MyBikeLane.com - Bicycle Vigilantism

America isn’t the most bike-friendly country. In fact, compared to Europe, China, or even our neighbors up north, we’re down right shoddy when it comes to bicycle love. But for the minority of bike-riders, biking is a precious right that ought to be protected from the un-green, diesel loving masses. Indeed, it’s almost a miracle to find a bike lane anywhere save for a select few cities in these United States. And those precious bike lanes are subject to serious misuse. That’s why MyBikeLane was built. It’s a website for cyclists who are sick of having to dodge massive trucks and SUV’s illegally wedged into bicycle lanes. Illegally parked cars have been the bane of many a misfortunate cyclists; it’s dangerous, careless, and unnecessary. MyBikeLane hopes to bring this to the attention of the masses by letting cyclists and concerned citizens to post pics of bicycle lane violations. Each post comes with the offenders license plate and pic of the offending vehicle. There’s a forum for users to discuss and query. Currently, MyBikeLane covers most major cities in the US and Canada.

“MyBikelane is built on the notion that:

Cyclists are sick of having to dodge cars and trucks using the bikelane illegally.
These illegally parked cars force cyclists into traffic, making their commute more dangerous.
Those cyclists have cameras or cell phones w/ cameras.
Using the power of the community, we can hopefully make the problem more obvious and get the city to do something about it.
This makes it safer to cycle for fun or to commute.”

MyBikeLane confronts a topic that is all too ignored in the States. And with more buzz about going green, more people will be interested in turning to alternative means of transportation, cycling being one of them. MyBikeLane fits with the growing inclination towards being environmentally aware. People would do well to listen.

Does MyBikeLane produce results? Will motorists care?—especially in city like New York. Cars remain king. It’ll take a lot to change that.