[hennell]

It's not hard to follow - traffic summons system relies on the summoned having a license. They don't track people down or chase them, they enforce by voiding the license. They have no process for people who are driving without a license - they can't void other ID.

So they're using a court summons, because that relies on ID, and is enforced by tracking people down. Whether it is 'just as strong' or not depends on if the person has a driving license. If you don't the traffic summons has no power over you.

[lesuorac]

> traffic summons system relies on the summoned having a license.

It doesn't.

It just relies on being able to identify somebody. Whether that's a school photo or a drivers license doesn't matter. In this situation, the bicyclists likely were carrying identification so the cop could reasonable assume who they were issuing a ticket to.

Automated enforcements typically use the license plate and mail the traffic ticket to the registered owner but we're talking about a scenario where a cop has stopped somebody and in those cases the ticket go straight to that person who may not be the registered owner of the vehicle.

> They don't track people down or chase them

They do.

You will get an arrest warrant (eventually) if you don't pay your traffic tickets.

And as stated in the article, cops did chase bicyclists.

> They have no process for people who are driving without a license

They do.

If they didn't nobody would get a drivers license... It's generally not criminal to drive without a license but additional (criminal) charges might apply depending on the situation.