A group of Brookline school children have approached the town’s transportation administration about creating stricter fines for drivers parked in bike lanes. Currently, Brookline issues $25 “double parking” tickets to cars parked in bike lanes, but there isn’t a steeper fine to protect the bike lanes. According to the websites for Boston and Cambridge, those cities each have $100 fines for cars parked in marked bike lanes.
Cars parked in bike lanes can pose a safety risk to bicyclists, who are forced to maneuver around parked cars or in traffic. Just a few weeks ago, a 22-year-old bicyclist died after being hit by an MBTA bus. While bicycle activists say that traffic fatalities are rare, they point out that it’s very common to see motorists parked in bike lanes while they drop someone off or make a delivery.
Almost 700 bicyclists died in traffic accidents in 2007, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ten of those fatalities were in Massachusetts.
Source: Brookline kids pitch fine for parking in bike lanes, WickedLocal.com, April 14, 2010
Contact a Boston bike accident attorney if you have been injured by a car, truck, or bus.