Safe Cycling Police Campaign starts

There is a very short article in today's Toronto Star (printed version) today:

Set routes blaze path for Safe Cycling Week

Designated routes on College St. between Augusta and Bellevue Aves. will launch a week-long police initiative: Safe Cycling - Share the Responsibility Campaign today. The event was designed to promote awareness and reduce related injuries. Motorists are asked not to park in the marked bicycle lanes.

Just two days ago, I was riding south on Brock, approaching Dundas. Two cops on bikes were ahead of me, stopped at a red light at Dundas, wanting to turn left (east). Instead of waiting for the light to turn green, they crossed over the opposite lane of traffic to the north-east corner, hopped onto the sidewalk, rode along the sidewalk for a bit, then crossed Dundas to the south side and continued east.

Looks like some bike cops could also stand to "to refresh themselves with the rules of the road".

Sorry redphone, but you've misinterpreted my post. I'm not saying we should emulate cops - far from it! I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of this "Share The Responsibility" campaign when bike cops are some of the worst cyclists out there.

When those who should be enforcing the law break the law, it cheapens the whole legal system.

As for your question about what the laws are, google "bike laws toronto" and this is the first link...

http://www.messmedia.org/messville/TO_FINES.HTM

I don't see anything about reflective tape there.

The stuff about reflective tape etc. has nothing to do with City bylaws....it's all Ontario Highway Traffic Act.

Good summary of HTA stuff as it applies to cyclists is in the MTO's "Cycling Skills" booklet:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/cycling/section5.0.shtml

Also...technically, those cops and the mayor aren't breaking any laws by not having the reflective tape on their forks. However, they better be parked or walking at least half an hour before sunset.

-Vic

Excuse me, where / how do cyclists learn "the rules of the road"? How do rules that are rarely taught get "refreshed"? Pleeze.

If bikes are a part of road traffic, cyclists should have the same training (and proof of training) as the rest of the road users. But they don't. All a person needs is to go out, buy a bike, and hit the streets. It's a great inside joke in this province.

Bicycle teaching and learning needs to become a daily part of peoples' lives.

Everytime I ride, I see uninformed, uneducated, blissfully ignorant people doing things with their bikes that are totally unacceptable, illegal, and dangerous. If these cyclists were driving automobiles, traffic would be mayhem.

Remember the phrase "sunday drivers"? That's what occasional, recreational (unskilled, dangerous) motorists used to be called. But then driver training and licensing became law, was made common, and getting your 365 / G1 became a rite of passage, not a luxury. Now the pendulum has swung; cycling is marginal, esoteric, and widely percieved as recreational; "Sunday cyclists" are a regular part of traffic.

Until all cyclists take their status as vehicular road users seriously, things will continue to stay the same. And the rest of society will follow right along, because they don't know any better, because no one's teaching them in the first place.

I agree with Brian here. The next time some moron wobbles past me through a red light and then slows down so that I have to cross streetcar tracks to get past them when I inevitably catch up, I would love to see them get a ticket. Or at least have the coppers delay them with a stern warning for a while.

If we want to be taken seriously as road users, we need to ride well proper like. With the following exeptions.

Couriers ok, at least they take a good look if they blast through the red, I got no problem with that. I also give cabbies a break for changing lanes without signaling stopping without indicating, it's what they do, so you have to be aware of that.

Bottom line is I want to see the rules enforced all the time, not just during bike month. Having no emissions or noise pollution does not give us the right to drive like arses.

Mike

"Danger", "risk", "hazards" are around all of us, every moment, every day, every where. Life is full of risk, most people are blithely unaware of what's happening around them and even within them.

It's about taking responsibility for actions and consequences. Traffic, and the world, would be different if ppl relied on their own training and skills, rather than the devices and laws designed to assist and promote good choices.

Choosing to ignore the laws and the signals is a valid choice, but one should be aware of the consequences, and the message that choice sends to others.

Education is something we can all participate in - knowledge is useless if it is not shared!

I suggest writing to your MLA/MPP and get some of these laws repealed.

Reflective material on forks?! I haven't seen one bike on the road or one bike for sale with reflective material on the forks. They just don't exist. That law should be rescinded. If increasing visibility is the intent of the law then that intent is already covered by requiring lights. But IMHO it doesn't matter how visible you are, drivers who do not look for cyclists will not see you.

Bells: Useless for people who ride quickly. It's much more practical and safe to yell, and start avoiding the collision than it is to reach for the bell, ring it, then try to get your hands back into position to steer / brake / bail. I know bells give a great deal of comfort to people who travel at a leisurely pace, so why not make them optional, instead of mandatory?

If anyone has laws they would like amended, add a comment, and hopefully we can come to some sort of consensus.

there shall be placed on the front forks thereof white reflective material, and on the rear thereof red reflective material covering a surface of not less than 250 millimetres in length and 25 millimetres in width.

What's annoying about this law is that many bicycles simply don't have enough area to comply with this law. Even if you tried, you couldn't make kid's bikes, bikes with suspension or road bikes with narrow forks/stays comply with this law.

