Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance yesterday designed to protect cyclists from being harassed by motorists. The ordinance makes it an infarction to verbally or physically threaten cyclists. The ordinance is being described as a "pioneering new law", and the "toughest of its kind" in the United States.

This is quite different from the situation locally. Here in Ottawa, if a motorist harasses a cyclist, hits the cyclist with his car, and then physically attacks the cyclist, there is a very good chance that the police will treat the cyclist as the source of the problem.

Click here for the story in the LA Times.

Click here for an example of what sometimes happens in Ottawa.

Click for anther example in Ottawa.