- 2,191
- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
Critical Mass- The pioneer of 'get on your bike' or the worst traffic in your life?
- Thread starter Machate-man
- 27 comments
- 1,851 views
- 8,723
These meets seem a bit self-serving whilst inconveniencing others - I was originally under the impression that critical mass actually meant something.
I'm a cyclist, too; although mostly off-road. Maybe that's the difference.
I'm a cyclist, too; although mostly off-road. Maybe that's the difference.
- 9,058
- Murica
- BasedAckbar
As long as they meet with the local authorities to plan it out, I'm fine with it.
- 9,295
- Duisburg
Depends on how the route they'll be taking is planned. I've seen stuff like this cause massive trouble when a huge fleet of old geezers blocked the main street in the city where I sued to live for, dunno, about an hour.
Oh, how I wanted to be in a large 4x4 with a bull bar, that day!
Oh, how I wanted to be in a large 4x4 with a bull bar, that day!
- 9,295
- Duisburg
And train horn!
I wouldn't have wanted them to make room, anyways, so I could've done without it
But it might be a nice alternative!
- 4,687
- Golden State
- xViLLaiNx12
- 535
- p-coletrey
Rather than just blocking traffic, I hope it's an effort to cause cities to continue to make cycling lanes. Downtown Portland is a perfect example. If they would have done this 100 years ago imagine how much less pollution, noise, and traffic we would have now.
- 2,191
- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
This is the "San Francisco Bike Coalition's ambitious plan to get several main 'bikeways' running through San Francisco. Although they intend for those to be used for regular bicyclists, I have a feeling Critical mass is going to cause mass hysteria.
*Note Bike lanes On inner lanes. If a mass crowd appears, then cars cannot pass through the middle, nor turn to get out of the way
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
When they just show up and take over the streets, blocking traffic, then they're nothing but criminals, with no point being made to the public except, "Look, a-holes on bicycles!" Why would I care what their needs or "rights" are after something like that?
Making such a demonstration with the idea of "Look, we need such-and-such or this is what happens" is a terrorist tactic.
OTOH, an organized event, with permits, traffic re-routed, everybody knows what's going on, that's something else entirely.
Usually that's not what happens, though, it's just show up and cause mayhem. (Although the Vancouver vid in the first post looks like an organized event rather than a show-up-and-take-over thing.)
Making such a demonstration with the idea of "Look, we need such-and-such or this is what happens" is a terrorist tactic.
OTOH, an organized event, with permits, traffic re-routed, everybody knows what's going on, that's something else entirely.
Usually that's not what happens, though, it's just show up and cause mayhem. (Although the Vancouver vid in the first post looks like an organized event rather than a show-up-and-take-over thing.)
- 2,191
- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
wfooshee
They do it legally, without hurting anyone. They may be annoying at times, but they have some rights that need to be respected. Also, saying it's criminal is like saying walking at night is criminal
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- 510
They do it legally, without hurting anyone. They may be annoying at times, but they have some rights that need to be respected. Also, saying it's criminal is like saying walking at night is criminal
They might not hurt anyone but they cause a major inconvenience to the gereral public.
- 30,033
- Thailand
I wish more people in my city cycled. There are folks who are retired who cruse around for leisure in the evenings but very, very few who commute by bike.
I run the same route every day and have never encountered other cyclists because people here are so terrified of the traffic and the laws of the road don't seem to apply to anyone.
If there were mass bike rides organised here I think more people would see it as a useful mode of transport and the local government would be forced to think about catering for bikes. In all fairness this place is the worst place in the world to encourage people to cycle because it's a city built over mountains and has hardly any flat roads.
I run the same route every day and have never encountered other cyclists because people here are so terrified of the traffic and the laws of the road don't seem to apply to anyone.
If there were mass bike rides organised here I think more people would see it as a useful mode of transport and the local government would be forced to think about catering for bikes. In all fairness this place is the worst place in the world to encourage people to cycle because it's a city built over mountains and has hardly any flat roads.
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
They do it legally, without hurting anyone. They may be annoying at times, but they have some rights that need to be respected. Also, saying it's criminal is like saying walking at night is criminal
When they show up and assemble with the intended purpose of blocking traffic, no other purpose, it's not being done legally. Blocking traffic just to say, "We have a right to the road, too," is mob behavior. It's perfectly legal to ride a bicycle on a public road, but it's not legal for 147,000 bicycle riders to take over the road with no intent but to block traffic.
The same would apply to pedestrians. It's perfectly legal to cross the street, but if you assemble 700 people in the crosswalk and refuse to move, then you've become a mob.
