This was a Critical Mass event, which is why the bicyclists are taking up all of the street as a way to reclaim the streets and protest the lack of safety for riders under usual conditions. It’s not legal, but protests are never useful if they’re fully legal now, are they.
And recording while driving…
Can’t see it; “failed to load media”.
lots of people in this thread that don’t understand how protests work.
Idiots in cars, idiots on bikes. Hell yeah I’m pro bikes but setting a wheel on incoming lane? Yeaah… no thanks, I’m fine
In the bike party near me, we take over the traffic lane but not the oncoming lane.
Maybe that’s why bike party split off from critical mass
Protesting the lack of safety for riders by being unsafe riders? I don’t think the best way to convince the public that cyclists can be safely integrated into traffic is to purposefully create dangerous situations.
Ah yes, the inevitable “protests should only happen when it’s convenient for everyone and 100% approved by the authorities” comment.
Funny how it’s a problem when cyclists start acting like drivers
What is the best way?
Imo it looks remarkably safe as long as we ignore the person in the car driving into oncoming traffic.
No but see youre responsible for all the actions of people who want to kill you.
With her smartphone out, recording.
The bikes in the oncoming lane are safe? C’mon what kind of joke. Blocking streets is one thing but they’re actually moving forward straight on in oncoming traffic, in what world is that safe?
It doesn’t matter if a protest is legal. The word you’re looking for is “non violent”
This looks like Miami. If it is… critical mass usually has a police force in the loop they do usually to stop people driving right through the crowd. The loop is posted online about a week before and there is always police presence
Probably LA? Looks similar but police less likely to beat the shit out of white people on bicycles
This will make people hate bicyclists more than they already do. Maybe the bicyclists should be more weary of a 2 ton vehicle and safeguard their own lives. And stay on bike paths. And the bike lanes.
One thing I hate is when there’s a dedicated bike lane/path and the bicyclists are driving in the middle of the road instead with the 2 ton+ vehicles and then wonder why people hate them.
Maybe the bikers should be as considerate as the drivers.
Too bad for those losers who hate bicyclists I guess. They are trash people anyway
This is a CM?
I have never been to a CM with oncoming lane blocked (or in this case - not really blocked).
Also where are the corkers?
This is how cyclists feel when they are surrounded by cars on busy roads because the cycling infrastructure is shit.
Except, cyclists can’t kill people in cars with their bike.
So, lady, imagine our frustration.
Edit: spelling 🤦♂️
This gives me an idea. How about every bike gets retrofitted with a large titanium hook. The idea is that if you hit my bike, your car is pretty much totaled. Not just that but if you really hit me, the hook passes thru the radiator, thru the firewall and into the drivers asshole.
Put a little LED light on it as a warning beacon.
Maybe they could make the trucks bigger and more armored to compensate?
The all new 2026 Ford fackarator 350! With pedestrian slicer adapter and bicyclist impaler adapter! Slicer and impaler sold separately with $5000 memorial day discount!
A tactical pool noodle with a very abrasive end should do the trick.
How about they take this up with the officials who can actually make a difference in bike safety and quit making life worse for people who just want to get home?
Go bike around City Hall if you want to “raise awareness.” All you’re doing here is pissing people off.
People who are downvoting literally never leave their house. You are entirely correct. This is an issue of local policy, and that is something that can actually be changed by individuals choosing to be more active in their local politics. It just requires some organization and a coordinated political effort.
Cycling down the street will not only not achieve anything, but it’s also putting both drivers and cyclists in danger. If an accident does happen, it’s not going to be pinned on the driver because they didn’t do anything wrong. Instead, whatever these cyclists were trying to achieve is going to be scrutinized due to their recklessness.
Nah… the asshole driver could literally have waited 30 seconds…
You don’t know what you’re talking about… sorry mate
Trying to pin this on just one group of people won’t ever achieve anything. The whole point is to raise awareness and possibly have some fun while doing it. That woman who brazenly ignored the cops and recorded it on her phone while driving? Totally oblivious asshole who missed the entire point.
The entire name “critical mass” is based on the thinking that if there are enough cyclists on the road at once, then drivers wouldnt dare to drive through them. They organize with the city (a date and path are set and publicized) to force their bike traffic through town with the ultimate goal of trying to improve safety for cyclists.
Interestingly enough, your entire argument can be wrapped up with a bow that neatly provides justification for their protest. That is some special kind of woosh.
