Originally Posted by
SeattleShaun
I think it would be really cool if once a year, every CM was organized to precisely follow every road law. Folks would ride 2 abreast and stop for each traffic light.
I would like to hear from some of the anti CM folks after that when they came to realize that the traffic disruption caused by 500+ cyclists riding precisely according to the rules would be far greater than the traffic disruption caused by 500+ riders keeping together en masse.
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Try 5000+ - in San Francisco CM stretches for at least 9 blocks on Market St. If CM stopped at the lights, the entire downtown would collapse. As it is, it takes me 15 minutes to ride from the Ferry Building to the Castro - a major thoroughfare with a bike lane - when I am just riding home and obey the red lights. Critical Mass, stopping at the lights, it would take the better part of an hour. The Mass would now stretch for 30 blocks or so, more sparsely populated but still populated enough to be impassable.
I doubt we could make it happen, but it would be a nightmare. And the net result would be that some motorist, delayed for 45 minutes instead of 5, probably would go off-kilter and take someone out.