Originally Posted by
Moe Zhoost
Yes, you've hit the nail on the head. The degree of risk due to the infraction is the critical factor. And in almost all cases, the degree of risk is much greater for the cyclist than the motorist, regardless of who's in the wrong. Simply measuring incidence of infractions for cyclists vs. motorists is just not a useful statistic.
And when you get right down to it, how do you define what constitutes an "incident"? I suppose if one is driving 100 mph on a 55 mph road for a full hour, that counts as one infraction even though you're putting everyone you encounter at great risk during that time. On paper, that's going to look like half as many infractions as a bicycle rolling a couple stop signs at unpopulated intersections.