[*BCM*] bike police [was (no subject) ]

[Erik Wile]

>> You say you're too scared to bike anywhere other than Boston?
>> Funny--I'm from Chicago and I'm to scared yet to ride *in* Bostonland. 
> :)Yeah,  wow.  Boston is by far the scariest city I have ever biked
> in, on a list that includes San Francisco, NYC, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh.

My original reaction was that at least the boston drivers don't fire
semi-lethal weapons at me... and then I thought about it and they
certainly do _aim_ plenty of lethal weapons at me.  And that made me
laugh.  Sick.  I worked up to boston biking... first only on the
esplanade and minuteman, and then only side streets, and eventually
anything that gets me where I want to be.  Come to think of it... this
brings to mind the goldfish boiling story.

Ok, it was temporary insanity to not want to bike elsewhere.
Especially because if I'm travelling and an officer tells me that
biking is prohibited on an unmarked road then I just say 'yes sir' and
maybe don't bike in that city if it happens twice.  It's officers with
a pattern of torturing for sport and defaulting to biking-prohibited
in my hometown that is the real scary scenario.  I've heard my fair
share of BPD harassment stories, but none this bad.  And I haven't
[yet] been involved in any.  I have been lucky.  Most of my boston
biking is non-rush.  My reverse commute takes out of boston to the
north.  Cambridge pd aren't so bad.

In fact, the Cambridge bike police escort for the last saturday's
cambridge historical tour was wonderful!  It was the way CM should
be... a happy family rolling through the streets with the 4 police
officers bolting ahead and lagging back putting themselves in front of
cars using their radios to keep the pack together, whistling and
yelling at cars and stopping even green-lighted cars to keep us
together.  I still hide from the cambridge pd when I'm biking at night
[no headlight] but I do get the feeling they're on my side in general.

I'm guessing that any PD with bike police is going to have a lower
incidence of bike-hating officers.  Anyone have a list comparing of #
bike patrols vs squad car patrols for various cities?

-erik