I work closely with a number of 52 Division cops and we discuss cycling regularly, but in our discussions it is clear that they do not perceive the issue from the same perspective. We see things from an almost European slant. They don’t. They are products of car culture, often living in the suburbs abd see things from a decidedly North American position. Many are sympathetic to our complaints, but like most motorists, their immediate reaction is to go on the offensive and begin citing the frequent infractions cyclists commit. Even when I remind that while cyclists do commit many HTA offences, they are relatively harmless and neither threaten nor kill people, they still have a hard time wrapping their heads around the difference. They do not act on every infraction they witness, even when I point them out as they occur before us. They’d be tied up in court 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives if they did and many assess a situation—not necessarily to determine blame or cause as a judge is charged to do—but in terms of reasonable chance of conviction.
We need to really really re-educate our police and have them adopt a different mindset, a different culture before any significant changes improvements will occur on our roads. Laws may be laws, but if those who inforce them ignore them then, realistically, to the offender, they are not laws at all.
