1: you're right, I'm fully in support of a stricter hammer on cyclists.
It's about time that cyclists were actively pursued for illegally riding on sidewalks. EVERY time that I walk along Gerrard, which has a bicycle lane, I'm passed by at least one bicyclist who is riding a full sized bike on the sidewalk.
2: Bicycles are entitled to as much space as needed, up to and including a full lane. If the right side of the lane is unsafe, they can ride further out. They really aren't any wider than a large rider on a bicycle.
This isn't quite true. A cyclist is entitled to the use the entire lane, in order to avoid obstacles and the like, but he is REQUIRED BY LAW to give way for faster moving traffic. Last week I had to travel at 20 Kmh slower than the speed limit, because of a cyclist on Yonge Street who was riding down the centre line of the southbound lanes (alternating which lane he was actually in randomly), when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside him. This sort of activity is patently unlawful.
3: They can be made to go faster only with modification which is already illegal. a 300-400 pound package at 32km/h has about the same or less potential energy as a 200 pound package going 50km/h on a road bike. There are people that do this, do they need insurance? But what I really wonder is what insurance you propose. 200k liability plus the insane accident benefits would be so completely inappropriate for such a situation. Damage goes up exponentially with speed. a 50 km/h accident could likely cause many thousands of damage, where 30km/h would likely cause less than half that.
