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Blocking a bike lane? Local social media accounts are eager to call you out. - The Boston Globe
(www.bostonglobe.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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They do deserve to be called out. They are not bikes.
I'm a cyclist. Delivery drivers and emergency services have to park in no-parking zones to do their job. It doesn't make sense to park anywhere except on the very right of the road (or left in left driving countries). And that just coincides with the bike lane.
Also, on the bike lane, they'll bother fewer people than on the car lane. At least in the street I live on, fifty cars will pass before one bike does - as unfortunate as that fact is.
Even if they did park on the car lane, a bike would still have to grind to a near halt because now you have a gap where the driver might pop out in front of their truck to walk to the storefront.
Delivery drivers also frequently block driveways and prevent cars from going in or out. It's not like they have a vendetta against bikes.
I'm also glad they do their job because having goods delivered might be the only viable option if you don't have a car. And finally, delivery drivers are mostly underpaid immigrants, cut them some slack.
I don't have an issue with emergency vehicles, when they are responding to an emergency, being in areas that they would not otherwise be allowed to be. Delivery drivers are not comparable to something like an ambulance, and don't have special privileges unless those privileges are otherwise explicitly outlined.
A delivery driver using the bike lane should be viewed the same as if they parked on the sidewalk. If the delivery driver is going to be breaking the law anyway, they should just pop on their emergency lights and block the road, they would at least be blocking the correct mode of traffic.
I agree and have often said the same thing! If you're going to park illegally, inconvenience drivers, don't ENDANGER vulnerable users!
Why are you lumping emergency services delivery drivers when that wasn't park of the discussion? Emergency services are legally allowed to park anywhere, because they're usually there for an emergency. However, sometimes emergency vehicles abuse this power when it's not a emergency, or just don't consider anyone else when they could easy park in the space 10' away. In those cases, they're not breaking the law, they're just being an asshole.
For delivery drivers, I think there's some nuance as you're right, on some streets the only option besides parking illegally is lugging the cargo 5+ blocks. In those cases, we should write this exception into law instead of just letting some people break the law as they see fit. However, I would estimate, in most cases, delivery drivers do have a good alternative like a loading zone or an alley, they just don't want to adjust.
This might have something to do with people feeling unsafe biking when there are vehicles parked in the bike lane all the time!
Personally, I don't think it's okay in that case either. However, in those cases, it costs drivers time waiting. With people on bikes, it costs them safety.
Because the article shows a callout of what looks like a police vehicle with flashing sirens ^^' I forgot to bring that up in my comment. I agree with your points. Honestly I haven't even considered loading zones because they're very rare where I live. And our parking spots are barely large enough to fit a regular sized car, let alone a proper truck ^^
Delivery drivers don't "have to". They are exploiting an externality and making me less safe so that they can make more money than they would if they took the extra two minutes to park legally and use a dolly. They are literally monetizing my endangerment.
The real problem here is that bike gutters are not bike infrastructure. They are car infrastructure. They are an ineffective and dangerous approach to separating bikes from cars and are only used when the city doesn't want to be bothered to do something better. As the other user said, the shoulder of the road is often the only place for delivery trucks to do their jobs. The city was lying when they painted a bicycle lane on the shoulder and gave you the impression it's exclusively for bikes. They fully expected the shoulder would still be used for other things.
Where do you propose they park, then?
In a parking spot or loading zone
Fuck fire trucks too!