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news
car in cycle lane - via Cycling UKCyclists in Austin to get paid for reporting drivers who park in bike lanes
This sounds like a cracking idea – the city of Austin, Texas plans to let local residents report motor vehicles illegally parked in cycle lanes, and as a gesture of thanks will pay them a quarter of the fines imposed on the vehicles’ owners.
The so-called “bike lane bounty” – officially, the Bike Blockage Program – was unanimously approved at a meeting of the city’s Urban Transportation Commission earlier this week, reports the Austin Monitor.
The initiative is inspired by a similar one in New York City which enables people to report vehicles parked with idling engines and receive 25 per cent of the fine imposed – which amounts to $325 for a first time offence, meaning the person reporting it trousers $87.50.
A number of residents of the Big Apple have turned it into a lucrative source of income, reports CNBC – among them 81-year-old Paul Slapikas who reckons he’s made $64,000 to date “without even trying,” and with another $7,300 currently working its way through the system.
It’s perhaps not a means of earning a living for the faint-hearted, however, with Slapikas saying: “I had knives pulled on me three times and never spilled even a drop of blood.”
As with the New York City initiative, the one in Austin – earlier this year ranked first for investment in bike lanes among 13 selected US cities – would function via a smartphone app, enabling people to submit pictures of vehicles parked in bike lanes to city authorities.
Mario Champion, chair of the Urban Transportation Commission, put forward the proposal, which will now go to the city’s Mobility Commission for final approval.
“The city spends millions of dollars to make these facilities, and these facilities get blocked all of the time,” he explained. “A successful transportation system doesn’t just move cars, it moves people.”
Current city laws mean that a fine will only be issued if a vehicle is parked next to a sign that forbids parking in a bike lane – with Champion’s solution, should the proposal become law, being that signs would be put up warning drivers that the face being fined if they park in a bike lane.
“It really should be the reverse,” he added, explaining that it should be the case that “you can’t park in a bike lane unless there is a sign that says for whatever reason it is OK to park in the bike lane.”
The next step for the proposal is going before the Mobility Committee at their next meeting. If it is approved there, an official draft will be written.
Unsurprisingly, news of the initiative in Texas has had cyclists over here wondering whether a similar scheme could be introduced in the UK – which given the number of times you see motor vehicles parked in cycle lanes seems a much more certain get-rich-quick scheme than most others we’ve seen.
— 🚴♂️🚙Carlton💙🇺🇦💛🐩🚶♂️ (@carlton1512) June 16, 2022
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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20 comments
Is it not true that there are people (in some parts of the US) who make a living from this type of activity. Sounds like a great gig. Enjoy your passion for cycling and help clean up the streets. Sort of like Travis Bickle with a camera on his arm attachment.
In the UK, the skunk pussies are allowed to run roughshod over every law possible. A million miles away from Austin!
There used to be people here who got paid for this sort of activity. They were called "traffic wardens". Not seen one for a few decades though.
I, and many, many other cyclists out there, I suspect, would happily report the bastards for free if only the authorities would give a damn.
Indeed, upon reflection I don't think I like this law at all. We already have plenty of justification and motivation (again, if the authorities would just give a damn) for reporting this stuff, and the cash bounty just muddies the issue. I want drivers to know they're being reported due to the genuine safety hazard they represent (already a difficult enough task), not for some petty pecuniary reward that would give them yet more reason to think we're just greedy rascals.
Despite the misleading road.cc headline, I doubt that the 'bounties' are exclusively available to cyclists. In fact, infractions are probably more likely to be reported by pedestrians, given that it's much more convenient to stop and grab a quick snap if you're on foot, rather than on a bike.
Right, I was sloppy with my wording, but I'm sure you're correct that the bounties aren't available exclusively to cyclists. And penalized drivers won't know who reported them. Still, since the issue involves cycle lanes, I think we all know where the blowback will be directed, and not just from drivers actually reported but from all drivers who feel victimized-in-advance by this law because they feel entitled to drive and leave their big fat deathmobiles however and wherever they want. So that's why I'd prefer laws like this to remain focused squarely on the public safety aspect, so as not to unnecessarily give the tantrum-throwers any additional ammunition.
Also--"Despite the misleading road.cc headline..."--how dare you!
I, and many, many other cyclists out there, I suspect, would happily report the bastards for free if only the authorities would give a damn
Agreed. The omens are not good. If they can't be bothered (I'm talking about Lancashire Constabulary where I know the indisputable facts) to get No-MOT, and therefore uninsured, motorists off the roads where they've been driving illegally for over a year, they're always going to claim to be too busy to bother with illicit parking. The reporter is not going to get any money if they don't bother fining the offender = scheme fails in the UK. When you have idle and/or bent police, none of these schemes will work here. This is MV57 GXO outside The Old Garstang Police Station on 15th June- because there was no room on the narrow drive where it is often parked. MOT expired 16.12.20. I first identified the offence on 19th May. No response or action from the police.
Bill?
Did I notice you commenting on a cyclingmikey vid about the uselessness of Lancashire constabulary?
Afraid so! My usual topic
Have you reported it direct to DVLA via their reporting system?
I think you're right and, like you, I am more than happy to send in reports without compensation. However it is undeniable that reporting does cost a bit in terms of the cost of the equipment and especially the time needed to edit videos and submit reports. Maybe instead of direct financial rewards a percentage of fines could be diverted to charities helping victims of road incidents, or even towards funding (as I think one (Welsh?) police force did a while back) the supply of more cameras to riders?
Even better. That possibility didn't occur to me, but it's a great idea.
America (with all due respect, cousins) doesn't always get everything right law-wise but $325 for a first offence of engine idling while parked is wonderful. With many offences there's a good case for education combined with reminders, but the sort of selfish git who sits outside a primary school or health centre with the engine running "'cos I want the air conditioning" is only going to change their ways if walloped in the wallet.
I believe the American system is less about enforcement/changing behaviour as it is about jailing poor people who can't afford the fines in run for profit prisons while the rich continue to ignore the law as they have always done.
The New York idling fines are enforced in the same way as parking tickets, non payment can be enforced by car impoundment, licence suspension or orders made to sequester wages but there's no jail time attached.
I guess that adds another reason to the list of why New Yorkers are glad they don't live in Texas. 😁
The ACLU has been campaigning against 'debtors prisons' in certain states for years.
Genius. Of course it would never work here, with the media talking about entitled vigilante cyclists deliberately targetting law-abiding motorists who were parking in the bike lane to deliver life-saving medicine to their dying grandmother.
I'm planning on applying for a job as a Traffic Warden should I get made redundant. I'll probably end up getting stabbed by a school run mum parked on the yellow zig-zags, but I'll go down fighting.
Some of those school mums strike the fear of god into me.
I learned, when unemployed in Brum, not to be on the roads in the time shortly before pick up times in the afternoon.
It's a shame that so many "cycle lanes" are only advisory.
Extend it to include parking on pavements, corners, grass verges & double yellow lines, and you may be on to something