For various reasons, I had a pretty terrible day yesterday. So a friend sent me this video to cheer me up!
According to Yahoo News, Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, promised to expand public transportation and bike use in the city. As part of that effort, he installed bike lanes, that many drivers insisted on using as parking lanes. So, as a warning, he filmed himself driving a tank over a car parked in a bike lane. It’s pretty amusing, and gratifying if you’ve ever been biking and had to avoid cars parked in the bike lane. Before people fret over the property damage, the car was purchased specifically for the video. My Granny would be so proud. She moved to Chicago from Lithuania when she was 6 and never learned how to drive. She was a huge supporter of public transit and biking.
If people are interested, here’s the video with Lithuanian titles.
Transcript: Two men in a tank-like vehicle drive over a small car. There are sounds of crushing metal and glass. The tank is driving down a quiet city street lined in smooth brick and pretty buildings. They’re both smiling. The man in front is wearing a suit and is Mayor Zuokas. He turns around to survey the damage while continuing down the street, and looks quite pleased. Some bouncy and cheerful music plays. There’s a shot of the town center, a young woman cycling down the side of the street, then the Mayor cycling. A caption scrolls across the screen, reading: Vilnius Mayor Fights Illegally Parked Cars. Some quick shots of trees and signs from a quickly moving camera, possibly shot from a bicycle. Mayor Arturas Zuokas walks towards the camera. He speaks and English captions say, “In the past few days, expensive cars have been illegally parked in almost this exact same place- A Rolls Royce and a Ferrari.” The video shows a car parked in a bike lane, then a no parking sign. There are pictures of the Rolls Royce and the Ferrari parked in the bike lane, then a picture of a police car approaching the Ferrari. The caption continues, “What should the city do about drivers who think they are above the law?” Back to the mayor walking towards the camera and speaking. The caption says, “It seems that a tank is the best solution.” The mayor walks purposefully down the street and climbs into a tank. He and two other men are in the tank as it rolls down the street, straight towards a car that is parked in the bike lane. With a fantastic crunch, the tank drives straight over the car, tilting a bit under the car’s height. Someone yells in excitement, and all three men look pretty happy. The mayor looks directly at the camera and says, pointing at the car carnage, “That’s what will happen if you park your car illegally!” The camera explores the damage. The trunk is completely mangled and caved in. The hood is crushed, with only the window frame staying up. There’s broken glass everywhere. A middle-aged white man in a white blazer and black shirt, with a large, gold chain and sunglasses on his forehead walks out of a nearby store. He appears shocked and angry. The mayor approaches him and shakes his hand. “Next time,” he says, “park your car legally.” The man nods and says something back, but there is no caption to translate. The mangled car is lifted onto a tow truck. The mayor sweeps away the broken glass. A cyclist now travels freely down the unobstructed bike lane. The cyclist is wearing a suit jacket, so it may be the mayor himself. At the end of the street is a police car. A caption says, “City of Vilnius- July 30, 2011.”