Repp5

My wife is always laughing at me when I hand signal for the right turn, asking: "Do you really think the drivers in this town know what you mean?"...

Buffalo is a car town. As a bike commuter in a car town I am painfully aware of how clueless the drivers are here. For the common good and for safety, I want drivers to be aware of our presence and our rights as bicyclists.

On the other hand, this Critical Mass ride may have made the division b/w drivers and bikers wider. While couching their actions under the guise of increasing awareness, they got in the face of the cops and several arrests were made.

Is this the way to get our voice heard? You be the judge.

Click here for THE STORY

bac

This guy ate 3 cycllists and a carbon Trek with Ultegra:

FOG

I am for cyclists' rights, and incidentally for the right to keep and bear arms. I feel that actions like the Critical Masss rides make about as much sense as the NRA asking everyone to bring a shotgun to downtown DC (not an actual event, just a hypothetical) to drive home the RKBA argument. Neither seems designed to accomplish the purpose intended. On the other hand, Hunters for the Hungry, a program to provide meat to the less fortunate, is much better designed to win adherents. Similarly, we should emphasize the benefits of our cycling to the motorists. We should go to planning meetings with pictures showing how a bicycle takes up much less highway sapace than a car. The alternative is for each of us to be in a car, making the other motorists' traveled way more crowded. Critical Mass does not answer the motorist's question- what's in it for me? We would do better to rely on motorists' self-interest rather than their altruism, we will have much more leverage.

MichaelW

Making ******* safe for patriotic drivers.

FOG

This appears oversimplistic and insulting. There is nothing wrong with driving or patriotism, and the use of the spelling ******* appears to be an attempt to link us with organizations with which most of us disagree. If it weren't for the US, you actually would be spelling America with a k because you would be speaking German.

Sailguy

The police are there to keep people safe. If they are making orders it is to keep everyone participating in the event, Critical Mass or otherwise, safe. Disregard for those orders puts everyone in danger, and therefore the police must take action. Are the police to sit by and bark orders and just throw up their hands when nobody listens to those order? No. They need to use force.

My belief after reading this story is that the cyclists were in the wrong. Using methods that disrupt traffic and day-to-day activities to get your message across is selfish and wrong. There are other, far more effective ways. The end goal of cycle advocacy is to have better systems for bicycle transit and increased motorist awareness of cyclists. Motorists will never go away, and no amount of hijacking the streets will make that happen.

The police need to do their jobs. There are not many police officers in any given city, so their job is very difficult. It is important for everyone to work with officers to keep demonstrations trouble-free. For every officer dealing with a disorderly group, there is one less officer able to possibly prevent a serious crime such as **** and/or murder.

Make your points, demonstrate, but do so orderly, and in a manner that allows people to respect your cause. I do not want people to try to run me off the road because of some disrespectful CM ride.

Pete Clark

This makes a lot of sense to me.

McGuillicuddy

Oh please. Stop taking yourself so seriously.

And, strictly speaking, Germany missed it's opportunity to invade England when air superiority could not be established over British skies (see Battle of Britain). Operation Sea Lion was aborted long before the US was dragged into the the war.

McGuillicuddy

Hehe .

I doubt it; you can't get that big on carbon fibre . Had to be a steel-framed bike.

Pete Clark

A bit off-topic, but since you brought it up--

America should actually be offering thanks to the U.K. for standing up to Hitler almost singlehandedly for two years.

Of course, this is inaccurate. Russia stood up to him at the cost of millions of lives, but it would be un-pc to mention that, especially since Stalin made an evil pact with Hitler to plunder eastern Europe. But the common people of Russia paid heavily for Hitler's insanity.

bac

Perhaps, but look @ the publicity/awareness it raised. I certainly wouldn't have known about this event if it weren't for these bikers and their interaction with the police.

One can support the most noble and worthy cause around, but if nobody is listening ... well, what's the point? Sometimes a radical approach is really the only effective means of spreading the word.

Max

I think any community, including cyclists, should have its holiday.

CM is such a holiday. It reminds me the famous 1MAY in Chicago. Perhaps, in 100 years 5JUN will be celebrated as the day when the cyclists stood up for their rights.

I think we should suport our fellow cyclists.

This is the official website of Buffalo:

https://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us

There are plenty of e-mail addresses there. Including mayor's:

amasiello@city-buffalo.com

and council president's:

jpitts@city-buffalo.com

I wrote the e-mail to these officials, where I tried to explain them the CM's noble motives and asked to drop the felony charges.

Pete Clark

My strategy is to show motorists that as a cyclist, I can blend with traffic and cooperate with them just as I do when driving a car. Once they see we can get along smoothly, we work together and all flows nicely. Most importantly, this makes my daily commute safer and more pleasureable.

