How to shame drivers who park in Toronto bike lanes

The official start to winter is only a couple of days away, but the not-so-friendly competition for the use of bike lanes in Toronto remains heated as ever. Not that there should be a competition in the first place, but retail-rich streets like College and stretches of Harbord — to mention only a couple — are often dotted with cars and delivery trucks whose drivers have decided that their convenience trumps cyclist safety. That has a bit of bleeding heart ring to it, but as a driver and a cyclist, I'm aware of how easy it is to park on side-streets.

So what to do about it?

Over at Treehugger, Lloyd Alter recently shared his discovery that the folks at Speakeasy Tattoo have come up a novel way to combat the problem: shaming the offenders. They set up a camera in their Harbord Street shop to catalogue instances of bike lane obstruction, and have created a website through which they share pics of so-called "assholes parked in bike lanes."

The images on the site feature mostly those infractions that have taken place out front of their own shop, but a photo-submission form could expand its reach if other cyclists out there feel inclined to share their experiences around town. The whole thing is actually quite lighthearted, but all the same, I'm thinking this is a website most would prefer not to make an appearance on.