A few observations:

1. That’s a fuck-ton of distance for 150 cars.
2. “One more lane, bro” wouldn’t make a goddamn difference.
3. We really need bike lanes… on every road.

They should be killing him on sight, but instead, they are sucking his dick and thanking him for it!

War criminal visits with child rapist, and everybody is cool with that. What a timeline!

Fake news, fake reality, fake President. There’s a pattern.

He’s still a rapist who was knowingly involved with a pedophile and human trafficking ring.

Then why did you bring up the pride parade?

It was sarcasm… you’re comparing regular traffic rules during regular traffic to a large protest, and expecting that everyone will be following the same rules. It’s just not reality.

Many bikers break laws about where to cross or how to handle intersections and are just ignored all the time.

See, that’s where the problem is.

Cyclists and pedestrians are unfairly expected to act like multi-ton vehicles. They are not, and should not, have the same rules.

For instance, cyclists should be using the Idaho Stop (meaning: treat red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs) because it’s SAFER, more efficient, and improves traffic flow.

Pedestrians shouldn’t be forced to cross roads only at crosswalks. “Jaywalking” is some BS nonsense made up to make pedestrians look like the bad guys. People don’t need the same rules as heavy machinery travelling at 10-20x their speed.

There are studies showing that when cyclists “break the rules”, it’s often for safety. Motorists do not, and cannot, make the same excuse.

Do these people not know about side streets or bike paths or anything else? There are places to bike outside of traffic.

Discrimination. Cyclists and pedestrians should not be forced to go somewhere else, because of cars.

On the flip side, if a motorist sees thousands of cyclists taking up the street, they should detour someplace else. It’s only fair. /s

So the only way to show people that bikers exist is by massively disrupting traffic and causing safety issues?

Yes. As with any other protest, you have greater impact with greater numbers. This brings greater safety, too. “Disrupting traffic” is funny… does the movement of people only matter if they are in cars? What about the thousands of cyclists who were in constant motion, not creating their own congestion or being slowed down? Motorists can only dream of that kind of efficiency.

That’s how people-first transportation infrastructure works, BTW. As a society, we should strive for this level of people-moving infrastructure.

Or it shows the government that bikers don’t listen to traffic laws and do whatever they want.

There is no evidence of that. On the contrary, I’ve seen local representatives join in these unplanned group rides 🤭

See, this has been going on for 35 years and the only thing you can point at is maybe it might have possible sped up some cycling infrastructure. Maybe. Yah, that’s not a lot of progress for 35 years of this nonsense.

Hmm. Except for the fact that cities who host these events have been getting infrastructure upgrades, often at a faster pace. It puts pressure on local governments to act. These cyclists are voters, too, and they know it.

This is just wild… People need traffic rules. Have you ever been in a large crowded city? Do you know all the foot TRAFFIC rules? There is literally a section of code on just this. And yes, cars exist, but what do you propose to avoid needing these rules, have no cars at all? That’s absurd. Look at rural areas and tell me how that works.

Oh man. Have you ever seen traffic rules in a crowded mall? What about at a large venue event? Have you ever been to a very busy city where cars are blocked from access to certain roads? No traffic rules for pedestrians, because pedestrians aren’t hurling by at 100km/h pushing 2000lbs of metal around.

Traffic rules are there because of cars.

If you look at any laws where a pedestrian could get a fine for “breaking the rules”, it’s nearly always because they are “breaking rules” designed specifically because of cars!

No, I would prefer they don’t disrupt an entire city for some performance that has gone on for 35 years with nothing to show for it. It’s just an excuse to protest and “stick it to the drivers.”

It sounds like you just don’t want them to be able to protest.

Protests around the world happen all the time. Not just a few thousand people, but sometimes hundreds of thousands or more.

Even pedestrians do the same, for the same reasons, in “Reclaim the streets” protests.

Ok, now imagine you are late to pick up a family member from the hospital, or you’re going to miss an interview, or a million other things.

