We don't demand all the same rights. We only want a tiny little bit of the road for ourselves, and not even all roads. I guess there are some folks who try to take the whole lane, but I hope those folks are in the minority.

We are driving ~30 lb. vehicles at low speeds, let's say 20 mph, (8.9 m/s) with an all-up weight of ~250 lbs. (113 kg) We are un-armored. Total kinetic available energy would be 4475 J. A typical car weighs ~3000 lbs,(1362 kg) and on a typical road in my area, is traveling at 50 mph. (22 m/s). Resulting energy imparted would be 338,157 J. The car is capable of causing 76 times as much damage.

Not only that, but it is very likely that almost all of the damage would be to ourselves, especially since we are riding surrounded by cars and trucks, and not pedestrians. So we ARE taking responsibility for our actions. We're sticking our necks out, simply by riding bikes among cars and trucks. It's a risk analysis.

A bike cop ticketing a cyclist for rolling a red light when it is safe to do so is not serving and protecting, he is hassling. Picking the "low-hanging fruit."

I do respect your idea that we should follow rules, but let's not pretend we have the same responsibilities or rights as motorized traffic. On paper, it may be the case or close to it. In reality, it is not even close to true.