We all know parking in a bike lane can be super frustrating, but is it just the cost of doing business for delivery truck drivers? If you live in a city with bike paths, you know how common it is to see cars or trucks parked illegally in bike lanes. David Shellnutt, a.k.a The Biking Lawyer, sees it every day, when he was riding on Thursday he saw a delivery van blocking the bike lane as they unloaded goods for a restaurant.
A truck parked in a bike lane and threatened a Toronto cyclist when asked to move
Instead of scolding the delivery driver, he pulled over and calmly told him he was parked illegally. To Shellnutt’s shock, the driver gave a frank and honest response.
I had an interesting chat w a @SyscoCanada delivery driver early this AM. He was parked in a bike lane unloading for a local restaurant. I politely indicated that he was parked illegally. He asked what his options were, pull down a side street & walk back half a block? [a thread] pic.twitter.com/6VwX4dNEoO
— The Biking Lawyer (Dave Shellnutt) (@TheBikingLawyer) October 27, 2022
The driver went on to say that his bosses know full well that they have to park illegally. Turns out, as a result of that, apparently have an arrangement with the city.
3/ then after enough tickets are issued, sometimes in the $100,000s, a @SyscoCanada superior negotiates a reduction in penalties, sometimes around 30% paid to the @cityoftoronto for the endless infractions..
— The Biking Lawyer (Dave Shellnutt) (@TheBikingLawyer) October 27, 2022
According to a Toronto Star report in 2015, The City of Toronto released a statement saying it had withdrawn roughly 880,000 parking tickets, due to limited court capacity and the difficulty of assuring citizens’ rights to a prompt trial.
According to the news release, the tickets totaled “an estimated $20 million in potential fine revenue,” but the cost for the city of proceeding with trials could have been over $23 million.
@DarkWaterPhotos tweeted that if it’s about all about money, then the city has its priorities completely wrong.
“Always, it’s money over the lives of real human beings. It’s unethical and morally repugnant. This needs to stop. We are not disposable, or expendable. The City of Toronto must raise the fines to deterrent levels and dispense with the package negotiations.”
According to a BlogTo report, the idea that there is special treatment for truck drivers was quickly quashed by a City of Toronto representative. The rep…
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