@freiheit Two ways. For policymakers, point out that safety is keeping potential cyclists in their cars, which increases congestion, road maintenance costs, &c. Only positive action can break the vicious circle. In a public response to potential and actual cyclists, use any stats you have to show how safe cycling really is, and how even after you count the marginal risk, cyclists live much longer than non-cyclists on average because of the health benefits.
@DanHulme I think our response is going to be trying to straddle a fine line between "some of the bad things he describe are exactly why we're trying to get that Vulnerable Road Users Ordinance passed" and "seriously, it's not that dangerous, here's some real data about how it's not dangerous, and many cyclists report never getting any kind of harassment at all."
@DanHulme Our county board of supervisors is having (had already?) a hearing today about passing the ordinance for the unincorporated parts of the county. :)
(one city in the county passed a version of the ordinance, another has it in the study phase to be voted on in a couple months... only 7 more government bodies to convince to at least formally consider it...)
The county and each city each have some kind of elected group ("board of supervisors", "city council") that would need to vote on it. The bigger ones have to agree to let staff study the proposal, wait for the staff to do their thing, then actually vote on it.
There's restrictions on what kinds of laws counties can enact, and subtly different restrictions on what cities can enact...
In particular, none have any power to change what's a criminal or non-criminal act on the public roadways, so the "Vulnerable Road Users Ordinance" aka "Anti-Bicyclist Harassment Ordinance" is all civil multiplier stuff. Similar to what the city of LA and a couple other cities in California passed over the last couple years.
A fine is a criminal infraction type thing. Civil means "sue somebody". multiplier meaning "triple actual damages" or actually "triple actual damages or $1000, whichever is larger".