It’s well-known that severity of punishment has very little bearing on deterrent effectiveness. What works is likelihood of facing that punishment at all.

But again, enforcing speed limits on bikes just makes no sense. It’s responding to a risk that basically doesn’t exist, and any resources that could be spent on it would be far better spent ensuring drivers don’t break the law.

Of course, that would require cops doing the right thing in the interest of actual safety. But the truth is, cops don’t give a fuck about that. They’re as car-brained as our politicians, if not more so. They’ll spend heaps of resources enforcing these nonsense speed limits, while they refuse to enforce laws like the minimum passing distance for cyclists even when they’re literally handed the evidence needed.