06-23-2015, 08:15 AM
(06-23-2015, 05:53 AM)ookpik Wrote: Is this simply a strawman?
In the case that this question wasn't rhetorical, yes, it is. I have met cyclists who have been ticketed for either riding on the sidewalk or failing to observe traffic signals, and I've seen cyclists interacting with police presumably being either ticketed or warned*, but I think it's ludicrous to claim "harassment" by police of cyclists. Cyclists are generally not law-abiding, just as motorists are not generally law-abiding. I've rarely heard the claim that the latter, when ticketed for practices that are illegal but common practice (rolling stops, failure to yield right-of-way, speeding, distracted driving, so on and on), are suffering harassment.
*The last time I personally observed an interaction between police and a cyclist breaking the law, a cyclist was traveling along a relatively busy sidewalk adjacent to a street which had painted (unprotected) bicycle lanes. A policeman on foot who observed this yelled at him to use the bike lanes, and was ignored.