Lithuanian Mayor crushes car of bike lane blocker

15 comments
By Oli Woodman, BikeRadar UK | Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011 11.28am

The Lithuanian capital of Vilnius has been faced with a problem that many will be familiar with worldwide, cars parking illegally in cycle lanes. Most cities would use the approach of fining drivers or clamping the offender's vehicles to resolve such a problem, but not so in Lithuania.

A video has surfaced that shows mayor Arturas Zuokas commanding a Soviet-era armoured personnel carrier that proceeds to completely flatten a Mercedes Benz  that was parked illegally in a cycle lane. After inspecting the remains of the Mercedes S-Class he declares, "That's what will happen if you park your car illegally!" as he then confronts the shocked owner of the car. Zuokas is then seen sweeping up then shattered glass and loading the remains of the car onto a recovery truck before whirring away down the freshly cleared cycle lane on an e-bike.

The recording was actually a set-up from Mr Zuokas that was produced to highlight the issue of illegal parking. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think of his tactics.

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User Comments

There are 15 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 15 of 15 comments

  • A set up. Not something that actually happened in any sort of meaningful sense, then. In fact, the Mayor had a car deliberately illegaly left blocking a cycle lane in order to stage this stunt.

    And you presented it in your headline as an actual event, so you are complicit in misinforming me and wasting several minutes of my life that I will never get back. In effect, you have lied to me. Why, then, should I ever bother to give any credence to anything you say again.

    Shame on you.

  • And I have just wasted several seconds of my life that I will never get back reading your pointless comment.

  • @Confusedboy - Maybe that 10th cup of coffee was one too many?

  • Brilliant, I saw this this morning, fantastic! I vote give BoJo a tank! More military re-enforcement is needed to protect cyclists!

  • LAD

  • How 'Lucky' that it was the 5h1tty mercedes that was parked there at the time and not the Rolls or the Ferrari, and that there wasn't another car on the road at the time. yes, veeeeeeery lucky indeed.

  • You guys actually read the little squiggles around the video (normally known as 'words') right?

    'The recording was actually a set-up from Mr Zuokas that was produced to highlight the issue of illegal parking. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think of his tactics'

  • Set up or no set up, it made me smile.

    And at least he swept up the glass out of the cycle lane....

  • Meanwhile in this country you get driving instructors parking in the lanes.

    I always remember my instructor talking about "care and consideration for other road users".

    Shame they don't always practice what they preach.

  • "The recording was actually a set-up "

    Which bit didn't some of the above posters get?

  • I like illustrative stunts.... they help me understand what I should not do when parking.

    They aid me be a better citizen.

    I am a better person for reading all your comments and learning irony isnt anything to do with ironing or a new mp3player owned by Rony..... who spells his name with only one N. How unusual. He must be a rap star with that spelling.

    Any hoo

    Bibble

  • It was filmed for a Swedish TV show.

    http://www.thelocal.se/35336/20110803/

  • Haha quality.

    Imagine Boris Johnson busting out a move like thuis in a tank...he'd love every minute!!

  • How gratifying to see a Mayor taking the rights of cyclists seriously. In most cities, the Mayor wouldn't be "bothered" to get involved. This makes a great public service announcement with enough shock value to get attention. Good on him! Keep it up.

  • While I fully understand this was a set up to demonstrate what will happen if you illegally park your car, it did seem odd there was virtually no traffic in the city (looking at the stills of the Rolls and Ferrari).

    Maybe the good people of Vilnius should only use the cycle lanes at the side of the road and he lovely clear bit down the middle should be given over to cyclists.

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