Cyclist Pursued through Quiet Residential Neighborhood by Police Patrol Car

Riding west on Thompson on my across the river, I passed a police car waiting at a stop sign perpendicular to Thompson. From the corner of my eye I saw that it turned onto Thompson behind me. Normally a car would pass me, but instead it crawled along half a block after me, maintaining my precarious five mph speed – why, I didn’t know.

Good moment to test out my theory, I thought – namely, that the police are not interested in picking on the average undangerous cyclist. So I pedaled along the same as ever, in my lurid safety jacket and blinking helmet light, and as I approached each stop sign I slowed, snapped my head back and forth several times to check for crossing cars, and kept right on rolling. I continued this for eleven blocks with the police car in hot pursuit. They had at least five chances to stop me but didn’t. Yay for them! Thor knows we’re not having such a crime shortage that the police need to pick on a cyclist making a rolling stop for something to do.

Now if I were racing through the stop signs without even a slowdown or a glance, I would hope they’d object – especially if this were a busier street. Don’t think for a minute that I’m an advocate of breaking traffic rules. If they can nab one of those idiots that ride like a fool on fire, they’re doing us all a favor.

I raise my cup of tea to the police for not wasting tax dollars on the likes of me.