Back in September, we noticed that cars where crashing into houses quite a bit.

Here is our story: http://seattlelikesbikes.org/wordpress/?p=113

Now there is a Bike Portland discussion from the Shift email list discussing the same:

http://bikeportland.org/2009/12/23/from-the-shift-email-list-when-cars-attack-homes-not-bikes/

These are very tongue-in-cheek, but they point to some very real problems of law enforcement and a lack of public education that results in a tendency to blame the victims of car vs. bicycle crashes in the court of public opinion if not in the court of law too.

When police officers opine on the law in newspapers like this, http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1208504.html, they place cyclists in a lower class of transportation user, creating second class citizens.  In this case, no, cyclists are not required to ride as close to the edge of the pavement as possible, they are only required to ride as near the edge of the lane as is safe and practicable.  Cyclists are allowed the use of the full lane, and are allowed to ride two abreast not only single file as the officer claims.

We can only imagine the outrage if homeowners were treated as cyclists are when cars crash into their property.  After all, the house was in the way, it should have moved.