Critical Mass seems to work exactly the opposite. Yet, public demonstration has its place. Is this the way to get cyclists' voice heard? Some people think so. The squeaky wheel gets the grease (or maybe it gets thrown in jail...)

CM is a public demonstration, not a bike ride. I think that when motorists see my cycling behavior day after day, they judge me by my own behavior, not that of CM.

JRA

Critical Mass is conter-productive and, unless they change their confrontational tactics, I don't think any cyclist should support them. It's anarchy. The inmates are running the asylum.

That's what happens when you have an orgainzation that's not an orgainzation. It works for a while but eventually the radicals define the group. That's what will happen to CM.

Rich Clark

There is a lot wrong with the way automobile ownership has become a religion in the United States, and the "right to drive" it's first article of faith.

There's a lot wrong with the way we defend an activity that kills so many people on a daily basis and contributes so much to the dterioration of our planet.

Dodge has a TV advertising campaign in progress from which this text is taken verbatim:

"Do you want power? 'Get-out-of-my-way-or-I'll-kick-your-butt' power?"

And in our culture, advertising like this is found unobjectionable, even amusing.

Critical Mass's tactics may not be effective, and may even create hostility toward the cause of enstablishing cycling as a legitimate and desirable mode of non-polluting, safe transportation. But let's not kid ourselves that there's a more effective alternative. This is an issue that Americans don't want to hear about, and will respond to with the same hostility that people always feel when their faith is challenged.

RichC

moabrider47

Absolutely not. I see this kind of event as about as counter-productive towards the cause that these people claim to stand for as it gets.

And from a different poster:
The first claim is ridiculous. The majority of these cyclists were not standing up for their rights. If, in their own minds, they were, than they need to get in touch with reality in a serious way. Blockading streets (which other cyclists on the road at the time admit to seeing) is not a way to "blend in" with traffic and raise public awareness of cycling's place on the road. Not to defend the actions of certain irresponsible motorists, but this event gave them yet another reason to be impatient with cyclists. Getting held up from getting somewhere because of a large group of cyclists blocking the road or running lights will only have a negative effect on a motorist's way of thinking regarding cyclists. This was a group of cyclists that not only reinforced the ideas but gave more basis to the complaints of motorists that cyclists block the road and break traffic rules. A large group of riders riding in single file lines and obeying traffic regulations while being polite to motorists and other pedestrians would have had a much more positive effect.

As for the second quote.....
The saying that "any publicity is good publicity" does not hold true here. Imagine yourself as a non-cyclist. After you have finished reading this article, do you have a positive or negative view of cyclists and their rights to their portion of the road? I certainly wouldn't.


This demonstration did nothing productive for a cycling cause that I can think of. While there may have been a few cyclists in the group that had truly meant to improve cycling's reputation, their efforts were destroyed by the acts of members of the group who seemed as though they just wanted to cause trouble. The initial response by the first pair of officers was warranted. From the information gathered by reading the article, the cyclists had been and were in the act of obstructing traffic. When the entire group of cyclists stopped and came back to where the officers were standing with the first two subjects, the officers made the smart decision of calling for more units to respond to the scene. Whether the officers had any reason to fear for their safety at the time or not, they were faced by a large crowd of people who obviously did not agree with their actions. There is no way to tell if the witness accounts (most of which came from cyclists involved in the incident) are biased or not. The overall event, along with stories of other CM rides, seems to be working against the very beliefs that these people claim to stand for. Get a smaller group of riders together and make it your mission to say hello to pedestrians and be models of safe and courtious cyclists. You might not make the paper, but you will have a much more positive effect on the people that you come in contact with. This type of ride might even work - it would simply take better organization, a group of people who really beleive in a cycling-based cause, and an adherance to laws on the part of the cyclists involved. There is obviously a problem with the way that most motorists treat cyclists on the road. Something should be done to draw attention to cyclists' rights. This just isn't the way to do it.
That's my opinion.

-Moab


Edited at 6:53 for grammar.

Mike in KS

i dont think it did much good from what ive read.

now Rich what wrong with a little kick butt power? testosterone drives alot of things even in the biking world how many times have i read about bikers getting a thrill from blowing past others.
I love my old IH Travelall its not as powerfull as some 4x4s out there but its got enough to pull all that metal, our camping gear, my wife, kids, and my self across some places id never try to take a bike. now the bikes might be inside waiting for smoother, more solid ground. ill never give up my binder ill ride my bike so i can afford to drive my polluting, non-safe transportationn where i want. ya know why because i CAN. its not outlawed. and you know what your cars are the end of everything religion inspires those who worship the motorized gods to do? Run the rest of us over......

