It's just a way to punish people on bikes and make them not want to ride. Perhaps a politically correct (to motorists) move meant to make it look like police are doing something. It's a pity it's not something actually constructive.

A bell? Really? Granted, I can see giving someone a fine if they do something unsafe, but $110 for not having something they likely won't use anyway is just nuts.

I come equipped with this thing called a voice. It has this amazing ability to convey even more information than "ding, ding". I rarely leave home without it.

On another forum there was a thread asking why people don't like the police. I now have something to add to it.

Who would hear it?  So many of the cycling commuters I see have earphones on!! 

Thanks for the heads up though - this is my hood - I know exactly where those cops camp out.  Usually their focus is cars speeding over the viaduct.  I don't have a bell on my road bike - I do on my hybrid which I use for commuting!

wow what a shocker!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwxiv2aznB0

I'm gonna play devil's advocate and say that I think a bell is necessary downtown TO. The big problem is that people do not know how to use them properly or what to do when they hear one...kinda' like horns on cars which are meant to be warning devices, not a loud way to say f-off which is what they have evolved into. The sound of a bell is much nicer than a shout as most of the time shouting sounds prety confrontational regardless of your message. $110 is excessive, maybe an educational campaign warning cyclists of the law and the reasons and benefits of having a bell would be better. It would make me happier to see the cops ticketing the guy towing his trailer full of kids behind his bike without a helmet on anyone.

I was once pulled over and warned to put a bell on my bike at 6:15 in the morning on a Saturday while commuting to work by a police officer....yup cherries lit up behind me while doing about 30k on an abandoned arterial road in Burlington. Confused already, the officer 'educated' me with a straight face for about 5 minutes about the dangers of cycling without a bell...the only thing that made him blink were the 2 headlights on my bike, 1 on my helmet and 4 red strobes on my seatpost and backpack, he did not mention anything about the lights-maybe they woke him up and pissed him off. I did not argue, but adjusted my junk in my bike shorts more than enough times to make him wonder if I was enjoying the dominating tone of his speech.

How is a bell supposed to convey the message, "on your left" (or any other message) like a voice can?

I'm genuinely curious about how the police think I'm safer if I have a bell that I don't use on my bike, than if I didn't have the bell at all.

I realize this is just a temporary reaction by the police/politicians to the microscopic number recent bike-pedestrian accidents that have been overplayed in the press, and it will go away shortly once everyone has forgotten. Not the first time, not the last. I'm truly disappointed if the cops think this is the best use of their time. Granted, they're only doing what their supervisors have told them to do, but that just means the problem is higher up the food chain than a beat cop.

Strange the Police did this. 

They broke the "unwritten rule" of bike by laws (at least of what I've been told by one).....that is they don't really enforce them unless there is a real immediate safety or public concern (which maybe this is???)...or your being a complete jack and they want to throw the book at you....   The latter is usually when it's used...ie.-making rude jestures, giving the police/others a hard time....so they return the favour....

However...the Toronto Police Service is one of the most questionable forces in Canada.  A huge history of problems including corruption, etc. even there beginnings was a sort of personal mafia style enforcement for the mayor!   (Really interesting history!)  So wasting resources on this doesn't seem totally out of the ordinary for them.  I think I remember a blitz at some obscure intersections a few years back on pedestrians and tickets flowed freely also.

Doubt it's a cash grab for Rob Ford.  He won't solve the city's spending sickness by nickle and diming citizens...it goes against everything he stands for.

Woo hoo!  The big boss where I work is getting involved!
https://www.oma.org/Mediaroom/PressReleases/Pages/ItsTimetoMakeCyclingSaferOntariosDoctors.aspx

Sadly I was one of those cyclists in 2009 when I fell off my bike after having some interference with the streetcar tracks.  If making someone use a bell is the starting point - I'm all for it.