If the goal of the Toronto Police's Cycle Right campaign was to dramatically increase the number of charges laid against cyclists for traffic violations compared to last year's Cycle right campaign then I guess it could be catagorized as scoring 'overwhelming results' as it has been in a Toronto Police news article on their web site: Cycle Right Campaign. (The complete text of the Toronto Police article below as these news articles don't seem to stay on their site indefinitely). During last year's campaign there were 700 charges laid and 700 cautions issued. This year the number of charges increased to over 2200. The number of cautions increased slightly to 800. The article does not mention if any motorists were charged with infractions such as parking in bike lanes, opening doors in front of cyclists or for other types of careless driving that endangers cyclists. The original intent of the Cycle Right campain is to educate both cyclists and motorists how to ride and drive safely. In 2001 the campaign focused on both groups of road users.(See previous article)

In past years Toronto Police Officers have come to the Toronto Cycling Committee to discuss the results of these safety enforcement campaigns and they have said that the value is in education and the goal is not to lay charges for the sake of laying charges. They seemed to indicate that cautions were just as valuable as a means of educating cyclists. There seems to have been a change this year. The July 2003 Cyclometer reports that again this year a member of the Toronto Police Services will be at the next Toronto Cycling Committee(TCC) Meeting to discuss the results of the campaign. There members of the TCC will get an opportunity to ask if the campaign focused equally on cyclists and motorists.

Below is the full text of the article from the Toronto Police Services web site.

Cycle Right

Officers from the Toronto Police Service hit the city streets for the Service's annual "Cycle Right" campaign and once again scored overwhelming results.

In total, over 2,200 charges were laid and approximately 800 cyclists cautioned.

This year, the campaign ran from June 9th to 22nd. "Cycle Right" was developed to educate cyclists about the dangers of aggressive riding, improve cyclists' compliance with traffic laws and ensure the safety of everyone on our roadways.

Bicycles have become a common method of travel for both recreation and transportation within the City of Toronto and they continue to grow in popularity. Each year, the Toronto Police Service receives numerous complaints regarding reckless bicycle riding. Even with the dangers to themselves and other road users, many cyclists continue to ride in an aggressive manner with little or no regard to the rules of the road. Riding on sidewalks, through red lights and stop signs, weaving through traffic or riding the wrong way down one way streets are common occurrences.

The Toronto Police Service is committed to preventing deaths or serious injuries as a result of aggressive riding and the "Cycle Right" campaign is a good start.

The article seems to portray the growth in popularity of cycling as a problem, and cyclists as a danger. It is true that there are some cyclists that ignore traffic laws, blow thru red lights and at times endanger others, however, there are many cyclists who ride safely and obey the rules of the road. Hopefully the article is a product of an over zealous copy writer and not a change in attitude of the Toronto Police Services toward cyclists. The Toronto Cycling Committee will have an opportunity to ask those questions at the next meeting of the TCC on July 14th. The meeting will be at 7:00 pm at City Hall, in Committee Room 2 if you are interested in attending. The Cycle Right campaign is on the agenda.