At present, the police usually fail to promptly tow away and impound these cars. Usually, all they do is give a ticket. We want to change this so that drivers who park their cars in the bike lane can rely upon their cars being promptly towed away and impounded.

The worst is courier companies. They just treat the tickets as the cost of doing business. This illegal business practice allows them to wrongfully steal business from bike couriers. I want their courier vans to be towed away and impounded so that their customers would get their deliveries only when the vans are released. A process that happens at warp speed “bureaucracy.” I predict the loud screaming of the customers whose deliveries didn’t happen would change their illegal business model right away.

Bike theft is also an issue. Although the Toronto Police has a Bicycle Theft Unit which was successful at putting in jail notorious bike theft kingpin Igor Kenk, bike theft is still a serious issue. They got Ali Baba, but his 40 thieves are still on the loose.

We want undercover Toronto Police officers to infiltrate bike theft operations so that they can arrest the thieves AND the receivers of stolen goods. Take out the entire organized crime structure.

For example, Mr. Kenk was not arrested due to an undercover officer infiltrating his criminal gang. He was arrested due to a fluke of luck: Whilst instructing one of his minions in the fine art of bike theft, said minion stole a bike next to one of the Police’s “bait bikes” that was under surveillance by the Bicycle Theft Unit. The minion promptly turned Queen’s Evidence and that’s how we got Kenk. That’s also why we didn’t get all the thieves in his crime network.

We’ve also got issues regarding:

*Prompt clearing of snow and ice from bicycle routes.
*Provision of adequate secure bike parking at train and subway stations.
*The ban on bikes on the subway and regional rail trains during peak hours (when did you think commuters want to go multi-modal?)
*Stop signs that should be yield signs, particularly at the bottom of hills.
*Toronto Police that position themselves at these stop signs during their “bike blitzs” and hand out hundreds of tickets that have absolutely nothing to do with improving safety. They even have a name for them: Fishing holes.
*Grossly inadequate bike racks (only two bikes, absurd!) on Toronto busses.

OK, there is my list of grievances. I can complain with the best of them!

http://www.floridadrivers.com/drivers_license/florida_point_system.php

But, Dangerous Driving in Canada is good for up to 5 years in jail. Florida’s Reckless Driving is only good for 90 days for a first offence and six months for a second offence.

The definitions for Careless Driving in Florida and Ontario seem to be roughly the same. However, in Ontario, the punishment is a jail term of up to six months (on the first offence), and a driver’s license suspension of two years.

My source is as follows:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statuTes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0316/Sec192.HTM

By the way, I do not see any reference to drivers license suspensions. Isn’t that something that Florida law does?

Even though all other people on bikes in my area are gutter-bunnies, I give them at least three feet when passing, but that’s not much of a problem, since they are either in a parking area or riding the paint stripe!

I think it would improve the use of the roads if all motor vehicle operators were required to take a well-produced cycling skills course, perhaps one such as Keri’s! I felt the same way after taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course, and still do.

Keri – thank you for the thoughtful followup. Since becoming a VC myself, I have definitely become a more courteous and patient driver. I try to smile and wave often when I’m driving or cycling. I’m excited about your initiatives and would be interested to see how far a “Friendly Roads” program in Dallas would go.

As has been mentioned a number of times on this blog, we REALLY need something between careless and reckless that carries a higher penalty and is easy to prosecute.

Without changing our culture, which is blinded by its addiction to speed and convenience, we’re unlikely to be successful in improving traffic justice.

Kevin’s comment:
Interesting way of phrasing things. I (and our local police force) would instead have used words like “The victim of a crime of violence committed by a dangerous, violent criminal.”

I am becoming increasingly convinced that law enforcement is one key reason why Ontario’s roads are the safest in North America and Florida’s roads are among the most dangerous.

Although certainly no expert on Florida law, I suspect that there are laws similar to the Canadian Criminal Code offences of “Criminal Negligence” and “Dangerous Driving” (good for 5 years in jail), or the Ontario Highway Traffic Act offence of “Careless Driving” (good for six months in jail). I would be willing to wager that the problem in Florida is getting the local police to enforce the laws that are on the books.

One thing I am certain about. If the perpetrators of the crimes that I am reading about on this blog found themselves spending a long time in jail, I am certain that they would change their behaviour.

Take a look at:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/orsar/orsar06/chp7_1_06.shtml

That’s a good question! I think it’s a multi-faceted process.

Starting with my own behavior: I drive assertively; obey the rules and show courtesy and friendliness to others (courteous drivers are the majority experience, so I try to take that attitude out there with me, and I try not to let the few dickheads rob me of it).

It seems pollyanna to suggest individual behavior makes a difference, but imagine if even 30-40% of existing cyclists were driving their vehicles in an assertive, legal and courteous manner (vs the 1% doing so now). That might begin to effect the perception of what’s normative for cyclists. Just getting that many cyclists to come from the shadows would change the perception — people don’t even know how many of us there are because most are riding invisibly.

Another thing I do as an individual is engage friends, family, associates who are non-cyclists. The conversations always start the same way — some variation of, “What about all the cars/bad drivers out there?” — it’s a perfect opportunity to share the best-practices that keep my rides safe and conflict-free at the same time as offering good framing about how safe cycling actually is. (An FDOT study found that the danger myth is one of the big justifications for harassment — if you’re an idiot with a death-wish, you don’t deserve courtesy.)

On a cultural level, the Florida Bicycle Association is working several different angles:

Increasing the number of cyclists as described above, through a sustainable, ongoing education program that is accessible, fun and something people actually want to take (that’s coming soon in Orlando).

A civility initiative that will take the social marketing approach to educate the public about cycling safety. We will attempt to reframe the understanding of the roadway as a public utility for all people no matter what power source their vehicle uses.

A Law Enforcement Toolkit (article on this coming soon) that is designed to reframe law enforcement’s understanding of the public utility and their role in promoting safety and civility.

If you mean the former, the level of reaction is somewhat lower, I believe, and probably has little (or less) physiological response in the motorist.

I don’t know how we as cyclists can change attitudes while riding, although I’ve found controlling the lane has improved my interactions with other road users. Communication is important, I believe, and I communicate that I am a skilled road user, while other people on bikes tend to communicate the opposite.

It’s difficult to communicate directly with a motorist encased in steel and glass, of course.