Now if someone dosent want to own a vehicle, and they can get away with if im glad for them. thats thier right to do want they want, and ill support them, but i wont if they get the attitude that because i drive a ( is it really a suv? i think its to old to fit in that catagory)suv that im to stupid for my own good and they must verbally beat me into the right path. guess what ill scrimp and save to keep going offroading. im most likely going to hell. and im problably doing many other things i shouldnt but as long as its legal i dont forsee any major harm to anyone, i enjoy it. ill do as i please thank you

mechBgon

^ Precisely what he said. If the cycling community wants to begin gaining respect and legitimacy, it begins with the fulfillment of one's duties as a legitimate road user. Be visible, be predictable, be legal, be thoughtful.

That's not to say one must be meek

SamDaBikinMan

This is not the way to get attention that is conducive to the promotion of cyclists rights.

This only makes drivers more irratable.

We could have pink jerseys printed up with a yelow hand on the back giving everyone the finger and it would be less annoying.

Chris L

There is a lot of middle-ground between being meek and the circus that calls itself Critical Mass. The fact is, these sort of controntational tactics are totally pointless. It's not going to achieve cyclists' aims because it doesn't actually present any aims. The only message it sends out is that cyclists hold up traffic and that the bicycle is a toy that doesn't belong on the road. Is this the message we want? Remember that any government that felt like it could ban cyclists from any road they wanted to with a single penstroke.

As others have already said, it's far more effective to simply use the bicycle as transport and show people it's benefits. Showcase the fact that it's faster in traffic than cars, that it's cheaper, that it makes one healthier, that it's safer. Only with this message will people ever seriously consider cycling as an option.

ngateguy

I have to agree with most of the sentiment here about critical mass and how un productive it is however when I read the article in the paper I have to question whether the police didn't get a bit over zealous and turn a bad thing worse. It mentions a woman being arrested who was not part of the ride because she tried to stop the police beating someone. The police should not have come into that situation ready for a fight they should of come in a little less confrontational there are similarities between that and what happened here in Seattle during the WTO a couple of years ago and what went on was not covered by the media the police went overboard they showed un edit videos on the Seattle official cable channel and it was disgusting the way the police got carried away. Some how I don't think that ride needed to turn into a riot and it was the police who took it to that level. Again I am NOT a supporter of the Critical MAss movement and I do think they do more harm than goos I just think that some serious investigation is needed on how the police did their job. We ar not a country that should accept this kind of police violence. Yes the Police do need to do their job, but it just seems they are going to far over the line they are beginning to remind me of a para military force instead of law enforcement.

Max

In Germany the government took the course on including bicycle into non-alternative transportation.

It is the work of Joschka Fischer, Green Party leader. There are 9% per cent of German voters behind him.

This is what CM about.

If we want crumb, we will get crumb. But German cyclists set the target high, and they are getting it.

Repp5, please, keep us informed of what happens to the arrested cyclists. If the felony charges are pressed, we may try to mount more serious support campaign.

FOG

In a lot of ways these things are wll too often "articles of faith" and not subject to openmindedness. Openmindedness is a two-way street, however. You have to examine the details of the arguments for and against your points, including those presented by those in opposition to your points, if you wish to be openminded, and in my opinion being openminded is a prerequisite to asking those who oppose you to be openminded. CM rides do not overwhelm me with an aura of openmindedness.



The automobile has brought both costs and benefits. Before the automobile we were not free to move around as we are now, and lnad pries would be much higher ifland were less accessible. today we drive five or more times as much as we did in the 60's and with less risk and pollution. We do have more congestion, but that may be more due to enivronmentalists' favorite restrictions on new highway and lane construction than to the downsides of automobile transportation. Remeber you need to be able to see the other side of the discussion if you want to ask someone else to change his or her mind.

I didn't buy a Dodge this year, and certainly would not have been more encouraged to buy one based on that ad. However, if you look through the various threads you will see a bicycle ad which shows a king-size bicycle running over a car. It appears that such humor is not limited to Dodge, or powered vehicles.

In my observations mainstream transportation is an article of faith with a small community, the hard core roadbuilders, whereas bicycling, rail transportation, general aviation and motorcycling are far more likely to be articles of faith among their adherents. Further, if it is an article of faith, you need to give someone a reason to convert, not a reason to hunt down the heretics.

FOG

Imposing the will of 9% on everyone else?

Repp5

I heard the District Attorney on the radio this morning. His view is pragmatic- on one side you have the cops who believe they behaved in a proper fashion in the face of a "biker riot", and on the other side you have the bikers, who believed thay were oppressed by "the man", and if anyone was starting a riot it was the police. The D.A.'s view is that both sides are likely exaggerating the issue and that the truth is somewhere in the middle. The case goes to pretrial today. I'll keep you posted...