Like I said previously, if it's done legally, with parade permits and whatever else is required, and arrangements are made to divert legitimate traffic, then it's fine.
- 2,191
- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
I never actually thought of them as being a mob
Perhaps if I open my perspective up a bit, I can learn something.
OT, Sometimes the local police (and dreaded "Meter maids") sometimes attempt to control the traffic by closing off streets about 1 block away from the crowd. This, however, usually backfires since the crowd has control of it's path, not the police
Keef
Premium
- 25,162
- Dayton, OH
- GTP_KeefRacer
- GTP Keef
The only meaningful statements to ever come from San Fransisco are Craigslist and Myth Busters.
In the US, or at least in Ohio, cyclists are actually supposed to use the road instead of sidewalks, but they must follow the same rules as the cars, speed limit included. That means the only options for conducting such a rally are that they share the road with cars peacefully, or they organize their rally with the local authorities.
- 2,587
They ARE the general public. They don't need a permit to ride a bike. The laws for bikes require that you keep your speed within the speed limit, and keep out of the way of larger vehicles when possible.
Beyond that. They're not doing anything wrong, there isn't a law in the world that can stop them from doing what they're doing, and there most certainly isn't a police force that can stop them either. Holding the opinion that they need some sort of permit to ride where they always ride is the stupidest thing in the world. You don't see people complaining about bike rallies, car groups, or anything else for that matter. Why? Because they're allowed to do it. Why isn't a group of cyclists able to do it?
The world has so much hostility towards cyclists, and it really needs to end. It's a viable transportation solution for people that live in cities and people need to get it through their head that a cyclist has every right to be in the street.
- 4,687
- Golden State
- xViLLaiNx12
You're right, but intentionally clogging up traffic and making anyone on the road who might have an important place to be have to wait for the massive bike parade to go by is just self-indulgent and unnecessary. "Hey look at us! We're on bikes and we get to ride in all the lanes because traffic laws don't stop it! Now you're going to be late and it's because you're in a car and you're destroying the Earth!" 👎
Yes, there are very rude motorists who don't show respect for cyclists or their safety. There are also very rude cyclists who cut off drivers and organize things like Critical Mass without even leaving a lane open for regular traffic. I'm all for safety and sharing the road, but I don't think Critical Mass is the answer to getting the word out. To be honest, I think it just worsens the cyclist stereotypes held by the rude motorists.
The road is full of angry people (and always will be). If your goal is for the rude drivers to ease up and stop being angry with you - it doesn't help to intentionally get in their way and bog down the traffic system.
- 5,077
- Panama City, FL
A single person doesn't need a permit to ride, true. That would be ludicrous. (Although many cities do have licensing requirements, although I've yet to see a city really enforce those.) A single person walking through a shopping mall doesn't need a permit, either. Again, ludicrous.
But if you try to assemble 2300 people in that shopping mall just to clog it up, now you're interfering with the public's access. Saying "But I am the public" doesn't cut it, because you're costing people money, keeping customers out of stores, making people late for work, whatever.
Same thing applies to "mob" style critical mass rallies not coordinated with the authorities. They're not there to organize a group ride, they're there to clog the road and interfere with public access, which is not something they have a right to do. Saying that they're not doing anything wrong is just goofy. Intentionally interfering with the use of a public facility is wrong. Period.
- 9,058
- Murica
- BasedAckbar
- 8,723
boiltheocean
Premium
- 7,756
- Samoa
Noob616
HERP EVERYONE WHO RIDES BIKES IS A CLICHE HIPSTER. Please don't label cyclists as hipsters, we had bikes before those tools and we'll still have bikes when they label them uncool. I hate what hipsters have done to the image of cycling.
- 8,723
Joel
Premium
- 8,141
- Halifax, NS
- Noob616
- 24,553
- Frankfort, KY
- GTP_FoolKiller
- FoolKiller1979
Maybe I'm not getting this.
Cyclists are creating a public demonstration.
They want to get the Share the Road message out.
They do it by making the roads practically impassable by cars, aka not sharing the road.
Isn't that kind of like protesting pollution by burning cars?
Considering the amount of idiotic irony in this situation I can see why it would be assumed hipsters organized this.
Cyclists are creating a public demonstration.
They want to get the Share the Road message out.
They do it by making the roads practically impassable by cars, aka not sharing the road.
Isn't that kind of like protesting pollution by burning cars?
Considering the amount of idiotic irony in this situation I can see why it would be assumed hipsters organized this.
