traffic enforcement

A different cop car, but same bike lane

Breaking news: a Toronto police has been caught on a Toronto Sun camera parking in the bike lane on Annette St. We apologize for posting the third bike lane parking related blog post in a row, but this is a good time to highlight this as the bike union calls for the doubling of bike lane tickets (to be more in line with other illegal parking tickets) and as former police services board chairman Alan Heisey urged police to start a ticketing blitz against bike lane blockers.

The officer was parked there for at least 20 minutes before leaving the cafe with a can of pop and a paper lunch bag.

But instead of protecting their own, Toronto Police brass called the officer's parking actions "stupid" and "unacceptable."

Last week, cycling advocates brought the issue of blocking bike lanes for non-emergency reasons to the attention of the Toronto Police Services Board, which asked Chief Bill Blair to examine the issue.

"That's not kosher at all. It's right in our procedures that, outside of exigent circumstances, you do not park illegally, and that includes in bike lanes," said Sgt. Tim Burrows, of the force's traffic services department. He added higher-ups at the force were "incensed" when they heard about the Annette St. incident.

At the launch of this year's "Safe Cycling - Share the Responsibility" campaign aka the "bike blitz", the cops promised to focus on aggressive cyclists and car drivers endangering cyclists. How effective have they been in targeting the worst offenders? Or have they once again mostly set up sting operations to catch cyclists doing "rolling stops"?

The results are in (pdf). Sixty-two percent of all tickets were given to drivers with 59% of all tickets going to drivers in incidences with cyclists. There are bound to be more tickets for drivers than cyclists since there are just more of them on the road, but it's interesting that the police have ticketed a lot of motorists where cyclists are also involved. I can't find the results from last year so I can't say if this points to the police changing their tactics at all.

Last year the police gave out 6,671 tickets, according to the Bike Joint, and this year 5,907. I have to agree with Bike Joint that it doesn't seem like they tried too hard to find bike lane parking violations.

Officers issued 5,907 tickets to motorists and cyclists who were found committing offences. Of
the tickets issued:
• 3,502 tickets were issued to motorists for offences such as opening vehicle doors improperly
and failing to yield to cyclists,
• 1,373 tickets were issued to cyclists for moving violations including disobeying traffic signals
and failing to yield to pedestrians,
• 747 tickets were issued to cyclists for bicycle equipment offences,
• 84 people under the age of 18 were charged with not wearing helmets,
• 198 parking tickets were issued for parking in designated bike lanes,
• 852 motorists and cyclists were cautioned with respect to a variety of related offences, and
• 10 bike rodeos/lectures involving 411 participants were held across the city.

Have you received a traffic ticket from Toronto Police's bike blitz this week? The ARCwiki has a great resource on fighting traffic tickets or our copy in the guide.

Tickets may be issued for moving violations (such as failing to stop), or for inadequate bike equipment (lights, for example). You can't receive demerit points on your driver's licence for tickets received while on a bicycle.

Don't escalate the situation by yelling, etc. Stay calm, it's just a ticket. You will be able to fight it. Don't assume that as a "law-abiding citizen" you can't be criminally charged just for being annoying. It has happened and it sucks. If necessary, there is a police complaints process.

Write down what happened as soon as possible after receiving the ticket. Include the location, direction of travel, the incident, witnesses, etc. Obtain as much information as possible at the scene. Sign and date it.

Call for witnesses: It is very hard to get them later. Get their phone number or contact information. Ask them to make a signed and dated statement of events as soon as possible. All of the information you need about your charge and the officer (such as badge number and division) should be on your ticket.