[*BCM*] Getting Real About Law Enforcement

[Jym Dyer]

> i disagree with the idea that more law enforcement of bicycles
> as if they're cars is actually going to make anything safer
> for a cyclist.

=v= Same here.  But I've got to quibble with the "as if they're
cars" part.

=v= If we could actually get real for a minute here, most cars
are violating the traffic code most of the time.  Cars speed
with impunity, but there are unwritten guidelines about how
"10 over" or "15 over" is somehow okay, despite the many deaths
and injuries it causes.  Cars hurry through red lights and it's
called, absurdly, "making the light."  Cars run STOP signs and
it's called, absurdly, "a rolling stop."

=v= Which means that "law enforcement of bicycles as if they're
cars" would be more lenient than what we're talking about here.

=v= I'm not saying this means we should break all the laws we
want, or that two wrongs make a right.  I'm saying that it
makes no sense to insist that bicyclists must pedal in lockstep
with the law just to be considered as deserving as motorists,
while they're running amok.

=v= Law enforcement is supposed to provide equal protection
under the law (see Amendment 14 for details).  Targetting us
for stricter compliance violates that.  In addition, it makes
no sense, most especially as we are not the ones out there
killing and maiming people.
    <_Jym_>