Just the ticket?

In March, bicyclists rejoiced after the City Council passed the Bicycle Safety Ordinance, which mandates $150 fines for drivers who endanger bikers and $500 for actions that result in a crash. The law covers fouls such as passing within less than three feet of a bike and opening a car door into a pedaler’s path (a.k.a. dooring).

But the deaths of two cyclists in April, killed within a few days of each other by cars in the Logan Square area, beg the question: Are police enforcing the new law?

No, said a dozen bikers responding to a query on the Chicago Critical Mass listserv last week. Cyclist Brendan Neuman reported that when he was doored by a car last week in Greektown, an officer who witnessed the crash failed to cite the driver.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond doesn’t have solid data on the number of Bicycle Ordinance–related tickets written, but says the figure is “probably extremely low,” because of the law’s newness.

Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) spokesman Brian Steele says the legislation may have already raised awareness. “With all the media coverage this received, our hope is people who saw the TV coverage or read the news said, ‘Hey, I need to be more careful when I drive.’ ” He adds that his department is working on a flyer for distribution to all officers this summer to make sure they are informed about the ordinance.

Aldermen have also requested that CDOT help rein in dangerous cyclists. “Are we going to insist that bicycles obey the rules of the road?” asked 50th Ward Ald. Bernard Stone at a hearing before the law passed. In 2005, Stone vetoed the construction of a bike bridge, citing its proximity to a senior center.

The city is looking into ways to make sure bicyclists are being safe, too, according to Ben Gomberg, who coordinates the CDOT Bicycle Program. One strategy from the Bike 2015 Plan (“Chicago’s vision to make bicycling an integral part of daily life in Chicago”) is to “develop and implement an enforcement program targeting particularly dangerous bicycling.”

In a nod to aldermanic concerns, CDOT’s flyer will also remind officers about measures that apply to bikes, including that cyclists must stop at all stoplights and stop signs. Steele expects the memo to result in more tickets for bikes as well as cars.

But the last time the police announced a crackdown on bicyclists, with plans to fine Lakeview lawbreakers $25 to $250 in the summer of 2005, the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation insisted the emphasis should be on cars. “Enforcement efforts,” the CBF stated, “should focus on traffic with the greatest impact on safety.”

CBF spokeswoman Margo O’Hara says that the organization still would like to see the city’s limited police resources used to ticket cars, not bikes, since drivers injure bicyclists, not the other way around.

O’Hara thinks the perception of reckless bicycling as a widespread problem may be fueled by media bias in reporting deadly crashes. “They often blame the victim, focusing on what the cyclist was or was not doing,” she says. “You only get the driver’s perspective because the cyclist has been killed.”