On gratuitous bicycling police crackdowns
Posted June 1st, 2009 by Roland Tanglao
I have already blogged about my view on helmets.
My view on bicycling helmet and other bicycling related "crackdowns" like the one the Vancouver police are currently conducting is that the police should be consistent and rather than gratuitously giving tickets out where it is easy for both them and an easy media opportunity like relatively safe bike lanes, the police should be giving out tickets at places that are actually dangerous (and I am not the first to blog about this see the comments on the this bicycling "crackdown" over at pricetags such as the following (in no particular order):
- Bike lanes over bridges that are not physically separated and shared with pedestrians and cars (e.g. Vancouver's Burrard bridge). These are prime places for injuries and accidents so giving out tickets makes more sense here.
- Ticketing joggers jogging on bike lanes on roads that are clearly NOT for pedestrians.
- Ticketing motorists who give way to bicyclists at round-abouts when they clearly have the right of way and therefore hold up traffic.
- etc. Can you name a few places in your town where bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians are breaking the law, and in harm's way and therefore a crackdown is in order? Rather than media circuses at perfectly safe bike lanes like Vancouver's Union Street Bike in the very safe Strathcona where the police with the media entourage were last week.
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Indeed, the annual Vancouver
Indeed, the annual Vancouver Police celebration of Bike Month appears to have begun.
They seem to be giving out mostly "information" tickets with no fines, but their presence alone acts as a deterrent.
I think we need to gather in a little more info on this Roland, so I have a call in to them. Hope to have an update for you with more information on the issue.
I have seen A TON of bikers riding without lights at night - so if there's anything that people need to be informed about it's that.
Get lights on your bikes folks!
amy
heh, never seen somebody get ticketed for no lights in Vancouver
now that would be great in winter say at 5p.m. when it's very dangerous here in Vancouver NOT to have a light!
Lights
This is a topic i would greatly like the police to enforce more often. I travel a night atleast once i week returning to new west from vancouver, and too often come apon cyclists without lights.
Lights
I used to ride the Cypress route through Shaughnessy every day, year round. I was always shocked by riders who didn't have lights. It's incredibly noticeable in the winter. (These are, perhaps not coincidentally, the same riders who usually go left through roundabouts.)
I often though that the VPD should station an officer down at the roundabout around 19th and Cypress and hand out tickets. I'm not sure how much the ticket is, but it should be costly.
Now...give each cyclist who gets a ticket a light. MEC sells a dynamo crank light for $8 or so. No batteries required. Or give them one of those turtles, which aren't exactly bright enough but will suit the purpose of helping you be seen.
Hell, if I got a charitable donation receipt I'd pay for 10 lights. The point is that it would be revenue positive though: the city would still make money, and the dummies riding without lights would get a light.
I suppose...
the positive aspect is they weren't real tickets!
Could you imagine how upset everyone would have been had to pay fines?
I see people on bikes, rolling through stop signs ($167), into crosswalks ($109), and then up onto sidewalks ($109), where they fail to yield to pedestrians ($167), because they were failing to ride without due care and attention($109).
That's $661 for common behavior I see people on bikes do in one fell swoop.
All the media attention this campaign received works against the arguments people make every spring that cyclists break all the rules and get away with it.
Now when it comes down to actually giving out real tickets, I just hope they do so in an equitable manner and that motorist traveling above the speed limit, passing without safe distance, failing to yield right of way and not stopping before the stop line gets tickets too.
I agree with Amy on the lights but let's add some more
How about riders with headphones? And those who don't stop at the Union and Hawkes in Strathcona.
As for the whole helmet thing until the police stop selectively enforcing the law I'll continue to ride without mine, tickets or not. I'll know it's not just an exercise for the media when they start ticketing those who wear obviously out of date/non-cycling helmets and those who wear their helmets backwards or perched on the back of their heads.
Oh, and cyclists who pass other cyclists on the right.