Posted on 05/12/2007 3:21:50 PM PDT by SmithL
BERKELEY -- An angry confrontation erupted during Friday night's Critical Mass bike ride in Berkeley when cyclists accused a motorist of trying to run them over, a participant who videotaped part of the fracas said today.
The incident, similar to an altercation that occurred during a Critical Mass in San Francisco in March, occurred about 8 p.m. as dozens of cyclists rode through the intersection of The Alameda and Monterey Avenue, said bicycle activist Jason Meggs.
Tempers flared on both sides and the motorist's windshield was shattered and a wiper bent, but Berkeley police did not make any arrests, Meggs said.
Police officials were not immediately available for comment, and the identity of the driver was not known.
A man driving a Chevrolet van allegedly drove toward the cyclists, Meggs said, prompting the confrontation.
A video of the incident shot by Meggs shows a woman, identified as his wife, in the van -- which has disabled person license plates.
On the video, three bicycles are seen stuck beneath the right front tire of the vehicle and bicyclists trying to remove them.
"Everybody, back away!" one person is heard shouting. Cyclists are seen and heard pounding on the vehicle's hood and windows.
"What the f-? What's your f- problem?" one cyclist demands of the driver, who is inside the vehicle with the windows closed.
At one point, the man's wife opens her door. "How dare you be so violent?" someone is heard asking her. "Are you people drunk?"
The woman says something that can't be heard, prompting a man to ask her, "Guess who started it? Guess who did it?"
"You're on top of three bikes!" a bicyclist tells the driver, urging him to move.
...Meggs said police blamed the bicyclists for instigating the confrontation, a charge he denied.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
You sir, are a moron.
The clothes are not gay. They are functional. Period.
Get a life and shutup jerk.
I’ll make fun of your spandex (made from oil) bike shorts. Your plastic (made from oil) faggoty clip shoes, your plastic (made from oil) helmet with its expanded polystyrene (made from oil) impact liner, whenever I want to.
I absolutely hate bicyclists because of their snotty attitudes, lack of following the laws, (not stopping at stop signs or signals) not yielding right of way according to law, and general feeling of entitlement. Where I work we spend tens of thousands of dollars maintaining bicycle trails and lanes at the expense of motor vehicle lane miles. The money for this comes from, you guessed it, gas taxes that by law are required to be spent only on roads.
I’m hoping for a ballot measure to require all bicycle related construction and maintenance to be taken out of a fund paid for by a tax on bicycles and bicycle parts. I’m pretty sure such a measure would pass by a fairly large margin in California, Oregon, Washington etc...
I'm NOT going to say this is always the case, but sometimes you might not be seeing the entire situation:
1) Bicycle lanes tend to accumulate a LOT of trash, some of it pretty dangerous. I remember one day on a steep downhill lane I used to commute on in the 80s, with a raised curb separating the bicycle lane, and I had to dodge a bent coathanger in the lane!
Now I think most serious cyclists might laugh at the measures I took to improve my chances of getting to work and home without a flat --these included the most "armored" tires I could find, at one point Armadillos (a b*tch to change on the road!) coupled with Mr Tuffys inside-- but with those and continual observation of the road ahead my flat rate dropped to once a year (3-10k miles? I forget).
2) In Washington state, cyclists are by law allowed to ride two abreast. And the lanes are narrow enough, one will be out in the roadway. But I have also noticed that the brighter, less arrogant-left (okay, I'm inferring that) will also go to single-file to let traffic pass.
ROFLMAO! Please send remittance for keyboard. :-)~~
Gee, you don’t have to get so defensive, there isn’t anything wrong with it, you know.
It’s worth remembering that California motorists are pre-irritated at bicyclists as a result of the fact that illegal aliens who have their cars impounded end up riding bikes, and frequently do so with the same respect for the law they exhibit in other areas. It’s a rare day when I don’t have a near miss with somebody riding on the wrong side of the road, on the sidewalk, through a pedestrian stop signal, and with no lights. Sort of preconditions us to be unfriendly to two wheelers.
Why not tax sneakers, baby strollers, dog leashes etc and get the walkers too?
Off to therapy with you!
...for insulting cyclists. Most of us are straight, thank you very much.
Cheers!
“I can’t stand cyclists. If you can’t drive the speed limit, get the heck off the road.”
Thank Goodness! I thought I was the only one. Yeesh! They literally think they OWN the country roads all around where I live. That freakin’ “Iron Man” contest is held here and all summer long I’m dodging the obnoxious, latex-panted freaks on my way to and from work.
A guy up the road took a bike and sawed it in half, then stuck either end on one of his trees, so it looks like the bike is through the tree, LOL! He lives on a dangerous curve where they’re constantly causing traffic accidents.
They’re SO freakin’ obnoxious. It takes ALL of my self control not to throw open a car door when I pass them.
Can't opine on the laws in your state...but in California cyclist OWN the road just as much as cars. If you have a problem with that (and you just might) take it up with your legislature.
Nobody can call this one gay.
I call it my "truth in advertising" jersey.
It even has the "grey_whiskers" right:
The writing on the bike shorts reads "El Lardo's Taco Town".
Clicked on your homepage.
I've done the MS 150 in three states now.
Cheers!
Now they have bicycle activists? What next? Note to bicycle pimps: share the road with an automobile.
G'rrr. See my post 72. I eat chocolate too.
Cheers!
“...take it up with your legislature.”
Well, that didn’t take long, LOL! Typical response from the ‘loyal opposition.’ *Rolleyes*
My “legislature” is Herb Kohl (D, WI), Russ Feingold (D, WI of McCain/Feingold) and my CongressLesbian is Tammy Baldwin (D, WI) to date, one bill passed...something to do with gay rights, of course.
Yeah. They’re REAL concerned about how they spend MY tax dollars, LOL!
Why not spend some of my tax dollars (via Dane County police officers) on arresting and charging the obnoxious bicyclists on my road with breaking the law day in and day out? That’d be a nice start. :)
(I haven’t missed a vote in Wisconsin for 29 years. I’ve worked on many Republican campaigns in this state. I know my way around my legislature, and they’re currently worthless.)
First, it doesn't really matter to the left what is posted here, they'd still see us as 'upper crust Republican hate mongers'. Second, been to DU lately? This is like Sunday School compared to them.
Well, those cyclists have the same right to the road in Wisconsin as you do. And somehow do not think that the State of Wisconsin will outlaw bikes or will they turn away the millions of dollars brought to the state by the participants of Ironman Wisconsin.
Perhaps you could throw open your car door as you pass a cyclist and knock him to the ground but you would likely find yourself in the Wisconsin Pen with a murder conviction. Good Luck.
I am SHOCKED, SHOCKED to learn that you don’t obey traffic laws. Beware the wrath of my car door, LOL!
There are obnoxious drivers and obnoxious cyclers. I doubt you’re the latter, and I’m not the former. :)
Note: There are no “bike lanes” on these roads. It’s the car, the cyclist, two skinny lanes, usually a cow, wild turkey, deer or cats crossing the road, farm machinery this time of year and in the fall and about two feet of pea gravel to slide through on their way down a 20’ embankment into manure run-off. There is literally nowhere for anyone to go if there’s the slightest mis-step on anyone’s part.
But, Hey! Whatever floats their boat. :)
I have done the Houston to Austin MS-150 ten times. It is a great feeling to be out there with 13,000 other riders all at the same time.
BTW-Don't you find it funny that no one here complains about the 30 million dollars the Houston to Austin MS-150 raises each year for the MS Society?
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