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Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 8:25:49 AM   
Evility


Posts: 915
Joined: 12/19/2007
Status: offline 		Sounds like a friendly group of cycling enthusiasts, doesn't it?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008074874_webcriticalmass26m.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/424949.html

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/unwind/story.html?id=68dc9fe9-5a22-4dc0-85f7-12f3db41e065

http://seattlest.com/2008/07/26/media_no_one_is_safe_from_rampaging.php

I am all for the rights of cyclists, pedestrians and anyone else who wants or needs to use the road. How many folks think incidents like this (and reportedly this is not an isolated case - just a more extreme example) are just going to put bullseyes on the back of cyclists?
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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 8:35:52 AM   
slaveboyforyou


Posts: 3607
Joined: 1/6/2005
From: Arkansas, U.S.A.
Status: offline 		Wow, I've never heard of  Critical Mass.  Militant cyclists.....that's just too fucking funny.  What a bunch of tools. 

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 9:20:21 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		damaging property is going to far. terrorizing people is going to far.

tho i can relate to the cyclers as when in conflict with a car- the car wins....  

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 9:30:42 AM   
Sanity


Posts: 22039
Joined: 6/14/2006
From: Nampa, Idaho USA
Status: offline 		They'll piss off the wrong person one day. 

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 9:58:37 AM   
happypervert


Posts: 2203
Joined: 5/11/2004
From: Scranton, PA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou

Wow, I've never heard of  Critical Mass.  Militant cyclists.....that's just too fucking funny.  What a bunch of tools. 


You ought to try riding a bike so you'd have a clue. Down in your neck of the woods, the bubbas in their pick up trucks would run you off the road or use you for target practice for their empty beer cans just like they did with Lance Armstrong around Austin. In urban areas cars will pull out in front of you or cut you off as if you don't exist, and when you have knuckleheads behind the wheel who are susceptible to road rage, cyclists can end up as an inviting target for their aggression.

So after having their lives threatened by idiot drivers all the time, these critical mass rides get organized as a way to raise awareness so drivers might be less likely to fuck with them. Sounds to me like this driver was in a hurry and decided to fuck with them on the wrong day; maybe this incident will help him pull his head out of his ass.




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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 9:58:42 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		some states tho- namely in the west.. the car MUST yield...even if the other is not in official designated cross walk- way..etc.

I personally would not do this. Like you say the worng person one day. There are a ton of people walking around ready to burst in rage.  So I agree with you there.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 11:25:35 AM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		Now if I was driving behind this little fellow I’d have to get up close just to find out what that curious little sign said.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 11:28:14 AM   
DomKen


Posts: 19457
Joined: 7/4/2004
From: Chicago, IL
Status: offline 		I worked as a bike messenger during summers while I was in college and until you've ridden a bike in an urban setting you probably wouldn't see the groups point. Just try being a law abiding cyclist. That means riding in the street and obeying traffic laws. Which means getting pulled out in front of, having people opening car doors in front of you and generally being either ignored or treated as if you shouldn't be on the road. Guy did a U turn across 3 lanes of traffic while I was entering the left turn lane so I wound up on his car's hood and he got out and started hitting me. Only thing that stopped me getting hurt worse than I already was was the traffic aide from the intersection ran up and threatened to spray the guy with pepper spray. Guy got a ticket for an illegal u turn but the cop wouldn't treat it as a vehicle accident even though that is what his supervisor on the radio told him to do. So I never got the drivers insurance info and had to fix my bike and pay my medical insurance deductaples and co pay myself. The cop was supposedly sent to accident investigation class for a refresher but that didn't do me much good.

From reading the story linked to by the OP it sounds an awful lot like the car tried to pull out into the group of cyclists which is of course not permitted. Whether anyone got hurt or not by this guy expecting the bikers to yield when he'd never make that assumption about cars is immaterial, it was a reckless act that very well could have injured someone. That he then drove into other bikers just compounded the situation. I'm sorry the guy got hurt but it sure sounds like he instigated the whole incident.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 11:30:17 AM   
slaveboyforyou


Posts: 3607
Joined: 1/6/2005
From: Arkansas, U.S.A.
Status: offline
quote:

You ought to try riding a bike so you'd have a clue. Down in your neck of the woods, the bubbas in their pick up trucks would run you off the road or use you for target practice for their empty beer cans just like they did with Lance Armstrong around Austin. In urban areas cars will pull out in front of you or cut you off as if you don't exist, and when you have knuckleheads behind the wheel who are susceptible to road rage, cyclists can end up as an inviting target for their aggression.


