Seattle Critical Mass Gets Ugly
According to an article in the Seattle Times, violence broke out at this past Friday’s Critical Mass ride. Witnesses say the motorist struck several cyclists, which incited the crowd to damage the vehicle. Furthermore, the driver ended up getting punched in the face and smashed in the back of the head with a U-lock.
The Stranger, a Seattle newsweekly, reports from the driver’s perspective, “They wouldn’t let me move even after the rest of the bikes went by,” he says, adding that he started to panic when cyclists began tugging on his side mirrors and he heard someone say “let’s tip the car.”
Read more on The Stranger’s website.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:58 am
This is the kind of thing that gives bikers a bad rap. I don’t care who started the confrontation, it should never have escalated. FOR SHAME Seattle…FOR SHAME.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
here, let’s let the motorists give themselves even *more* of a bad rap, instead:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
http://www.youtube.com/v/VOyYKEEFmsI
July 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Criminal Mass are just idealists that never grew up, even the ones who are long out of college and should have left meaningless protest behind. Bottom line is that they can certainly ride alone, or en masse, whenever they want; but when they deliberately act to impede the progress of other road users they are breaking laws, and should be held accountable. I have ridden bikes in traffic here and in other large cities; I accept that it is dangerous and can be frustrating when other vehicle users are not considerate, or even aware, of cyclists - BUT THAT IS LIFE, YOU DON’t ALWAYS GET YOUR WAY! Seems to me they want it both ways - don’t let motorized traffic inconvenience cyclists, but ignore the rules of the road when it suits.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
NYC Critical Mass got ugly on Friday too. Did you see the video?
<a href=”http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ&eurl=http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10001149-93.html”
August 4th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I understand bikes are considered vehicles given that you should show the exact same courtesy that you would expect and demand a driver to show for you. If you were to sit on the hood of my car you could expect to be going for a little ride as well. I love riding and it’s a damn shame that these attention whores give responsible riders a bad rap and on top of that probably provoke a few drivers to act irresponsibly and unsafely to the general biking community.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Ride Civil has organized a monthly ride as an alternative to Critical Mass. The next ride is this Friday (08/08/08) beginning at 5:30 from Westlake Center.
Information is at Ride Civil at http://seattle.ridecivil.org .
There is a Facebook group as well at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33421667813 .
Join up and join the ride too.
Best,
Andrew