Armored vehicle crushes bike lane parking scofflaw

Update: Video!

Vilnius, Lithuania apparently has a problem with entitled luxury car owners who use bike lanes as their personal free parking. It’s become so widespread that the mass media have picked up on the meme of people posting photos of these parking scofflaws to social media networks.

Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas decided to take action and “reminded [these drivers] of the rules” as he posted photos of a crushed Mercedes-Benz to his Facebook page.

Vilnius mayor crushes a Mercedes car illegally parked in the bike lane with an armored vehicle

Mayor Zuokas learned to drive an Army BTR armored personnel carrier for the task, showing drivers that “I’ve had enough of these drivers parking their luxury cars on bike lanes and pedestrian crossings. This tank is a good tool to solve the problem of parking in the wrong place.” This setup, alas, was staged, with a junked car used to represent the scofflaw.



Photos initially uploaded to the Mayor’s Facebook page and reported here (in Lithuanian; thank you Google Translate).



H/T to Steven via his Facebook page, and to Jon Winston for the video link. Remember, if you think this story is worth sharing, please click the social media buttons! Thanks always.

22 Comments

  1. God, can you imagine living in a place where the actual assholes are the ones lampooned in the media?

  2. God, can you imagine living in a place where the actual assholes are the ones lampooned in the media?

  3. …now that the die has been cast, i pity the fool who thinks this stunt was simply a joke…

    …go ahead, park your fancy ass car in the bike lane while you chuckle at the mayor…see what you end up with….

  4. I used to live in Vilnius… what a great city. Seriously, one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. I was so delighted to see this! 🙂

  5. That’s a misplaced sharrow, not a bike lane.  I see some actual bike lanes off in the distance.

  6. Yeah, you’re right about that, unfortunately, that’s the best I could do on the day I took that photo.  Like the rest of the marked bike lanes in my city, a car is usually parked over the lane.  The day before I took that photo, a different car was parked further ahead over the lane.

  7. That looks like a typical residential collector street.  I’m curious why it needs bike lanes.

  8. Some would question why ANY street needs a bike lane. Others would suggest that ALL streets are better with a bike lane.

  9. I’m asking for practical reasons.  I’m not assuming either of the extremes you listed.

    What practical problem is solved by attempting (and apparently failing) to prohibit parking on a residential collector street?

    And why the heck does the speed hump extend halfway into the bike lane?

  10. they be working on the same theory as Richardson TX where bikes and parked cars sharing the same space is encouraged. My point, I guess, is is parking actually prohibited?

    Bike lanes are also often promoted as a tool for traffic calming. That would be consistent with the speed bump, though not explain it extending into the bike lane.

  11. A speed bump in a bike lane is an annoyance to bikers.  But a speed bump that doesn’t extend into the bike lane encourages drivers to drive partly in the bike lane to avoid part of the speed bump.  Not sure what to suggest about that…

  12. I love this.  I want to move to Vilnius and bear their males many strong children………

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