Drivers who park in Montgomery County bike lanes will now face fines and citations, thanks to a bill passed by the County Council on Tuesday. The prohibition follows 92 cyclist-involved crashes this year, including two fatalities, according to county data.

“Our dedicated bike lanes are safety infrastructure, but they can only work if people can actually use them safely,” said at-large council member Evan Glass, who sponsored the legislation.

Under county law, vehicles are prohibited from parking where they could impede traffic or create a hazard. But bikeways are not explicitly named in the law, which is why Glass drafted the legislation. It will impose a $60 ticket and traffic citation on any vehicle illegally parked in a bike lane.

“If we’re going to make serious progress ending traffic deaths, laws like [the one passed Tuesday] … are essential,” Elizabeth Kiker, president of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, said in a press release following Tuesday’s vote.

Similar laws banning parking in bike lanes are in effect in the city of Rockville, Howard County and Washington, D.C. Pedestrian and cyclist safety advocates in the county worry that cars parked in bike lanes force cyclists to move into roadways where they are nearer to cars traveling at faster speeds.

“One life lost is one too many,” Shanika Whitehurst, president of the Action Committee for Transit, said in a press release. “This law will provide a necessary layer of added safety.”

Tragedies

The county turned its attention to cyclist safety after several fatalities made headlines locally and nationally in recent years. Most recently, Summer Lim, 11, was struck and killed by a county school bus when riding her bike home from her middle school last month in Rockville.

In Bethesda in 2022, diplomat Sarah Langenkamp was struck and killed by a truck as she rode her bike in a bike lane while headed home from an event at her children’s school.

Her husband, Daniel Langenkamp, has since become a prominent transit safety advocate both regionally and nationally. He supported the legislation that passed Tuesday.

“I’m sure the vast majority of people think that it’s already illegal to park in bike lanes because parking in them is so dangerous,” Langenkamp told The Banner on Tuesday. “It forces the kids, mothers and fathers using them straight into traffic.”