You’ll never believe it! I just rode behind a bike cop coming home from the coffee house. In about five minuets here is what I observed:
1. Failure to stop at a stop sign.
2. Failure to signal for a right and a left turn.
3. Riding on the wrong side of the street.
4. Riding in the sidewalk.
Not to mention that he was riding in the door zone the entire time.
Now, as I always say, I am not the paragon of bicycling etiquette that my tone may imply, but if the police can not adhere to bicycle rules how can they expect anyone else to? Sure if they are chasing down a perp and there is a red light I can see them running it to catch him, but he was just doing his rounds like it was any other day. Also I know for a fact that they had to take a biker’s education course because I know the instructor. It’s no wonder that people are so misinformed when it comes to bicycle regulations when the people tasked with enforcing them can not follow them themselves.
Anyway I could not wait to bring this one to you because it was just such a great chance encounter.
Albany Bicycle Coalition 
This is another big source of frustration for me as someone who is occasionally interested in making Albany a better place for bicycling. I’ve seen them do all that repeatedly. The other night I (barely) saw two of them riding through the dark without lights.
I don’t want to just reiterate what I wrote, but they took the same bike ed course I did. I know they know the rules. Yet they, the Police charged with enforcing said rules, break them and don’t even bat an eye.
Maybe you could do an interview with a bicycle officer for this site and find out what it is like to be a bicycle officer, what they do, why they ride the way they do, etc. Might be a fun piece. Just an idea.
Well, it’s not like officers driving cars are all that diligent about obeying traffic laws either.
They should be though. No one is perfect, but when the people tasked with upholding the law cannot follow it why do they expect us to?