Fedex, get out of the 15th st bikeway!

Since the introduction of the 15th street bike lane, Denver has had some problems with cars not understanding the difference between bike and parking.

More than half a year since the construction, drivers still don't seem to understand that "No Standing Anytime" means never. The culmination for me came when, in a 3 block stretch there was a cab, an SUV and a delivery truck all parked in the bike lane.

When I informed the driver of the SUV of the fact that stopping there was illegal, he told me to"mind my own [explative] business". So I took a photo of him and reported him to the police, you know, for fun.

What a dick. Though he did have a Denver FD license plate, so obviously laws don't apply to him!

But I guess this is only a temporary problem. Originally when the bike lane was proposed, it was to have plastic bollards to keep drivers from doing exactly what these morons are doing, blocking the bike lanes. They were never installed during "Phase 1", and are scheduled to be installed in Spring 2014 during "Phase 2".

Example of bollards from Bike Denver's website

Honestly the new installations can't be completed fast enough, and it will be interesting to see how many Fedex trucks park on top of the bollards because, you know, what the hell.

Meanwhile drivers in Denver are proving themselves to be less and less responsible or safe. According to 9News, hit and runs in Denver are being called in at an average of 17/day.

It may seem like a lot, but don't worry, according to the article people are better about not fleeing when they hit kids, but mostly due to the fact that they are rarely alone.

In Colorado, only three of the 104 hit and run fatalities between 2008 and 2012 were children under 10 years of age.

"For a child there is more likely to be a witness," she said. "There would more likely be other children or adults or some kind of supervision."

Meanwhile, perception is everything apparently. in 2012 Fort Collins sported a cyclist "crash rate" of 12.1 per 10,000, leading 9News to decide that Fort Collins is a "relatively safe place to ride".

This in comparison with major cities around the world, Fort Collins is actually doing pretty well.

This slots FoCo in just ahead of Toronto and Portland for least cycling deaths as a function of ridership. Still there is a lot of room for improvement, but damn NYC!