Photo: Pilsēta cilvēkiem/http://pilsetacilvekiem.lv
Cycling can be an alternative to motorized vehicles in many cities across the world, but officials in charge of Latvia’s capital are not convinced.
According to multiple reports, two-wheeled activists from Latvia repeatedly tried to convince authorities that people need bike lanes to travel through Riga in a safer manner, but their attempts were not successful.
After an unspecified number of stressful refusals, it appears that some of those cyclists, or others like them, decided to take matters into their hands, and show the municipal officials how it is done.
Instead of waiting around for others to draw bike lanes, some people just painted the lanes on their, complete with signs, on the roads where they were most needed.
It is unclear why Latvian politicians have such strong opinions against this type of transportation in Riga, but these activists proved a point that should be taken into consideration by the authorities.
As City Lab reports, it would not have taken tremendous costs for Riga to get bike lanes, and activists proved that they could fit a roughly drawn track. Evidently, improvements can be made to those lanes, but they will have to become official first.
The unapproved lanes will be removed by workers contracted by the city of Riga, and the news about the entire situation began to circle the world after that part was read.
Evidently, most cities cannot turn an illegally-placed bike path within the law, but some cases have shown that legislation can change after moves like these.
An example comes from Wichita, Kansas, where the city has turned one of these “guerrilla” bike lanes into something permanent after safety advocates operated in a similar manner.
We want to point out that it is illegal in most countries to draw on the asphalt, and it is considered vandalism if it is not an obstruction of a public street, but punishable by fines in most countries.
After an unspecified number of stressful refusals, it appears that some of those cyclists, or others like them, decided to take matters into their hands, and show the municipal officials how it is done.
Instead of waiting around for others to draw bike lanes, some people just painted the lanes on their, complete with signs, on the roads where they were most needed.
It is unclear why Latvian politicians have such strong opinions against this type of transportation in Riga, but these activists proved a point that should be taken into consideration by the authorities.
As City Lab reports, it would not have taken tremendous costs for Riga to get bike lanes, and activists proved that they could fit a roughly drawn track. Evidently, improvements can be made to those lanes, but they will have to become official first.
The unapproved lanes will be removed by workers contracted by the city of Riga, and the news about the entire situation began to circle the world after that part was read.
Evidently, most cities cannot turn an illegally-placed bike path within the law, but some cases have shown that legislation can change after moves like these.
An example comes from Wichita, Kansas, where the city has turned one of these “guerrilla” bike lanes into something permanent after safety advocates operated in a similar manner.
We want to point out that it is illegal in most countries to draw on the asphalt, and it is considered vandalism if it is not an obstruction of a public street, but punishable by fines in most countries.
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