If these laws are so important then why doesn't the law require that bikes be sold already equipped to ride? That is require the retailer, the importer, and/or the manufacturer to include this stuff pre-installed on the bikes before I can buy it.

Because so few people ride bikes that comply with this onerous provision, I simply see it as another excuse to blame the victim when a collision occurs. The police/insurance/courts can say "look, that rider's bike didn't comply, so that fault lay on the bike rider."

I'd hate to see compulsory safety classes for cyclists, it would be one more barrier for the average person to hurdle when deciding to make that commuting change.
People know it's illegal to ride through a red light and some take that risk, education won't deter recklessness.

While the seasonal crackdowns on safeless cyclists -- sans condom? -- amount to tits on a bull as far as improving cyclists' welfare, I don't think them worth much anxiety. Just be more vigilant for a week or two, heed the letter of the law, then roll on your merry way.

Police have to be seen doing something -- anything, by Gawd! -- to address the mobs of lawless cyclists running amok on city streets. Since they've effectively eliminated gunplay in the projects and car-nage on the highways I suppose we represent the next frontier of barbarism. Who'd have thunk the lack of a bicycle bell would put civilization at risk?

I obey the rules of the road, but do not have the tape on my forks. In fact, I've always found it strange that this law was passed. Cars MUST be sold with all regulated safety equipment fully functioning (lights, horns, brakes, etc). If safety features are to be mandated for bicycles as well, why are the manufacturers not required to install these presale? Surely the tape can be added when the other stickers are. They'd even be trendier. More like the 3M taping on running jackets. Punish the manufacturer not the owner for failing to provide the adequate safety gear. This will also save dollars on enforcement.

Toronto Cranks . com had some data about the number of bikes vs cars that were ticketed. The numbers were greatly skewed toward the cyclist category in relation to the proportion of each type of vehicle on the road. There are way more cars than bikes on the road, but cyclists ended up getting a similar number of tickets.

I'm curious to know if they would go as far as targeting cyclists rolling through a 4-way stop.

Maybe instead of having a stop sign, they should say that your momentum should be below a certain threshold to pass through the intersection. They could tweak it so that cars would basically have to stop, but bikes could roll through. To enforce it, the police could carry scales in their trunks so that they could weigh you, then multiply your mass by your velocity and compare it to the momentum limit.

It would be more fair to factor in elasticity somehow, but that would probably be too complicated for most traffic cops, lawyers and judges. Are there any people who know enough about physics to chime in here?

As someone who works in field that is only slightly less nerdy than actuarial math, I'm allowed to say that.

To you idiots who are of the opinion that "stop" signs are optional for bicycles...

which part of "stop" do you not get? "stop" means "stop", not slow down! those cops are "preying" on weak, stupid animals who don't behave properly!!!! so you got yours, stupid, next time stop, and it won't cost you $110 and a waste of time fighting a losing battle!!!!

where do ppl get off asking for special treatment because they're on a bike? and why do ppl think making an environmentally friendly decision to ride a bike has anything to do with being an exception to the Highway Traffic Act? ignorant!

I'm sorry, but cyclists that don't obey the laws are not welcome on my streets. I have gone way out of my way to get the experience and skill needed to ride safely, cooperatively, and functionally in traffic, and there is no way I'm going to sit back and let morons like you continue to voice your misguided opinions on this forum without a rebuttal from one cyclist who takes his role as a vehicle operator seriously.

it is infuriating and frustrating for those of us who try to make things better for all cyclists in this Province and city to be continually undermined by clueless miscreants who don't consider themselves vehicle operators. when you get on your bike, you become a vehicle operator. it's not a choice, it's not negotiable. if you don't like it, take a pedicab, take a rickshaw, take the bus, take a taxi, get your mom to drive you, or walk... but if you ride, ride properly, law-abidingly, and think about others around you.

We don't expect pedestrians to come to a full stop - legs together three deep breaths look right look left - because we recognize that pedestrians have ample time to look both ways and judge whether or not it's safe to enter an intersection without breaking stride. And it's not like coming to a full stop would be particularly onerous for a pedestrian. Although the HTA treats bicycles as vehicles, in many ways we're closer to pedestrians than to cars and the laws need to recognize that. And unlike for pedestrians, coming to a full stop and starting up again is a lot more work for cyclists. Part of making things better for all cyclists is advocating for changes to laws that don't make sense. I would argue that full stops at 4-way stops is one of them, and that many or most one-way streets need to include a "bicycles excepted" sign.

Sadly, there are plenty of cyclists out there doing stupid and reckless things that the cops should have had lots to keep them busy on real infractions without targeting cyclists rolling through 4-way stops in residential neighbourhoods.

Brian,

I think the debate here is mostly about cyclists being ticketed for doing a "rolling stop" like most cars do. I've seen that many motorists treat stop signs as "slow to 10 or 15 km/h momentarily" signs, so it seems like this isn't exclusively a problem with cyclists.

For example, see Do As I Say, Not As I Do.