This is why I have never supported, and will never support, Critical Mass and that style of adversarial advocacy.
This just happened in Seattle Friday night:
If you go out to prove that cycling is dangerous and motorists are assholes, you can quickly find evidence - they call it confirmation bias. Sounds like this lot were probably hoping something like this would happen. They’ve behaved badly, and done no good to their legitimate cause.
They dont say anything about what was done to the driver. Was he also arrested.
The video is slightly more in depth it sounds like they went a little to far but the driver was an idiot.
I’ve never attended a critical mass, and don’t plan on it. There are too many stories like this.
We’re lucky here in Tucson, we have a big community weekly bike ride every tuesday night. Unlike critical mass, we actually stop at stop lights and only take up one lane. We make an effort to go on roads that aren’t busy and wave cars by if they’re trying to get out of a driveway or trying to turn onto a street.
We’ve had up to 300 people on some of the rides, and we haven’t had a single incident yet (these rides have been going on for a little over a year). The general response we get from cars is actually good; lots of people wave and we get a lot of cheers. I like to think that our tuesday night rides have raised more bicycle awareness and strengthened our cycling comunity more than any critical mass ever will.
Oh, and the footdown is amazing here. 
I’m gonna reserve judgement until I hear both sides of the story.
The driver went to the hospital.
You must not have ever witnessed a critical mass ride. The cyclists are out to intimidate and annoy drivers. They flout the road laws, intentionally block traffic, run lights and stop signs, swarm around cars.
It is no accident that the hole in the rear window is the size of a U-lock. It is no accident that all his tires were slashed and U-lock sized dents made in the body panels.
Some critical mass riders talk amongst themselves about “what if” scenarios if a driver gets aggressive. They make plans to use their U-locks to break windows and dent the car. They make plans to slash the tires. Those actions are pre planned. It is no accident that the driver had that happen to his car. It was planned in advance.
You must work at a place like I do if you have to specify that plans were made “in advance”. Most of my bosses’ plans are retrospective…
I’ve ridden bicycle, tandem, veteran bikes, unicycle, scooter and motorcycle on the road - solo and in small groups. The group mentality can be a dangerous thing if someone starts getting militant. The size of the group gives the hotheads a feeling that they have permission to act badly, then the sheep join in.
An accident happens: someone is clumsy, stupid, lazy, incompetent or just plain unlucky. It happens.
You assault him and damage his property and, however justified you feel at the time, you are committing a serious crime in revenge for his honest mistake.
On the other hand, if someone runs into you maliciously - and it’s happened to me a couple of times - you immediately sacrifice the moral high ground of you retaliate. If you are part of a group that already has a negative stereotype, then you reinforce it and make yourself vulnerable to further injustice.
that’s what I’m thinking…
Here’s another news article on the event. Doesn’t make it look good for the critical mass riders. Just a bunch of punks out to harass and intimidate drivers.
Critical Mass riders attack, injure driver on Capitol Hill
Perhaps the critical mass ride next month will be done under heavy police observation and a big pad of ticket books.
These critical mass jerks just make things worse for proper regular cyclists. All they do is get motorists angry at cyclists.
I admit that I have never witness a Critical mass or met anyone who has been part of one.
The article said the driver went to the hospital but was he charged with anything for taking out two of the cyclists or were the cyclist said to be at fault for that.
This Article makes it seem like the driver was provoked by “bikers who sat on the car and were banging on it.”
Here’s a blog post in response: Critical Mass or Critical Mess?
And here’s a blog post from one of the riders: Critical Mass Collision
There is a bit of a debate going on in the comments.
And more comments in the Cascade Bicycle Club forum. Not everyone is happy about Critical Mass and their actions: “Critical Mass” incident on Friday
The bike that got run over is the same frame that I have from my fixie. Except his bike has been hipstered while mine is still basically stock (drop handlebars, both brakes, etc.).
John, I just realized that this happened in the city you live in (doh). I hope the streets don’t become more dangerous after this incident and you are still able to commute safely.
Based on one of the witness accounts (this one) it seems that it was a case of bikes block cars, car gets fed up and tries to push through, cyclists retaliate. I’ve never heard of such a nasty result of this kind of confrontation, though. The fact that the cars tires were slashed and windows bashed in with u-locks so swiftly kind of indicates that they were prepared for what happened.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court…
I would have done the same thing, except I would have pulled my pistol out from under my seat and let them know I have it.
