ass. the video is not about safety its about the damn cops upholding the law. your an idiot jonk.