dougmc

Depends on how you define "CM ride". Just keep in mind that while you may have your definition, others will have theirs, and they may all differ.

But certainly, a police escort does not jive with many people's view of what CM is.

Digital_Cowboy

To me a CM ride is controlled (or not) anarchy and that there is no "leadership" within a CM. So to have the police cork for a CM ride changes it to a permitted parade/group ride.

Bekologist

the police on recent CM rides I've gone on haven't been corking so much as providing a rolling buffer behind, chewing out motorists that start harassing the bicyclists.

They leave the corking to the unofficial marshals of the cavalcade .

TysonC

I apologize for my newbness, but I'm just now learning what Critical Mass is. I'm near Orlando and I just looked up some local CM's on youtube. I gotta say that I just don't understand what sort of positive progress is being made.

I mean, I think that if the riders were complying with traffic control devices and being courteous to motorists that some positive progress would be made. However, this absolute disregard for courtesy or law is just more fuel on the fire. Why upset motorists when you are trying to send a message of bicycle safety awareness.

dougmc

A few points to make ...

1- people ride for different reasons. Trying to say that CM is failing at it's purpose is misleading, because ultimately there is no one purpose. And even if somebody is riding for that one purpose you say they're failing, it may very well be that the people riding for that purpose aren't the ones making it fail -- it's somebody else. The riders are not one cohesive group with one unified goal.

I'm not even sure "bicycle safety awareness" is one of the more popular purposes. I think "it's fun!" would be #1, and #2 would be "the law says we can ride here, but I'm afraid to do so by myself", and maybe #3 would be to remind people that bicycles are on the road too (and even that's more than simple "bicycle safety awareness.)

2- Videos are far more likely to make it onto youtube if they're exceptional somehow. So videos of well behaved rides following all the laws rarely make it up there, but videos of conflicts do. The videos you see are not representative of most rides -- most are fairly tame, and any lawbreaking is relatively minor (riding 3+ abreast, some people will continue to go through red lights after they've changed for a few seconds, etc.)

3- Critical Mass type rides that followed all the laws (to the letter, or other less rigid variations, etc.) have been attempted in many places over the years. In general they start out fairly strong and fizzle out relatively quickly -- people stop coming, probably because it's not fun.

And really, while people like to talk about how great it would be if 500 people rode down the road single file in one lane obeying all the traffic laws and how that would make all the drivers respect them, the reality is that 1) this snarls traffic up even worse than breaking some of the laws (certainly, two or three abreast works better, and strong cases can be made for continuing through red lights in some cases) and 2) it's been tried, and the respect thing doesn't happen. Perhaps a few drivers do, but others are just pissed that you're on their road, and now they're being extra annoying just to spite this one driver.

TysonC

Well, I think you went reaching when you said I used the word "failure", but ok, I'll bite. So the point of CM is not really safety and awareness, its about fun and exercising a lawful privilege, am I right so far?

So about your first point, CM's first priority is fun. That's great! In fact as a simple idea its fantastic. We should all try to live a little. But at what cost? It appears to me that a portion of CM riders find their fun by intentionally provoking or aggravating motorists. That's not cool.

If we're going to say that not all CM riders are like this we also need to say that not all motorists are hostile towards cyclists. Courtesy goes both ways.

Your second point was about exercising a privilege provided by law. Awesome, I believe in exercising all freedoms appointed to us so that big bro can't ever say, "let's take this one away, they're not using it anyways". But again, your freedom ends where my nose begins.

You're saying you want to exercise a lawful privilege but yet so many CM riders break traffic law. This is a logical problem, no?

After reading a lot of posts regarding CM and looking into the local CM gatherings I have to say that in my opinion, CM is an excuse for anarchist behavior. Law enforcement agencies don't have the resources to go after every violator of traffic law and all the riders know that, so they hide in the safety of numbers.

Personally, I think that these types of riders are cowards and can only hurt the public perception of cyclists.

hairnet

I've been to many big CM like rides and many CMs. Very few people are provoking motorists or going out for anarchist behavior. Most of the law breaking includes keeping the group together by running red lights, but the front of the ride always stops at reds. I think with most things, as popularity grows the wrong people start showing up and do lots of other illegal things, this kills the ride while good people try to keep it alive.

Doohickie

I would agree with pretty much all your points, hairnet, except for the last one. I don't necessarily disagree, but since 100 riders is a big CM for us, we just haven't gotten there yet. In Fort Worth, the corkers carry signs saying "Thank you!" and try to be as friendly as they can while the cars are waiting. We stick to one traffic lane as much as possible. It rarely takes more than one change of the traffic light for the group to go through an intersection. Out beyond that, we really have very few people (perhaps none) that go out of their way to do "other illegal things" or antagonize motorists. It's a rolling party that lasts an hour or two that happens once a month.

hairnet

That's how many of the night rides out here are and I love them. Unfortunately, a good few of them, including CM, grew so huge (1000+ riders at times) that things just got out of hand. CM still goes on here but the organizers of the other huge rides have gone on to other things, still other rides are on the rise and I watch the cycle start over.

dougmc

No, you're not. You've glossed over a fundamental but subtle point -- different people ride for different reasons. Fun is a common reason, but it's not *the* reason.

(And sorry, you indeed did not use the word "failure". That was other people ...)

No, I'm not saying I want to exercise a lawful privilege, but I'll bite.

