Cycling in Waterloo Region

[Coke6pk]

I like the way you think.  If I still worked by-law, I'd give it a try.  I loved pushing limits, sometimes the JP would agree, sometimes not.

Bike lanes weren't a thing when I did that job, so my mind didn't even go there.

Coke

Thanks! I guess what I don’t understand is why this would even be in question. Does the HTA contain any language saying that some lanes are more illegal to block than others? Or is it that “traffic” is only obstructed if every lane is blocked by the obstruction? But even that can’t really be right — I’m pretty sure I’d be written up for blocking traffic if I stopped on Hespeler road, blocking just 1 of 3 lanes in one direction.

Or is this like what people mean (generalized) when they say that society as a whole is still racist/sexist/…?

Our system works on precedence.  If one person claims they murdered someone only because they were drunk, and they are acquitted, it is more likely that future defences of the same calibre will be accepted.  Sometimes precedence is overturned, but that's where higher courts get involved.

At the local level, if I wrote a ticket for obstructing traffic in a bike lane (and again, we didn't have dedicated bike lanes when I worked there) and the JP ruled that bikes could go around, so they weren't really obstructed ao they find the person not guilty.... getting a conviction from that point on would be very difficult.  I may have been know to push the envelope of some charges... some made it to court, and we won, so the practices continued.... others didn't, so the practice stopped. 

So while laws are black and white for the most part, there is an (normally) an essence of discretion for officers and prosecutors [ie. Stunt Driving:  The HTA says an officer must charge as opposed to Speeding: An officer may charge].  Regardless, JP's and Judge's always have discretion and the ability to (start the process to) overturn laws.

Coke