I have ridden a bike; in fact I started doing it around the age of 5.  I see people riding bikes around "my neck of the woods" all the time, and no one is throwing beer cans at them.   Yes drivers often ignore cyclists, and they often ignore pedestrians.  But I don't often hear about any mobs of cyclists and pedestrians yanking a guy out of his car and throwing a beat down on him.  If that'd been me, the little assholes that sat on my car would have been taken for a very scary ride. 

quote:

So after having their lives threatened by idiot drivers all the time, these critical mass rides get organized as a way to raise awareness so drivers might be less likely to fuck with them. Sounds to me like this driver was in a hurry and decided to fuck with them on the wrong day; maybe this incident will help him pull his head out of his ass. 


It sounds to me like these jerk-offs were riding around town looking for a fight, and they got pissed about some guy backing his car out into the street while they rode by.  So they picked him to vent their frustrations out on.  Like I said, if it had been me the assholes would have went for a nice ride on the hood of my truck.  Everyone wants to pretend they're victims now a days, and it seems like bicyclists are just the latest group of pussies looking for victimhood status. 

(in reply to happypervert)
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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 11:46:48 AM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline 		http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwla6QlB-Y8&feature=related



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Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 12:27:19 PM   
ownedgirlie


Posts: 9184
Joined: 2/5/2006
Status: offline 		Critical Mass made the news in San Francisco awhile back, by blocking the streets to traffic.  It didn't go over well.  The message was to "share the road"  because drivers seem to forget there are things like bike lanes that...you know....bike riders want to ride in safely.  The Critical Mass group pissed off a lot of people.  Whether or not they made a difference, I don't know, since I don't bike ride in SF.  They certainly brought awareness, though.  Maybe they could have done it better.  I'm not much of an advocate for disrupting people's lives to make a point.  Hey wouldn't this fall under the scope of "the drivers didn't consent to have their day disrupted?" 

(That last part was tongue-in-cheek since I'm not a big fan of needing universal consent for every flippin' thing people do).

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 1:25:44 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		minus this group- there IS a contempt toward bikes on the road. I have had more trouble in a suburban area then a small town when being a non motorist.

the group should use a different tactic as I doubt many are won over.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 1:35:46 PM   
Evility


Posts: 915
Joined: 12/19/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy
The group should use a different tactic as I doubt many are won over.


That was the point of my post. I sympathize with bicyclists and try to be as cognizant of them as I possibly can but when I read about incidents like the one in Seattle it takes a little more effort to do so.



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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 1:43:51 PM   
slaveluci


Posts: 4294
Joined: 3/2/2007
From: Little Rock, AR
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
I have ridden a bike; in fact I started doing it around the age of 5.  I see people riding bikes around "my neck of the woods" all the time, and no one is throwing beer cans at them.  

Come on, slaveboy, admit it.  Everyone here in our "neck of the woods" is a pissed-off Bubba (or Bubbette, in my case) driving a pick-up and just looking to run some pansy-ass, fruity bicycle rider off the road for sport.  I know I personally throw beer cans at 'em daily. 

Sounds like the one telling you to get a clue needs to get a few himself.  What a foolish stereotype..................luci

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 3:04:35 PM   
DesFIP


Posts: 25191
Joined: 11/25/2007
From: Apple County NY
Status: offline 		Here all wheeled vehicles and horses have the same rights to the road. It's a little weird coming around a corner and having four people on those wheeled skis and poles ahead of you. Ususally they pull over to let cars get by.

By when there are bike races, roads are closed off except for local traffic and they post signs ahead of time. They don't just let them go where they want, doing whatever they want. Seems to me they need more police presence to make it safe for pedestrians not to run over as well as to break every 40 bicyclists to allow people to enter and exit the road. Of course they'll need to pay for that, the way automobiles pay.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 3:33:02 PM   
Thadius


Posts: 5091
Joined: 10/11/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveluci

quote:

ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
I have ridden a bike; in fact I started doing it around the age of 5.  I see people riding bikes around "my neck of the woods" all the time, and no one is throwing beer cans at them.  