Any logical problem is easily defused by pointing out a simple fact-- so many cyclists break traffic law. Repeatedly and willfully. But it's not just the cyclists -- so many motorists break traffic law. Repeatedly and willfully. And ditto for the pedestrians.

You can quibble about different laws being broken by different groups and some laws being more important than other laws, and there's truth to such arguments -- but ultimately most people are lawbreakers, so singling somebody else out and calling them a lawbreaker for breaking the same class of law that you break (if not the exact same law) is not terribly effective.

(Unless you're one of the few that never breaks the law, of course. I've never met such a person, but I imagine they must exist somewhere.)

This is indeed a popular opinion of those who don't participate. They hear that something bad happened, and of course they can explain it. But the reality is that such reports are the exception rather than the rule -- most of the time, any real anarchist behavior is strongly discouraged by the other riders, as it tends to bring the police and cause problems that most riders don't want.

Coward: a person who shows fear or timidity.

No, I wouldn't use that term. Agree with their goals or not, the CM riders are out there doing something. Fear or timidity would keep them at home, in their cars or on the bike paths far away from the roads.

As for the public perception of cyclists ... could be.

Doohickie

Yeah, hairnet... there are several urban night rides around here; in fact, most nights of the week you can find one or sometimes two. The CM rides are the craziest because the groups are bigger, have more inexperienced cyclists, and one guy tows a ghetto blaster on a trailer to bring our tunes with us. The other night rides are pretty low key in comparison, rarely eclipsing 30 riders.

TysonC

First, let me preface that I understand that very few CM riders are the persons we are referring to as law breakers or those wanting to provoke motorists. However, I believe that a certain element of people use CM as a vehicle to involve themselves in such behavior.
When I say I believe those people to be cowards what I am specifically referring to is those persons who use the mass of riders at CM gatherings to engage in those behaviors and simply disappear into the crowd. What I am NOT saying is that all CM riders engage in the intentional provocation of motorists.

I am not against group rides so long as the riders put forth every effort not to negatively effect the normal flow of usual traffic, whether that be motorist, cyclist, or pedestrian. What I am against unlawful behavior which will provoke motorists and only provide a PR issue with the general motoring public. I understand that there are more honks/waves/etc of support than there are honks/"finger" waving/aggressive behavior. However, on either end of the scale we are not considering the general motoring public that sit in their cars annoyed at the inconvenience created by the CM riders corking.

I mean, c'mon, we all get annoyed when we come up to a rail road crossing and the arms swing down, blocking our way. Trains have every lawful right to block the road and still we get annoyed. But to my knowledge very few people get out of their cars and yell/threaten the train.

I understand that there is a valid argument to saying that corking keeps the riders together and doing so is safer than letting little clumps of riders. I also understand that realistically it may be less of a burden/inconvenience than a mass of riders at every light for several blocks. BUT - its still unlawful and it still annoys the vast majority of motorists. That is not a positive effect.

cppb

I'll state first that I think that in most cases, cycling advocacy is done best through positive interaction and outreach. Also, let me say that when I ride alone or with small groups I follow all traffic laws (with the exception of stop signs when there is a clear view of the crossing road and obviously no one coming).

However, I view CM totally differently. Some of this has been addressed already, but CM is absolutely not (for me) about "exercizing a lawful privilege. I do that whenever I ride my bike. CM is about protesting the fact that my lawful privilege is habitually disregarded by the the motoring public. Sure, conflicts are rare, but I have been driving for years and never been run off the road, never been harassed, never been assualted. On a bike, this happens monthly. I report the worst violators to the police, and nothing is done. I have been passed illegally and honked at in front of police, and nothing is done. Therefore, for me, CM is a political act that says "if I am not protected by the laws, then I will not follow the laws." Positive cycling advocacy requires a mutal respect for the laws, but the fact is that except in extreme cases, those charged with enforcing the laws do not respect those laws that respect us.

Does this make some people mad? Yes. Does any protest that inconveniences people make some people mad? Yes. Does not having CM stop motorists from being angry at us? no.

TysonC

That was very well written, and I definitely see your point. I also feel sorry for you if you're cycling on the streets of Murfreesboro.

cppb

Thank you. I don't really think that Murfreesboro is too bad, and it's easier to point out the negative than the good, but there are definately better places to ride. I think that what makes this city or any other is that we are forced to accept ANY of these illegal behaviors as normal when in a car they are incredibly rare.

I think that this is an important point to make. While I grant that running lights, etc. is illegal, except for those behaviors, a group of cyclists, even a large group, has the right to be in traffic. Yet, when we do so once a month for a few hours we are accused of slowing everyone down, making people late for work, blocking emergency vehicles, and everything else short of causing the sun not to rise. What about the large group of cars that choose to drive through the downtown areas of every major city twice a day, every day, so that they block traffic, make people late for work, block emergency vehicles, and generally ruin everyone's good time? No one yells at them, and I don't see any cyclists running into the middle of intersections and smashing up their cars.

himespau 

So maybe I'm not that bright, but what's corking?

dougmc

Corking described with words.

Or this --



Basically, it's people standing in front of cars to make sure that they don't try to push their way into the mass. It's also one of the more controversial aspects of the mass, and when the police do go after a few riders -- the corkers tend to be the ones they go after (and rightfully so, I'd say.)