I don’t defend the actions of the bikers, but the driver no doubt was hostile to begin with. He couldn’t wait a few minutes for the group to pass before tying to pull out of a parking space? So instead he ran down bikes with his car? If he was pulling out of a parking space the speed was extremely low, so hitting a bike with your car is not an accident.
It looks like a case of aggression is retaliated against with more aggression and gets out of hand
P.S. John both your links are to the same blog
From a response to one of the blog entries –
“Critical mass is even worse because it is a community wide flagrant disregard of traffic law, with the expectation that everyone else will obey the rules.” (here, second response)
Apparently they take over the road and illegally block intersections (as they proceed through en masse) for up to five minutes. Maybe cars should form a blockade when they see the bikes approaching. Yeah, that should be safe.
They surrounded a vehicle containing a pregnant woman. I’m sure the driver said something like “get out of our way; we are late for dinner.” He probably received an angry response from the people surrounding his vehicle. He naturally wanted to get himself and his pregnant wife out of harm’s way – because he was surrounded by an angry mob of people who have a history of violence and confrontation. I would have used whatever means necessary to do just that, once the situation escalated high enough. Car vs. bike shouldn’t be a problem (granted, it would be a bumpy ride).
And the Critical Mass people say how unfortunate it is that the media (and police report) “got it wrong” and biased everything against the cyclists. It’s incredible how the mind can justify one’s own behavior (speeders have this same twisted mentality). Maybe it’s a facility we borrow from when we are dreaming (we don’t seem to question bizarre events).
ok i see both side but i have know too many people that have died bucuze the of drivers who don’t think about who else is out there on the roads (my buddy was crossing the street at a fourway stop got smashed and died he was the smartest person i have ever known he was out the change the world. he followed all the rules of the road but some asshole in a car was to lazy to think there are bikes on the roads. if drivers have to be sacred of cyclist for use to get respect so be it. now what they did surrounding the car was polly ment to keep him from back out in to the other riders they call it corking
we need change, change in never peaceful
I’m sorry, but please please please try to write with better grammar and spelling, especially on debate threads.
Call if unfair, biased, elitist, stupid, whatever…but the fact remains that if your ideas are written well, they will be more well respected.
Regarding your ideas:
To an extent I agree with you. It’s as if people are always yielding (literally and figuratively) to motorists. Motorists do NOT respect cyclists. Although violence is NOT and never will be the ultimate answer, these critical mass rides demonstrate the reaction of this disrespect by motorists. It’s a demonstration of “Hey motorists! We’re pissed! Start paying attention and stop hitting us!” Although I do NOT agree with some “masser’s” escalation to violence, I do support Critical Mass rides, specifically because they are disruptive to motorists.
Quietly trying to gain respect will never happen. You’ve gotta take an in-your-face stance, but refrain from escalation to violence.
In this specific instance, I think that surrounding a vehicle, especially a man with his wife in the vehicle, was asking for a physical confrontation. The man must’ve felt trapped, and was concerned about the safety of his family. In such an instance, a man is much more likely to break laws and bones in the interest of escaping the dangerous situation.
Ultimately, the person(s) who escalated the confrontation to physical violence first is in the wrong, be it the motorist or cyclist(s).
As a motorist, I resent that remark.
Motorists are people. Some of them are people who ride bicycles or unicycles. Some aren’t. Some are careful and skilled drivers; some are skilled but careless drivers; some are careful but unskilled drivers; some are careless and unskilled.
Only a small number are sufficiently hostile towards cyclists to risk damaging their cars, or losing their licence and incurring other penalties by deliberately provoking a collision.
Many cyclists ride with a complete disregard for traffic laws. Not all, but many. In the UK at present, I’d say it’s well over 50%.
Several times as a motorist, I have saved the lives of cyclists by making allowances for their bad riding, by conceding right of way, by covering their backs when they make difficult manoeuvres and so on.
Several times as a cyclist, I have had to take evasive action because a motorist didn’t see me.
As a cyclist, on a designated cycle route, I was once put in hospital by a pedestrian who stepped into my path without looking.
On all forms of transport from walking to unicycle to bicycle to motorbike to car, I have had aggressive road users deliberately try to run me off the road.
The problem isn’t motorists, it’s people - whatever their means of transport.
But making sweepingly hostile statements about motorists is unfair and counterproductive.
Whether you’re twisted or not, let’s find commonality here!
i like what Dave said about the twisted mentality.
Wow…
What I don’t understand is why these protests, or whatever they are, have to turn violent… Personally, I kinda like that one bald dude’s ideas on protesting.