Ride Civil
In response to last month’s ugly incident at Critical Mass, as well as for reasons all their own, people in Seattle have started Ride Civil.
According to their website, “RideCivil promots civility between motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. We signal and stop, smile and wave, ride 2 abreast and yeild to pedestrians. We won’t be corking or blocking traffic, just safely cycling our city.”
August 7th, 2008 at 8:51 am
They need to sort their spelling first. “Yield”
August 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I’d love to see this catch on and supplant CM. Nothing good ever comes from CM.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:51 am
If they’re riding two abreast, they’re going to quickly discover why tempers run so hight at CM. In most cities in N.America, taking the lane (or frankly, being anywhere near where a car might want to go) is like a declaration of war.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Spelling ‘promotes’ properly wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
If they’re riding two abreast, they’re going to quickly discover why tempers run so hight at CM. In most cities in N.America, taking the lane (or frankly, being anywhere near where a car might want to go) is like a declaration of war.
Except that in most jurisdictions, riding two abreast is legal.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Here in San Jose, we are legally allowed to take a lane as a cyclist, but I wouldn’t. I like things that involve being alive. That said…. I’ve always had issues with Critical Mass. Typically, blocking traffic, making people late for whatever and running read lights en mass is not going to make the average driver sympathetic to your cause. It just makes cyclist as a whole look like rude assholes.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Perhaps they could just, um, shut up and ride? Without making a production of it.
Your behavior on your bike is just and only that. Ride and smile, nod and smile.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
this is gonna be awesome when they get honked at, swerved at, sideswiped, and plowed the F over and are obligated by their codes of conduct to simply wave and “be civil”. good luck with that!!!
August 7th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Remember everyone; resistance to the status quo is futile. It is mere coincidence that the most bike-friendly cities in the United States happen to have well-established Critical Mass communities.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:25 am
I wish them luck. CM’s influence in Seattle has been counter-productive, to put it lightly, and it would be nice to see if another, more positive approach would work better.
BTW, I doubt very seriously that CM has ANYTHING to do with a greater acceptance of cycling in any city in which it operates. I have seen, but not participated, in a couple of CM rides in Seattle, and the general atmosphere is a poisonous one, a slim majority of reasonable riders mixed in with a rather large cadre of jerks just itching to provoke anyone who dares to question their “right” to flaunt traffic laws. They’re a mob, nothing more, and their effect on non-cyclists is positively toxic, much to the detriment of the vast majority of cyclists who act like adults. I’m not at all surprised that real advocacy groups go out of their way to distance themselves from CM.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:56 am
It’s good that they’re making a better attempt at sharing the road, which is a two-way street (pun intended).
This seems pretty anti-suburban-hipster-spoiled-piece-of-shit-ish.