That didn’t take long.
Just two days after the new buffered bike lane on Fiji Way in Marina del Rey was completed, it was already blocked on Friday by a semi-trailer illegally parked in the bike lane — in an area that had been designated as a no-parking zone long before the lanes were even contemplated.
And close enough to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Marina station that they could undoubtedly see it just by looking their windows. Let alone drive right past it every time a squad car leaves the station.
So what good does it do to install bike lanes if authorities don’t care enough to keep people from parking in them?
If that’s the way it’s going to be, the county should have just saved the money. Because the only thing worse than no bike lane is one we can’t safely use.
Get the name of the company (it is on the container, no?) and let’s see it they have a Facebook and/or a Twitter…
Solution– make it a protected bike lane!
Like this:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=339448202805112&set=a.211255242291076.51618.204774919605775&type=1&theater
Perhaps a call to the Marina Del Rey Sheriff’s station to report the illegally parked trailer might do the trick. (310) 482-6000.
Hopefully it’s gone by now, but if anyone is planning to ride through that area today, you might want to carry that number with you.
Whatever you do, keep your head up and don’t run into it. One of the more uncommon accidents is the “head down, run into large immovable object” affair. I know people who were looking down, not forward.
I’m betting that would be illegally parked even where parking is legal.
On another note, this is the road that has those words on the road that say you are to ride single file. http://tinyurl.com/RideSingleFile
I wonder if these unenforceable words still there?
They finally painted that over when they installed the bike lanes. So you should be able to ride two abreast within the bike lane now.
If you light a road flare and tuck it up in the chassis… You get a nice big fire, and no truck/trailer in the bike lane. Of course if you have to do this too many times the fires will start to take out the bike lane markings but hey, omelettes and eggs.
put a box of donuts on top of the trucks and the sherrifs will notice it.
Perhaps you should restate the traffic rules that:
A. Bikers must obey ALL traffic rules (as if they were driving an auto,
B. Bikers should NOT ride on the sidewalk (except as designated),
C. Bikers must ride WITH traffic (as an auto would) and not in
opposition to it.
I state theses things because i live on the aforementioned Fiji Way and constantly see bikers violating all points above (even with the new markings) and almost get themselves killed and /or others
(pedestrians) hurt!
Most don’t wear helmets either. Stupid!
You’re right. All bike riders are required to obey all traffic laws, just as drivers are. And just like drivers, a sizable percentage fail to do so; bicyclists are no more — and most likely, far less — likely to break traffic laws than the motorists they share the road with.
And while bicycling on the sidewalk is legal in the City of Los Angeles, you are correct that it is illegal in the immediate Marina area, with is owned by the County of Los Angeles.
You are also correct that bikes are required to ride with traffic. Not only is that the law, it is much safer to ride with traffic than against it. And I am a strong supporter of helmet use; I haven’t ridden a bike without mine in over 25 years.
However, if you could do something about the many motorists in the Marina and elsewhere who endanger everyone around them by speeding, failing to signal, texting and using hand-held phones, you would save far more lives than if every cyclist rode exactly as you suggest.