Lithuania mayor tackles bike lane problem: Armored cavalry

Bicycling

Lithuania mayor tackles bike lane problem: Armored cavalry

by Michael Perkins and David Alpert • August 2, 2011 3:25 pm

Jamie included a brief link to this hilarious video this morning in the Breakfast Links, but several of you have submitted this to tips, so it's probably worth running on its own.

The mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania got so sick of luxury cars parking in the bicycle lanes that he shot a photo-op driving over a Mercedes in a Soviet armored personnel carrier.

(The original is in Lithuanian.)

The mayor, Arturas Zuokas, told the Irish Times, "I wanted to send a message... I want to point out that if you have a car and more money it doesn't mean that you can park it everywhere. Recently there's been an increase in this type of parking violations, and it shows a lack of respect for others."

It's a staged PSA and they aren't really running over people's cars with tanks, but how many US mayors would really say "if you have a car and more money, it doesn't mean that you can park it everywhere?" Based on the rhetoric of many parking policy debates, a number of DC Councilmembers seem to actually think just the opposite.

And while many people who ride bicycles have likely fantasized about being able to do just this, it says something about the political culture of Vilnius versus American cities that a political figure would actually consider it to be a positive, rather than negative, to make such a statement.

18 comments

Tags: bike lanes, Lithuania, video

Should trucks double park in bike lane or next to it? (Jan 7, 2011)
Block the lane moving out, block the lane moving in (Nov 12, 2009)
Submit tips here (Mar 17, 2009)
Then and Now: Armored vehicles (Jul 20, 2009)
The green light never stays green (Apr 4, 2010)

Michael Perkins blogs here and at Infosnack about Metro operations and fares, performance parking, and any other government and economics information he finds on the Web. He lives with his wife and two children in Arlington, Virginia.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Do they have any spare tanks? I have a row of cars along 23rd St that need crushing.

This is priceless. Thank you, made my day.

(Captcha: crushes resist)

by varun on Aug 2, 2011 3:45 pm

DOOOOOOO ITTTTTTT! :)

by Geoffrey Hatchard on Aug 2, 2011 3:46 pm

What a coincidence! I just recently replaced my 700x23c skinny tires with tank treads.

by engrish_major on Aug 2, 2011 4:19 pm

Love. Love love love. Love.

Can we draft him as Council chair?

by Bill on Aug 2, 2011 4:31 pm

love the look of the mafia boss when he comes back to retrieve his car

by David on Aug 2, 2011 5:39 pm

I am truly madly deeply in love. He was very warm and helpful with the Gold Chain Guy, and he even cleaned up the mess.

by mophead on Aug 2, 2011 6:42 pm

Mayor Grey: Call the DC Guard immediately! Chairpeople in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun, MoCo and PG: Call your National Guard. If they don't help, call the Pentagon. Surely, we have some spare tanks in the region that need to be taken for a ride. Perhaps we can let any of the military contractors show off their new toys this way.

BTW, this mayor dude is right up Grey's and Brown's alley. He was involved in a massive bribery scheme, and barely escaped conviction for it.

BWT2: My dad actually got to do this once. The army was called in to help with a forest fire. They were gonna use some tanks to create fire alleys, but the only road into the woods was too narrow with all the parked car. So they sent a bunch of privates along the street and gave everybody 10 minutes to move their car. Then, they drove over the remaining cars. Moeahahahaha.

by Jasper on Aug 2, 2011 8:02 pm

Unfortunately neither Mayor Gray nor anyone else in DC Gov has command over the DC National Guard - they're the only Guard unit to take orders solely from the Feds/POTUS.

by ontarioroader on Aug 2, 2011 8:34 pm

GGW officially endorses the war on cars

by TGEOA on Aug 2, 2011 9:18 pm

TGEoA officially endorses the War on Humor.

by Neil Flanagan on Aug 2, 2011 9:30 pm

What a jerk! The video would have been a lot funnier if it finished off with a bicyclist running a stop sign and ... smacking straight into the tank!

Humor after all has to be balanced to be truely funny. It can't be seen at getting it's laughs at the expense of 'others' only. Else it's not really humor. It's just obnoxious.

by Lance on Aug 2, 2011 9:42 pm

Really Lance? Humor "has" to be balanced to be funny?

Do you work for Fox News?

More importantly, do you you think you're reading too much into this?

by Lance's Best Friend on Aug 2, 2011 10:11 pm

Mayor Zuokas, please come to DC to fight the good fight!

And by the way, if Lance says something wasn't funny, it was.

by DC_cycler on Aug 3, 2011 1:11 am

Besides the obvious in your face tank stunt I came away from the video very impressed with the street itself. The buildings were stunning, the street was belgian block(?) rather than asphalt, and the street was lined with many trees.

by Paul S on Aug 3, 2011 7:01 am

Yet another reason to put in bike ways- and not bike lanes. Having the bicycle designated areas away from the road is not only safer, it eliminates this problem entirely. Even having a bike lane BETWEEN the parked cars and the sidewalk is much better- and place those cheap plastic stick things they use to encourage compliance from drivers. Count on huge resistance to this concept from both planners and people used to the same old same old.

by W on Aug 3, 2011 7:05 am

Remember kids:
Jokes about taking the bus - NOT FUNNY.
Jokes about government's excessive use of force using tanks - Funny!

(unless one's humor is too dry and the comment gets pulled)

(I guess 50 years of Soviet domination had supressed tow truck technology, whence they hadn't recovered)

(Because you know, towing the cars and charging the rich jerks a pretty lita to get their cars back would have made the govt some money to spend on more bike lanes and other nice things. Instead of running over the cars with an APC such that the cars ARE STILL IN THE WAY! But GGW is all about good govt doncha know)

by Kolohe on Aug 3, 2011 7:17 am

Because you know, towing the cars and charging the rich jerks a pretty lita to get their cars back would have made the govt some money to spend on more bike lanes and other nice things.

They tow the car away at the end. Then the mayor sweeps up the mess and bikes home (a nice touch). It's hilarious, especially, as mentioned above, the appearance of the mafioso stunned at seeing what happened to his car.

by Tyro on Aug 3, 2011 8:16 am

If we did this in DC, the City Council members' cars would be the first ones run over.

by Novanglus on Aug 4, 2011 2:48 pm