They organize with the city (a date and path are set and publicized) to force their bike traffic through town with the ultimate goal of trying to improve safety for cyclists.
A big part of the problem is that they DON’T do this. If they did then people can plan ahead of time to avoid running into them, and way less people would be annoyed with them. But that’s not how they operate, these events aren’t protests because they’re so disorganized. There’s no leadership, no organization, nothing. They also don’t give any notification to locals, law enforcement, the media, or their local governments. This why they’re considered dangerous, it’s because this disorganization puts the cyclists and drivers in harm’s way.
Most people who run into them, like the woman in the video, do so without prior warning. They’re just going about their day when they’re met with a mob of cyclists who are ignoring the established safety laws and blocking traffic. You have no idea where they came from or where they’re going. Their unpredictable. Yes, this woman filming and driving is being reckless, but she’s not the only one in the video who is.
Too bad I guess. Drivers need to learn to share the road.
Pull over. Wait thirty seconds. Pretty simple
You complain about one day of bikes being disorganized jerks in one place but you fail to reflect on how the automobile has utterly dominated the structure of all cities and urban areas. I think one is far more disruptive than the other and you’re focusing on the wrong.
How brain dead does a person have to be to see an entire parade in front of them and think, “this can’t be some organized event, I must just be able to drive right through here!” Main character syndrome. Or more likely, a sociopath just looking to murder someone.
Here’s an idea. Find another fucking route. They plan these events, publish the routes in advance, have a police presence there, and place them in areas where they won’t cut off people’s only means of getting somewhere.
Do you ever find yourself in this situation? Here’s how to handle it without being a fucking moron:
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Pull off the road.
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Pull out your phone.
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Google “<your city>” critical mass route <today’s date.>"
Is that really that hard? Or are you someone who is so concrete sequential that you have one and only one route you can drive, and any other route home will break your mind? What if a sink hole opened up on the road you normally take home. Would you just blindly drive right into it because you this is the route you take home, and damn it if you’re going to let anything stop you?
You have a very poor understanding of how these critical masses work, they do NOT function like normal protests, at least in the US.
Most critical masses of cyclists are intentionally made to be spontaneous, barely organized, and they do not give prior warning to locals (through the local media or such), the government, or even the police. The whole point of the intentional disorganization to escape the authorities when they eventually come in to restore order. The reason why they’re called “critical masses” to begin with is because large turnouts is the only requirements of these events. There is no organization or leaders or hierarchy or anything to hold accountable.
So what happens is unsuspecting locals going on about their day get met with a mob of cyclists who are blocking traffic, ignoring any and all established safety laws, and disrupting the flow of the city. The people who do come across them don’t know where they came from, where they’re headed, or what they’re going to do next.
That’s why you can’t “go around them” like you’re suggesting. You’re basically trapped in your car until they go away. These events put the cyclists in danger and they put the drivers in danger. That’s why they’re considered dangerous. If they functioned like how you imagined they functioned, then way less people would have an issue with them.
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“Dangerous to drivers”
Because you’re going to give yourself an aneurysm over a minor inconvenience? You’re in a giant suit of armor. You could hit every single one of those cyclists without sustaining even a scratch.
If the cyclists were actually dangerous to drivers, do you think the diver would be accelerating aggressively towards them?
Whenever I’ve been on a Critical Mass ride, we’ve always had designated “corkers”, people whose job it was to block traffic with blockading/dancing/whatever while the others continued onward. Without people doing that, you run the risk of this sort of carbrained nonsense.
Something else that happened on mine was that as soon as we hear sirens, we drop the mass protest and prioritize making a path for emergency vehicles to get through.
Idk about the usa but here in europe its EXPLICITLY written into the drivers code that even if someone is driving illegaly if its in your power to stop an accident you have to. So if a person steps in front of you randomly and you have half a second to react thats usually not your fault BUT if you for example saw that there was a school bus dropping kids off and then you hit a child running across the road theres a large chance that theyre gonna charge you. Of course in europe you have to put like 30 hours into theory and then a lot of driving lessons to get a license while in the usa you basically get a drivers license instantly and nobody gives a fuck so thats why people dont know the rules…
To add, in the Netherlands, known for it’s stellar bike infrastructure it’s exactly with actions like this that they reclaimed their cities from being purely car oriented.
That’s also because bike usage is encoded in legislation.
If you hit a cyclist with a car you are almost always considered liable. It needs a lot of proof to prove that is the cyclists fault.
Guess what, that makes people very careful around bikes.
The US license comes with the troop loops.
