No crackdown on cyclists, Vancouver police claim
The police officer who oversees the ticketing of motor vehicles in the city has refuted claims that the Vancouver Police Department is targeting cyclists.
“I have been in the traffic section for about two and a half years now, and if you look at our tickets, I’m not sure that you can say that we’ve been cracking down on cyclists,” Insp. Ted Schinbein told the Straight by phone. “As a matter of fact, some of our numbers have actually decreased.”
According to Schinbein, police issued 3,461 tickets in 2008 to cyclists not wearing helmets, and 3,324 in 2009.
“We have always been concerned about cyclists,” Schinbein said. “They are vulnerable road users, as are pedestrians and as are motorcyclists.”
Last week, the Straight reported that cyclist Randi Gurholt-Seary planned to fight a $167 ticket police issued her on June 16 because she failed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign at Nanaimo and Adanac streets.
“My experience with them at that time was that they were out to punish the cyclists to make an example and to hit them hard,” Gurholt-Seary told the Straight at the time.
Rob Wynen, vice chair of the city’s bicycle advisory committee, then told the Straight that he received several e-mails in the middle of the month from cyclists who had been ticketed at the intersection of Main Street and East 10th Avenue and other locations.
On the matter of rolling stops, Schinbein said, “The issue it becomes is that there is a law there. Whether you like the law or not, or whether you disagree with the law or not, it’s the law. The officers have the ability to enforce the law.”
Schinbein said there are “ways to lobby governments” for changes to the Motor Vehicle Act.
That’s something Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs has looked into.
On June 22, Meggs introduced a motion, which passed unanimously, calling for a review of the Motor Vehicle Act.
“I’m not sure how well it can be tweaked,” Meggs told the Straight that day. “It’s early days, but at least we should talk about it. My proposal was that there should be a lot more consistent application if possible across municipalities of signage and bike routes and that sort of thing.”
Schinbein said that, back in 1991, he was one of the first eight bike cops in the city.
“And I didn’t have any issue stopping at a stop sign and starting again,” he added.
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Comments
Can someone ask Schinbein how many tickets have been handed out for this infraction, with a breakdown on the numbers given to cyclists vs car drivers?
Instead, they should be cracking down on the dangerous driving that kills 30 pedestrians a year in Metro Vancouver.
They never charge anyone in Vancouver for possession if they light up a joint. They choose to not enforce this law because they recognize that those disobeying the law pose little harm to society.
They should use the same approach to traffic enforcement. They should be ticketing both cyclists and motorists for truly dangerous infractions. Wasting resources on cyclists doing rolling stops when the opposing traffic has a solid red light makes no sense at all from a harm reduction standpoint.
As for NDB, and your suggestion to force cyclists to be licensed and insured, what a ridiculous suggestion. Let's discourage people from opting for a greener, sustainable, more healthy form of transport. Let's force joggers, and pedestrians, and swimmers, and bus riders to get licensed and insured as well.
Cyclist downtown DO NOT consistently follow the rules of the road. They dont come to a full stop, use hand signals, and MANY EVEN RIDE ON THE SIDE WALK!
Lets face it, most (not all) cant afford a car and as a result rage against those who have more. Sorry but its true.
They should have to pay yearly insurance and take a drivers test. What is a cyclist causes an accident where someone dies as a result of their poor skills? Should they not pay? We all know that most cant pay (hence the fact they ride bikes and not drive cars), so again I say they should be insured.
Sometimes the truth hurts, and almost always it pisses people off :
They are not.
I've seen many an inconsiderate and idiot cyclist riding down the sidewalk. I'd love to see more of them ticketed. As far as Gurholt-Seary is concerned, she has just proved herself to be one of the selfish cyclists who give the whole group a bad name. Had it been someone driving a car complaining about getting a ticket for a rolling stop, I doubt very much she would come to the defense of that driver. She broke the law, she should woman up and pay the fine.
I fully support encouraging cycling. I have no problem with building the infrastructure required (like the Thurlow bike lane) to encourage more bikes downtown. However, with more and more bikes on the streets police should make sure to set the standards right from the beginning and ensure that cyclists follow all driving rules, just like vehicles are expected to.
Also, given that we have mandatory insurance in BC for all other kinds of vehicles traveling on the road, I don't see why cyclists shouldn't be expected to have insurance as well. If a cyclist doesn't follow the law and causes a serious accident (not an unlikely scenario), ICBC would currently have to go after the individual at fault for damages. It is also a real possibility this individual would not have enough net worth to compensate for the damages he or she caused. There is a reason that insurance is mandatory for vehicles in BC and I don't see why cyclists should be an exception.
Unfortunately, instead of cracking down on dangerous driving such as speeding, ignoring crosswalks, tailgating, and talking on cell phones, the police are ticketing cyclists who are not endangering anyone for not wearing helmets and rolling through stop signs. What a waste of limited police resources.
Enforcement should be based on the risk to other people. When the police have eliminated pedestrian fatalities caused by cars, only then should they crack down on careless cycling.
It is interesting how many pedestrians can be group in with cyslists and drives that do no know the laws of such "pedestrians controlled interestions".
Pedestrians travelling North / South are facing the red light and must not enter the roadway. (the is no North/South pedestrian signal). Motor Vehicle Act 129(4)(a)
How many pedestrians know they have responsibilities under the MVA? I wonder if they are receiving their share of tickets?
For anyone interested the MVA is @ http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/96318_00
Its a sure thing the next time I go to cross a street on a green light I am going to have an eager driver cut me off as its the way it is as have often thought of putting some kind of defensive mechanisium on wheel chair to stop them from cutting me off as how can you do defensive walking or riding your bike or wheel chair as motorists cut you off.
If there is a law it must be obeyed, and enforced.
Laws apply to everyone: cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. If we start having preferred groups above the law, we look into anarchy and living in lawless state.
Let`s not pretend that one group is above the law and is discriminated when they don obey to it.
I saw with my eyes a cyclist passing a full red light on Quebec and National Ave. in front of a cops car and the cops pretend to look the other way and ignore it. They did not gave him any ticket or warning. In that case the cops were ignoring the law - and I was really disappointed.
Now what do we do when cops/police are consistently breaking the laws and constitutional rights? O yes, I forgot that they are above the law - as they make it at will and apply it at will as well.
The reader of this rant may ponder the mention of "high risk behaviours" here. Consider the damage that a cyclist can cause to a car if the cyclist blows a stop sign. Not much, right? Now consider the damage that a car can case to a cyclist - or another car - if the car blows that stop sign. Likewise the discussion of cycle helmets, which might offer some measure of protection to a cyclist in a low speed crash but little or none at a car-speed collision. Better that the police focus their attention on the types of road behaviour that could result in real, serious damage.
Let's all keep encouraging our municipal and provincial gummermints to instruct our police to focus their attentions (blitz and otherwise) on the high-risk criminal behaviour on the roads while as cyclists we continue to set the standard for safe road behaviour.
I have been hit on my bike and what can you say is relax don't tightened up as seen a cyclist all twisting and turning because he tensed all up. It looked awfully painfull. Take care and watch you back because its a jungle out there.
What? Motorists have to wear helmets now too?