They do things in a big way in Texas. When they enacted a 3 ft. passing law in San Antonio, they put police under cover to enforce it!
How cool is that?
Here's a link to the story: http://www.kens5.com/news/Give-that-cyclist-more-space-it-could-be-a-police-officer-184181011.html
@Swalfoort, I have spent some quality time in sanAntonio and I can tell you, they take their Tourism very seriously. They had regular bike patrol cops at least as far back as 1995, and I think 1990, even. Their police department had so many requests for officers working extra gigs, their department set up an extra department just to handle the demand. Those cops rake in the cash and have damned good reason to safeguard that downtown area. Long live the Riverwalk!
Should I assume that proper authorities here have seen this? What is the ticket price for this in Pennsylvania?
Man, that would be a great response in a city that had a rash of cyclist fatalities, accidents, and hit-and-runs. Hmm. Plainclothes bike cops. Hmm.
Still not too late. What a great headline in April. Be careful motorists: starting May1,
The bicyclist you Buzz, might be the Fuzz.
Paging Mr. Bricker...
I wear a jacket purchased from a police catalog and have, on one occasion, been mistaken for a cop.
http://www.police-equipment-worldwide.com/catalog/uniforms/bicycle-patrol/bike-patrol-jacket.html
It's gotten a bit worn out over the years and isn't as bright or as waterproof as it used to be. I may have to upgrade.
I like the idea, both plainclothes police and the police catalog jacket. They each have a deterrent role against aggressive driving. But me ask this, what fraction of drivers know the 4 ft rule?
I know there was some coverage at the time of the rule change, but has anyone actually done any followup polling to see what fraction saw and remember? Certainly not all citizens are informed ones. We're in a very unrepresentative bubble on this board.
From my experience, most of the slightly uncomfortable passing situations I've encountered weren't by cars that were flying, but by vans or trucks moving at a normal or in some cases even slightly slower than normal pace, on bits of road where there bike and small/medium sized car can go side by side theoretically, but where with wider vehicle it's dicey. In a fair fraction of these cases there was room to the left had they crossed double yellow, yet they chose to try and "squeeze" by.
I'm thinking perhaps since in spite of the closeness the intent didn't feel hostile that there's a lot of ignorance of the law out there.
I have never heard the term "cyclers" before...
I wish this would happen here. We (cyclists) need a month complete with scauses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zDi7ZT-aBw&sns=em
Not sure how I feel about this, while I know it would be nice to have happen here, even trying to picture the backlash of entrapment cries by the vocal driving public whom are faced with a rash of attempted officer assault charges.
Just contemplating the post gazette feedback makes my temples throb.
