Some Drivers Never Understand

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 17, 2011 3:20PM

The Kinzie Street protected bike lane isn't perfect and here's hoping this photo collage from Steven Vance serves as an impetus for the City Department of Transportation to improve upon that design.

Vance is using the photos above as a call for the city to enforce ordinance 9-40-060 - Driving, standing or parking on bicycle paths or lanes prohibited.

That's nice and all. But one of the problems with the Kinzie Street protected lane is that it doesn't offer allowances for commercial traffic and that stretch of Kinzie is an artery for delivery trucks to downtown and the Near West Side. Should it be enough for drivers to recognize the separation posts and figure out maybe they shouldn't park there? Sure. But the lane narrows motor vehicle traffic to one lane for most of its length and other motorists, when confronted with a Fed Ex truck with hazards blazing as the driver tries to make a delivery, is only going to blame the "fucking bicyclists who don't respect the rules of the road."

We're just saying we can see both sides of the argument here.