A police cruiser was spotted parked in a bike lane in Boston, and folks online would like to report a crime.
The cruiser was featured in a viral post on the r/f***cars subreddit and, at the time of writing, has received 17 thousand upvotes.
Users interacting with the post are irritated at everything from the officer's show of hypocrisy, to the lack of protective infrastructure for bikers, to the lack of institutional accountability for police.
The post features an image of a Boston Police cruiser parked in the bike lane just beyond a prohibitive white pylon. It is captioned: "Boston police officer parks in bike lane while he goes to order his food. These bike lanes were installed a few months ago."
The images show that the vehicle is empty and the emergency lights are off. These facts seem to corroborate the poster's claim that the officer was not responding to an emergency.
The impact of this officer's actions, and similar ones from other communities across the globe, touch a litany of issues.
As commenters on the post point out, the fact that the officer was able to park in the bike lane is a failure of design. "Paint is not infrastructure" is the popular phrase implying that cyclists and pedestrians need to be protected from cars by physical barriers. These would provide more tangible deterrents to breaking traffic laws intended to make communities safer and more accessible.
Taking productive steps to protect cyclists and pedestrians is essential to transitioning our cities and towns toward sustainable transport. Bike lane experiences like this one are all too common. Cyclists are in danger every time they share the road with cars, and without substantive change, the chances of biking becoming a mainstream form of transportation are diminished.
As one user commented on the Reddit post: "If bike lanes aren't protected with things that will damage cars, they will always be used like this."
Bikes and e-bikes must be part of any transportation system that seeks to reduce pollution. Not only are bikes pollution-free, but they are actually the most efficient mode of transportation available to humans.
Many users questioned whether the Boston PD, or departments across the country in similar situations, would hold officers accountable for offenses like these.
"Get the plate number and report them. It will be very satisfying when they don't do anything about it," one wrote.
Someone else said: "Send this photo to the head of the Boston police department and complain about it."
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