We’re all for strict traffic enforcement.

That is, until we’re late for the ferry. Then we islanders show a collective knack for forgetting our vaunted community values, looking past the posted speed limit signs and jetting along with the timorous hope that – just this once – the one or two patrol officers on the road are at the other end of the island.

Traffic enforcement is a community balancing act, between our collective pique at “the other guy” – that dim-bulb driver deserves a ticket, and why isn’t there a cop around when you need one? – and our own tendency to speed when it suits our purposes. Between what we’re willing to put up with from others, and what we try to get away with ourselves.

On Bainbridge, calls for tough traffic enforcement have been pretty consistent over the past six or eight years, coincident with an effort add bike lanes and sidewalks for bicyclists, pedestrians and school children. (A few high-profile traffic accidents, including several fatalities, haven’t hurt the cause.)

Bainbridge Police put a dedicated traffic officer on the road for a while, but the positions was eliminated about two years ago because of staffing constraints. The “Your Speed Is…” radar sign gets moved around from neighborhood to neighborhood, collecting data on passing vehicles and showing that speeds 10 mph above the posted limit are not uncommon.

With the city now budgeting for 2007, Police Chief Matt Haney is touting a new approach to enforcement: motorcycle officers. Startup costs would be around $200,000, which the chief says would diminish as officers are trained and the program gets going. The bikes’ maneuverability would allow patrolmen to chase down lousy drivers who count on heavy highway traffic for cover. Less obvious at roadsides, the motorcycles would also have a punitive edge for radar enforcement in neighborhoods; drivers would always be wondering who might be parked around the next bend.

We can foresee some debate on this issue, less on the financial costs to the city than its implications. Some will see the program as a cynical revenue-generator for the city – more citations – or as an unwelcome signifier that we’re a growing island.

But a dedicated traffic unit on high-profile motorcycles seems a natural response to what islanders have been calling for some time: safer roads. Who doesn’t take their foot off the gas when they see a cop?

The program would also bring an educational component, taking the safety message to the drivers who, statistically speaking, need it most: teenagers.

Yes, a traffic program will by its nature be more aggressive than the random enforcement of officers on general neighborhood patrols. But whether you get a speeding ticket from a cop driving a Caprice Classic or astride a Harley Davidson seems kind of academic – you were still speeding, and whose fault is that?

The best argument for motorcycle officers may be this: they’re not permanent. The city could fund the program for a couple years, see how effective it is at taming malfeasant motorists, and see how the community responds. If the program works, keep the bikes rolling; if not, send them back and put the officers back into cruisers.

Then we can all go back to speeding when we feel like it, and resenting anyone else who does likewise.