Cyclists are special and do have their own rules

by David Cranor, Greater Greater Washington
Sarah Goodyear of the Atlantic has an article for Bike to Work Week entitled "Cyclists Aren’t ‘Special’, and They Shouldn’t Play by Their Own Rules." The thesis seems to be that now that cycling is mainstream, cyclists need to behave better.
I would argue that whether or not cycling is mainstream you need to ride safely and courteously. In fact, an increase or decrease in cycling mode share shouldn’t change the way you ride one iota.
Goodyear is asking cyclists to become foot droppers and thinks that more enforcement of cycling laws is what is needed for cycling to "get to the next level." I disagree which is easy to do since Goodyear offers no evidence, no data and no defense of her position. It appears to be 100% emotion-based opinion.
When I look at great cycling cities in Europe it doesn’t appear to me that there is some point where increased enforcement is needed to keep growth going. Growth is fueled by better designed streets, laws that protect cyclists, and increasing the costs of driving. If anything, what I’ve read about Amsterdam and Copenhagen is that they don’t tolerate the kinds of bad driving that are considered normal here. I don’t read about ticketing blitzes.
She makes the point that many cyclists are rude or ride dangerously and that she’d like to see such behavior ticketed. I have no problem with ticketing dangerous behavior – though if we’re really going to focus on the MOST dangerous behavior, that will rarely mean ticketing cyclists. And if law enforcement were to blitz cyclists, it would likely not be for their most dangerous behavior (riding at night without lights or too fast on the sidewalk or against traffic) but rather not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign during a charity ride or at some out-of-the way intersection.
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https://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/18870/cyclists-are-special-and-do-have-their-own-rules/
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[B’ Spokes: Let me stress that "safety" ticketing blitzes should never be confined to one class of road user especially if it is a vulnerable road user as is too often the case around here. We let motorist unsafe behavior off because otherwise it’s a revenue grabbing scheme, automated ticketing of motorists going 12 mph over the speed limit, that’s outrageous and needs to stop… ah but unlawful cyclists are the problem so let’s ticket them. If the police are going to crack down on the nitty gritty they need to do it across the board! Too many of the unsafe and illegal behaviors by motorists the police are totally unaware of… and that to me is is the major issue. I don’t like the distracting argument that cyclists don’t obey the laws, motorist don’t either and they are the ones that kill!]