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Originally Posted by aberkok
I have to agree with the fines. Bikes belong on the road. I know it's dangerous, but it's safer than being on the sidewalk endangering pedestrians. In my hometown of Kingston, someone was killed by a cyclist when walking out of a store and it became quite a big news story, not because Kingston is boring (it is) but because it riled up people on both sides of the bike issue.
I cycle across downtown Toronto to get to work and I'm a firm believer in strict rules for bikes and as far as I know, every fine listed above is similar in Toronto. I have all the right lights and a bell, and I treat road rules as if I am a car. The more cyclists obey the rules, the more respect we'll have and the more people, I think, will be attracted to the bike as a serious form of short and mid range travel.
Of course the flipside to my law-abiding attitude is a seething rage against our car-centric society. I am sick and tired of concessions being made for cyclists only when it's convenient for drivers. Want a bike lane? Well that'd choke the automobile traffic so it just wouldn't work there... 
Inside me co-exists the Professor X and the Magneto of cycling. |
Now, don't get me wrong in the following, I'm not condoning disregard for the rules of the road with cyclists, but it seems to me the priorities are a little off.
One person gets killed by a "rogue cyclist" in Toronto in the last, what, ten years? twenty? ever? and there is a huge deal made of it. Good god, those cyclists, they're downright dangerous, something must be done! Call me obvious, but I think many more people have been killed by "rogue drivers" or whatever you want to call them. I don't see that much of a something must be done attitude about that.
I guess because it happens every day, even every hour, it doesn't matter as much. People have accepted it. Is this a case of can't do anything about autos so we'll rally behind the current cause of the day?