Bicycling

Eyes on the Street: U-Perpendicular-Park-in-the-Bike-Lane

Reader Liam Quigley of Cyclosity fame sends this shot of the Grand Street bike lane on Saturday evening. He tells us the production company crew unloading this box truck between Bowery and Elizabeth stayed long enough to force at least five cyclists to ride up on the sidewalk and three others to ride into car traffic. That wasn't enough to merit a ticket from the officers sitting nearby:

By Ben Fried

1:37 PM EDT on April 5, 2010

Reader Liam Quigley of Cyclosity fame sends this shot of the Grand Street bike lane on Saturday evening. He tells us the production company crew unloading this box truck between Bowery and Elizabeth stayed long enough to force at least five cyclists to ride up on the sidewalk and three others to ride into car traffic. That wasn’t enough to merit a ticket from the officers sitting nearby:

Two cops in a cruiser sitting on Grand and Bowery did nothing because they thought that it was a family moving not a production company. They got some food and drove away down Grand, with the U-Haul leaving about 5 minutes later.

I’m not sure it would have mattered if the police knew who was responsible. When it comes to pedestrian and cyclist safety, film crews and their vehicles seem to get a free pass.

Ben Fried

Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.