Come on, slaveboy, admit it.  Everyone here in our "neck of the woods" is a pissed-off Bubba (or Bubbette, in my case) driving a pick-up and just looking to run some pansy-ass, fruity bicycle rider off the road for sport.  I know I personally throw beer cans at 'em daily. 

Sounds like the one telling you to get a clue needs to get a few himself.  What a foolish stereotype..................luci


The trick is to not hit them with the truck... getting mud and branch scratches is one thing, getting blood and bike scratches is another.  To save my self a little effort, I got one of those arms off a school bus, and replaced the stop sign with a baseball bat.

Seriously though, each city (chapter) has a different purpose for their rides, some are for safety and awareness, some are anti-oil consuming vehicles.  I have developed a special awareness of cyclist on the road, after all the years driving in Chicago, I realized that most of the bike messengers border on being either psychotic or suicidal, it is probably an instinctive thing so they can survive amongst the insane cab drivers.

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When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." ~ Japanese Proverb

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 6:07:01 PM   
DomKen


Posts: 19457
Joined: 7/4/2004
From: Chicago, IL
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Thadius
after all the years driving in Chicago, I realized that most of the bike messengers border on being either psychotic or suicidal, it is probably an instinctive thing so they can survive amongst the insane cab drivers.

Mostly it was just young guys who wanted to make a living. It was hard work in dangerous conditions. Cabbies weren't usually the problem. The rule of thumb was the more expensive the car was the more likely the driver would do something likely to get you hurt. That and avoid CTA buses at all costs. The bus drivers must have had a bounty on bikes.

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 6:11:34 PM   
Thadius


Posts: 5091
Joined: 10/11/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

quote:

ORIGINAL: Thadius
after all the years driving in Chicago, I realized that most of the bike messengers border on being either psychotic or suicidal, it is probably an instinctive thing so they can survive amongst the insane cab drivers.

Mostly it was just young guys who wanted to make a living. It was hard work in dangerous conditions. Cabbies weren't usually the problem. The rule of thumb was the more expensive the car was the more likely the driver would do something likely to get you hurt. That and avoid CTA buses at all costs. The bus drivers must have had a bounty on bikes.


I can believe that about the CTA drivers, my father retired as a mechanic for the CTA and the stories were pretty disturbing.  I did a little courier work for extra cash, and when they asked me about doing bike deliveries, I let them know that they couldn't pay me enough.

_____________________________

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." ~ Japanese Proverb

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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 6:18:17 PM   
MissIsis


Posts: 473
Joined: 1/1/2005
Status: offline 		WOW!!! And I thought these Chicago drivers here were bad!

It would be really nice if the powers that be really wanted to help make alternative transportation a bigger reality.  I don't ride a bike these days, but I might think about it, if I felt a little safer & didn't have such a long commute.  Bike Riders really shouldn't be sharing the road with cars that weigh so much more than the bikes they are riding, & with vehicles that are traveling so much faster than they can be going.  Cities could help by making bike lanes and walking lanes a priority.  They seem to find enough money for enough of their other pet projects.  I am sure they could figure out something. Maybe set aside certain roads just for bicyclists & others for drivers, if they can't build bike & pedestrian routes.  With as close as the streets are in Chicago & other major cities, how difficult could that really be? 

And why not, when they are doing major renovations on our highways spend just a little more to make a safe bike route that follows besides the highways.  Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has what I think are the most wonderful roads outside the highway.  I forgot what they called them, but I loved using them.  Hardly any traffic & I could still follow the most direct route to get where I wanted to go. 

(in reply to DomKen)
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RE: Critical Mass - 7/27/2008 6:19:46 PM   
Vendaval


Posts: 10297
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline 		What a mess!  I think that both the car driver and some of the cyclists were at fault.  Hopefully someone taped the incident.
 
Around here, you do well to brake for livestock and wildlife, bicyclists and skateboarders.

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So in this gray haze we'll be meating again, and on that
great day, I will tease you all the same."
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