Posted on 10/08/2007 12:35:56 PM PDT by Caleb1411
Critical Mass, the loosely organized bicycle group that ties up rush-hour traffic once a month in Minneapolis, has demonstrated who rules our streets. But Minneapolis isn't the only place where the Mass mob has strong-armed the police and City Hall, and left outraged motorists fuming but impotent. Today, Critical Mass cyclists cow commuters in more than 300 cities, from Denver to Rio de Janeiro, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The ride got its start in San Francisco (where else?) in 1992 with about 50 cyclists. Authorities there looked the other way as riders ran red lights and snarled traffic. Soon, the event was drawing hundreds, even thousands, of riders.
And therein lies a cautionary tale for Minneapolis.
Today, ugly confrontations are a fact of life in the City by the Bay, and traffic is a bad trip on the last Friday of the month. Cyclists sometimes scratch or beat on cars, taunt or spit at motorists, and come close to running down pedestrians.
Nevertheless, police maintain a hands-off stance, acting as little more than bystanders.
In March 2007, a mother who had brought five young girls to the city for a birthday party wandered into the path of 3,000 Critical Mass cyclists. Hundreds swarmed around her minivan, circling wildly and pounding on its windows. As the terrified children sobbed, one rider threw his bike and smashed the van's rear window. Damage totaled more than $5,000.
The incident provoked citizen outrage. But Mayor Gavin Newsom -- after a few empty threats -- declined to order arrests or more controls, and merely beefed up the ride's police escort.
How did San Francisco get into this state of anarchy?
The city ran up the white flag 10 years ago, after a pitched battle in July 1997 set a pattern of capitulation.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The Armstrong-wannabes are some of the biggest ^ssholes on the road, second only to these subhuman Critical Ass vermin. They ride down the street in their gay-ass sponser-festooned spandex homo-uniforms three or four abreast like they own the g#ddamn road. I hope they all get Rachel Corried by a large truck, but barring that it’s fun to blow by them on an old mountain bike with dirt tires while wearing street clothes and smoking a cigarette. They really, really hate that.
Laz, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times, Don't exaggerate!
“They have no business being in the road...”
You probably feel that way about the Amish and their buggies too. Come to Holmes County, Ohio, mess with them like you want to mess with cyclists, and get your @$$e$ stomped on by a team of 5 or 6 draft horses - about 2,000 lbs each.
Can’t drivers hurl buckets of day-old pee and wet dog poop at the riders?
No Amish person I have ever encountered has copped an attitude about the right-of-way.
Critical Mass rides at night in my area. And they do not obey traffic lights. Nor do they permit cars to make right turns on red.
They deserve every traffic accident they cause and every accompanying lawsuit.
"I'd like 10,000 marbles please!"
Because the anarcho-socialist Left are lawless and it is easier to shake the rest of us down for revenue tickets.
Even when leftist protestors are arrested at riots, the charges are often dropped by the time the trial rolls around.
If I’m not mistaken cyclists must observe all traffic laws that apply to motorized vehicles. I read that in a driver’s manual somewhere. Am I wrong on that?
The antics of these critical mass people have nothing to do with cyclists.
“No Amish person I have ever encountered has copped an attitude about the right-of-way.”
Nor have I. I have seed drivers of motor vehicles cop an attitude about the right-of-way with the Amish on ocassion, though. I have also see accidents that were clearly the fault of the motor vehicle driver.
Not all cyclists are copping an attitude with you or any other motorist. I legally have cycled many hundreds of miles on open roads. A few times I have had to get myself the hell out of the way of really stupid actions on the part of motorists. Motorists do not have a lock on the right-of-way.
I’ve had my car slapped by these anarchists too.
It could be considered a “hate” crime but I’m not a politically protected constituent so it is not.
In Amsterdam the bicyclists ride on the sidewalks and have right of way OVER pedestrians (true) and they look nasty at you for walking on “their” road (even though it IS the sidewalk as well). Doesn’t matter how far over you are either.
This happens easily, especially when it's dark but there are a lot of lights creating relection and glare of the wet roads. People in dark clothing can literally disappear. I was pulling into an alley on my way to the parking garage and I just didn't see an african american guy in a dark coat until he turned his face and started to scream and I saw the whites of his eyes and teeth in the headlights. Luckily I was able to stop about a foot short of him. (I had to stomp on them though) I wasn't going very fast but I'm pretty sure I scared a couple years off his life. There's a very good reason your Mama always bought you those bright yellow raincoats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass
The original name of the event was “Commute Clot”.
“...American human powered vehicle and pedicab designer George Bliss noted that, in China, both motorists and bicyclists had an understood method of negotiating intersections without signals. Traffic would “bunch up” at these intersections until the back log reached a “critical mass” at which point that mass would move through the intersection. The term caught on and replaced Commute Clot as a name at the time of the second event.”
“The “disorganized” nature of the event allows it to largely escape clampdown by authorities who may view the rides as forms of parades or organized protest.”
“Because Critical Mass takes place without an official route or sanction, participants practice a tactic known as “corking” in order to maintain the cohesion of the group. This tactic consists of a few riders blocking traffic from side roads so that the mass can freely proceed through red lights without interruption. Corking allows the mass to engage in a variety of activities, such as circling in an intersection, or lifting their bikes in a tradition known as a Chicago hold-up. The ‘Corks’ sometimes take advantage of their time corking to distribute flyers.
Critics argue that the practice of corking roads in order to pass through red lights as a group is contrary to Critical Mass’ claim that “we are traffic”, since ordinary traffic (including bicycle traffic) does not usually have the right to go through intersections once the traffic signal has changed to red, unless issued with a specific permit or residing in jurisdictions where bicyclists have this right (such as the Idaho, USA Bicycle Law). Corking has sometimes translated into hostility between motorists and riders, even erupting into violence and arrests during Critical Mass rides.”
Yield:
One must yield to a vehicle in LAWFUL use of the highway.
As one lawyer put it to me.....so what does the opposite situation mean?
One need not yeild to a vehicle in UNLAWFUL use of the highway.
I beat a failure to yeild becuase the other driver admitted he was speeding.....he claimed to be doing 35( more like 50)
....it was in a 25 mile zone...
Not guilty.
I am in one of two vehicles...a 98 F-150...a 73 pontiac lemans...
PLEASE ride out in front of me....I’m sure I wont panic and hit the gas instead of the brakes...
*rolleyes*
LOL! Cause it's a city full of pansis! I would like to see that sh*t tried in LA rush hour traffic. There would be some caps busted in the proverbial cyclists asses and that would be the end of it.
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