Top of the evening everyone...
Whenever there is a collision with a bicycle in the city, there is usually some sort of news article on 680 News. I try to follow the comments after those articles. Many of the comments state that all would be right in the world if only cyclists had licenses. It would lead directly to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
I wrote a blog entry about this several years ago: Licensing of Cyclists.
I would like to state for the record that there are cyclists out there who make the rest of us look bad. I remember a cyclist giving a driver the finger after the cyclist broke three or four traffic laws in the process of cutting the driver off. That being said, I am neither responsible for nor representative of the transgressions of every cyclist out there. Similarly, the drivers who get tickets do not represent the drivers who drive safely. Most drivers and most cyclists attempt to be safe most of the time.
Why am I writing this? I am writing this because the Toronto Police Service ran a safety blitz over the last two weeks. During this safety blitz, 6800 tickets were issued for various traffic infractions. If we assume that this number could be duplicated over each and every two-week period over a year, that would be 176,800 traffic infractions a year. Based on the 2016 population of the city, that number would represent 6% of the city's people. Please note that the city's population includes many non-drivers. It would be far more than 6% of the city's drivers.
Here is the article: Slow Down Toronto.
6800 traffic infractions...I would appreciate it if someone could explain to me how licensing cyclists would bring about citywide sunshine and lollipops. Licensing drivers has clearly not had that effect. There is no logic whatsoever in assuming it would work on cyclists any more than it does on drivers.
In the meantime, I remind everyone of the sage wisdom of an admiral I once knew. He said that selective enforcement yields selective obedience. Regarding cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians, we all obey the laws that are enforced. The Highway Safety Act is law throughout the province. All three groups are stated therein. Enforce the law. People will respond.
Have a great evening everyone.
R/SCG
There are bad drivers out there just like there are bad cyclists out there. If you drive along HWY 7 around 4:10 pm each day there is a cyclist who is a menace to all around him. He's almost killed pedestrians on the side of the road waiting for a YRT bus, he's cut off drivers driving at 70 (and higher) and licensing him will do no good. I've seen drivers of cars and trucks run red lights daily. We've been almost killed on Clark by a truck driver who thought that the solid red light was just a suggestion and had to swerve so as not to kill us. Neal was hit by a driver on Langstaff who also didn't think the red light applied to him. I don't think licensing is the answer, enforcement is. The laws are clearly written and now what is needed is for them to be enforced. Punishment handed down if the law is broken and it doesn't matter if the rule breaker is on a bike or in a car or truck.
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