07-07-2015, 01:26 PM
(07-07-2015, 01:15 PM)ookpik Wrote: That's hardly a good reason to go soft on cyclists who blow through STOP signs. It's either legal or it's not. If it should be legal but isn't then change the legislation as has been discussed already above.
It's illegal to go 1 km/h over the speed limit. Are we "soft" on drivers because that is not enforced even a little bit? No, because while being illegal, that is not a particularly dangerous offense. Cyclists "blowing through stop signs" is 1) technically illegal, 2) overblown as a thing that happens, and 3) rarely actually dangerous. It's an annoyance. And generally the advocacy of "cracking down on cyclists" seems to mostly be a form of retaliation by people annoyed or threatened by cycling as a transportation mode / change to how streets are used, rather than a response to any real issues.
But yes, we should fix the legislation so that safe behaviour is the same thing as legal behaviour, making it easier to enforce penalties against drivers and cyclists who are actually dangerous to the public.