My dude, these things happen IN REGULAR CAR TRAFFIC, on a daily basis. In fact, because of car traffic congestion, even pedestrians who have nothing to do with driving, are inconvenienced and delayed. Not fair, is it?

There is no time/place for a protest that would work well for everyone. By their very nature, this is why they are effective.

But I will say that emergency vehicles are never blocked by these protests, or any protest that I’ve ever witnessed. I have seen regular traffic block fire trucks, though.

If someone hates cyclists for doing something like this they must be a bigot and racist?

I’m saying that the same intolerance towards a minority group of cyclists often spills into other groups.

You can hate that a protest is inconveniencing your drive home from work, but to hate a person for exercising their right to protest for better road safety is very much in the same vein as bigotry.

You’ve decided that drivers are the enemy and so now they suddenly don’t matter at all.

I am a driver. I have been inconvenienced by other people’s protests. I’ve never once said I’ve hated a person for protesting for their right to safety, better working conditions, equal pay, or a host of other societal problems that should be challenged.

You can be pro-animal rights and think that what an animal rights group does is wrong.

Absolutely. I’ve been part of animal rights protests, and have been critical of the approach that some AR groups take.

But I don’t think the feeling of HATING a protester has ever crossed my mind at all. Unless they were a Nazi. I’m fine with hating Nazis.

edit: grammar

Argh… my browser crashed as I had almost finished my reply. 😱

I’ll condense my points:

Looking into criticall mass is says “These events are spontaneous and unpermitted.”

Yes, it’s a protest. Just like with protests involving pedestrians, the streets get filled and people “ignore the rules”.

Lol, so cops should just mail tickets to people randomly? You have to catch someone committing a crime to charge them with it. That’s how the law works…

To this point, let me expand on what I mean.

The absence of a ticket does not mean the behaviour doesn’t exist. There are a LOT of motorists who run reds, ignore stop signs, drive over the speed limit, don’t use signals, make illegal turns, park illegally, drive while intoxicated, etc. More than you’d think.

If you set up automated speed cameras, red light cameras, DUI checkpoints, and school zone blitzes, suddenly you realize that it’s more than just a few drivers behaving badly. And that’s during normal traffic, not during a protest.

If it’s not pointless, please show me the changes it has pushed or championed. I would love to know all the good work that came from CM aside from performative protesting.

It’s hard to quantify, because this form of protest operates on many levels:

1. It gets a large number of cyclists together, making riding safer than as individuals. It also gets people who were too afraid to cycle around traffic a safe space to ride.
2. The visual of a large group brings attention to the needs of cyclists. “Nobody rides a bike” NIMBYs take note when these events happen.
3. It puts pressures on municipal governments to take notice of the demand for safer cycling infrastructure. Some would argue that Critical Mass events are what sped up the development of cycling infrastructure around the world.

Yah, so they can safely ignore all traffic rules and literally break laws to put on this show. Laws meant to keep people safe. You realize that right?

As with other protests, this is normal. And those traffic rules… are only there because cars make public spaces unsafe. People don’t need traffic rules.

They are not only unsafely trying to control traffic, they are causing mass congestion

On the flip side, would you prefer that every single cyclist in that group STOP at every single red light and stop sign? I’m a massive fan of that type of malicious compliance, so I’d be OK with that, too.

I mean take a step back and look at this from a normal persons point of view, someone who is not an avid cyclist. This doesn’t make me think they need more safety or protection; this makes me think they are reckless and a nuisance. This does nothing but make drivers hate bikers more, this doesn’t change minds, at all.

Man, I don’t even know what to say.

When I see protests, even when I don’t know the motivations or goals, I still respect and value the right to protest.

And if someone “hates cyclists” because of a protest like Critical Mass, they probably hate black people, gays, Palestinians, workers, the disabled, unions, First Nations, environmentalists, animal rights, and other groups of people who deserve to be heard and seen through public protests.

Cool, as they pass drivers. Did you see them drive en masse the wrong way through red lights? Come on, you know you haven’t. You know how dangerous it is. This is so dishonest.

Are there bad drivers, yes. But no where, in any city, are drivers doing what these bikers did. Taking up the entire road to drive the wrong way as dozens of them go through red lights.

You do realize that this was a Critical Mass event, right?

In that context, YES, I’ve seen cars in large groups going through red lights and driving the wrong way during similar events. In fact, just this past weekend, I saw numerous cars going through red lights at a local Pride Parade 😘

… but I don’t claim that cars drive both ways on the road and through red lights by the dozens.

If you take a survey of stop signs, you’ll find that the majority of motorists do NOT stop at those signs. Hundreds of cars per intersection per day.

This shit happens all the time everywhere? Really. Everywhere, cars are just all going the same direction, ignoring every traffic law en masse with no cops doing anything?

This ship happens all the time, everywhere, was referring to the list I wrote of things I encounter on a regular basis.

I didn’t touch on speeding.

Cops will only “do something” if they can catch someone.

And when we have “traffic enforcement blitzes”, what do you know? We catch a LOT of drivers behaving badly. It’s too bad we only do this a few times out of the year.

They are acting extremely unsafe for no reason.

I think you’d be surprised to learn about the history (and purpose) of Critical Mass, because it’s not “for no reason”. It’s quite literally a form of direct action to promote cycling safety and activism.

And the fact that they are riding in a large group makes them safer.

These events happen all around the world, and are widely celebrated as powerful social movements.

Yes.

I’ve witnessed cars driving in the wrong lanes (headed towards me) as they recklessly pass drivers.

I’ve seen drivers turning onto dedicated bike paths.

I’ve seen drivers jumping curbs. In the city, they’ve even managed to hop TALL, concrete barriers protecting bike lanes.

I’ve seen numerous cars flying through stop signs and red lights. At least a few times per week. And even more “stopping” on crosswalks.

I’ve witnessed a teen getting hit by a car while she used a crosswalk in front of her school. I’ve nearly been hit several times crossing at intersections, too. I saw an elderly man who was almost run over by a car turning right without slowing down (the driver then yelled at the old man).

If you think these are rare occurrences, you likely don’t live anywhere near cars. This shit happens all the time, everywhere.

And I won’t even bring up aggressive drivers who are hostile towards cyclists and use their cars as weapons.

Any small, local business owner that believes foot traffic will hurt their business should just close up shop already. Because they are idiots.

Not only is it better for the health of the community not to have cars there, but it strengthens the community by allowing people to interact with each other like human beings, and not caged animals.

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 🤦‍♂️

hahaha! Grab him by the ego!

It’s also significantly more expensive 😭

Yeah, I’m vegan, so leather was out. I couldn’t find a similar piece of rubber or silicone, so I went with something cheap and easy to get. LOL

Did you screw yours into the fender or mount it in some other way?

So, it appears that when giving everyone equal infrastructure, motorists are still awful at getting around.

The reason Dutch cyclists don’t break laws is that there’s little reason to. Their traffic signals work for cyclists, their paths work for cyclists, there’s no reason to speed, etc.

Compare that to most cities in North America, and “breaking the law” for a cyclist means not wanting to wait 10 minutes at the same red light because there aren’t any cars to trigger a change to green. Or riding on sidewalks because nobody feels safe on roads with semi-trucks and pickup trucks refusing to give them any space.

When motorists break the law, it’s because they are impatient or just don’t know how to drive. When cyclists do it, it’s to either be safe or because the infrastructure is so poor that it makes normal cycling behaviour seem like a crime.

The issue is that the cars that WILL try to pass you, even while you take the lane, will be forced to come back into the lane because of the oncoming vehicles on that blind turn.

The fact that it’s uphill means that any pedestrian or cyclist will be moving slower than normal, so this adds to the frustration of motorists, who will do stupid things as a result.