Comments on The Driver Speaks

Okay, so if we attack the driver are we to assume that will now be a hate crime since he is gay....

This is going to get really good in comments.......

The lesson here is FUCK YOU, CRITICAL MASS.

Well at least his version of the event makes narrative sense.

I used to kinda sort sympathize with CM, but that's it. They're fucking assholes.

The whole point is they're trying to create situations where people can get hurt. Somebody is going to get killed this way and it'll be their fault.

String piano wire across their route.

"Break the circle and stop the movement, the wheel is thrown to the ground
Just remember it might start rolling and take you right back around

You're all fools!
The Mob Rules!"

The ability to apologize full-voice like that is a rare quality. Impressive.

I feel sympathy for the guy, and IF his version of events turns out to be accurate, then I think CM really needs to take a good look at itself.

But the fact remains: Seattle is full of clueless, dangerous and aggressive drivers, who act as if the streets were made for cars alone and anyone riding on them or crossing them is fair game. If you ride, you know people who've been hit, maybe even people who've been killed or permanently injured. Can anyone reading this honestly claim to not see incidents regularly where drivers break the legal rules of the road and put non-drivers' lives at risk?

That's got to stop. Or we're just seeing the beginning of how wrong things can go.

Road rage isn't just for cars anymore.

Critical Mass increases road rage. That is their function in life. Fuck 'em.

Wait a minute -- are you telling me there's no villain, that different people remember the incident differently, and now we're supposed to make Critical Mass into Emmanuel Goldstein? I can't keep up.

Mark deserves huge kudos for accepting his part. I wonder if someone recorded this on a cell phone? I recently lurched into first almost hitting someone when I thought I was out of gear. Stupid on my part, but fortunately no one and no vehicle was hit or injured.

I think the important thing to realize here is that the total piece of shit who hit him with a bike lock is still at large. I'm a regular cyclist and support bike rights as much as anybody, but if I had been there I would have kicked the crap out of that dude and held him until the cops showed.

Yeah, it sucks that the driver hit two people, that he tried to flee, but your responsibility as a citizen ends at reporting the crime.

Hitting people in the head with a bike lock is probably the stupidest thing you could ever do. Did anybody notice how the guy who socked that vet in the traffic circle got charged with murder? That was a punch, this was a bike lock, for that dumbshits sake he's lucky the guys still alive.

Sure, the driver mishandled the situation, he panicked and made things worse. It could have ended there except for the assholes on wheels who took it the other way and not only broke the law but also shat all over their credibility.

I can accept that the driver screwed up, he just one guy, what I can't accept is that there were dozens of cyclists who were totally okay with assault with a deadly weapon, destruction of property, unlawful detainment, hiding the identity of the suspects and fleeing from the scene of a crime. Way to take the high road guys.

What Fnarf@2 said.

An organization truly concerned about the safety of everyone on the road wouldn't be intentionally breaking traffic laws en masse.

This version of the story is more like the Critical Masser's version of the story than the version that was repeated by police and printed in the newspaper.

You know what I see in this guy's statement? Remorse, an apology, and an admission that he, too, contributed to the melee.

You know what I see in all the statements from CM riders? Accusations, zero remorse, zero responsibility (even though they were illegally blocking the road and caused this situation in the first place).

Critical Mass is nothing more than a display of critical arrogance, critical self-righteousness, and critical selfishness.

I have asked the question twice in the comments: What has Critical Mass achieved in 16 years? How has CM improved the infrastructure for cyclists here? How has it made the city more bike-friendly? Where are the new bike lanes that CM has won for us? How about the bike-only days or bike-only arterials? Not one concrete response so far.

When CM rides, it does NOT show how cars, bicycles, transit and pedestrians can coexist. It does NOT encourage drivers to be more conscientious or to share the road. It selfishly and illegally takes the entire road, blocking traffic, transit and pedestrians, and terrorizing people in the process. It says a big "FUCK YOU" to everyone who is not on a bicycle.

The one time I got stuck in a CM ride, I seriously thought we were going to get beaten up just for being in a car that was totally stopped and in now way any danger to a cyclist. That is fucked up.

CM, time to grow up. All you're doing with your mob mentality, arrogance and self-righteousness is digging yourself into a hole, and giving the rest of the cyclists in this community a really, really bad name.

Not picking sides here. Question:

Is the driver's car stick shift? How do you 'accidentally' lunge forward if you have a stick shift when you are just trying to gun the engine?

Hearing him say 'first gear' leads me to believe his car was stick. And all he would have had to do was step on the gas. His clutch never would have been let off the floor board.

Accidentally lurching forward in a stick shift car involves letting up on the clutch and stepping on the gas. It seems hard to do this accidentally.

So forming a mob and harassing people leads to violence. Who would've thought.

What is needed is a large group of pedestrians to congregate at one of the intersections on the next CM ride and walk in a dense square, slowly, around the intersection, again and again, blocking them entirely. Share the road, Massholes! We pedestrians pollute even less than YOU do, so we're even cooler. You just sit there and wait for us all to decide to let you pass.

@17 That's the best idea I've heard all day.

The lesson here is FUCK YOU, CRITICAL MASS.

Fnarf, you're an idiot.

Mark says he felt intimidated and was concerned for his safety, so he began to rev his engine. “[I] was going to…try to be macho and scare some people,” he says. “I didn’t realize my car was in first [gear].”

According to the driver's own report, he stepped on the gas and hit two people with his car before he or his car was attacked. The cyclists reacted violently.

This puts me in mind of a story I once heard:

Once upon a time, a friend of mine was walking to a grocery store on Capitol Hill to buy some milk. As he crossed Harvard going toward Broadway, someone in an SUV drove up very close to him and started to turn. Rather than give up his right of way, my friend crossed the street and the SUV lurched to a stop next to him. My friend glared at the driver as he crossed the street and the driver stomped on the gas, hitting my friend.

Between the engine's rev and the acceleration, my friend had time to get mostly out of the way, so the SUV just clipped him. As the car went by, my friend slapped his elbow impotently against the passenger-side window. The vehicle screeched to a halt and the driver got out and started cursing at my friend.

At this point, my friend had been assaulted with a deadly weapon. My friend assumed that the assault was about to continue and reasoned that the driver would not be abandoning one weapon (the car) unless he had a better one in hand (gun or knife) so my friend ran around the car to get as close the driver as possible (in case it was a gun) and drew his lock-back pocket knife. Knives of this sort -- under three inches with a locking blade -- are fairly common in the city and are perfectly legal.

When my friend confronted the driver, the driver yelled, "Why the fuck did you hit my car?" my friend replied, "Because you just fucking hit me with it!"

Then, to my friend's surprise, the driver yelled, "You gave me a look!"

The egoism of the statement was so appalling, it actually calmed my friend down some: the person he was dealing with was clearly stupid, and may not have understood what he was doing.

"I gave you a look because you tried to blow through the intersection. So you hit me with your car. You tried to kill me with a giant machine because I gave you a look, so I hit your car as it went by. Did I damage your car?"

"No," the driver admitted.

"Then there's no problem, except that you're a fucking asshole, and if you lay a finger on me, I'm going to gut you like a bass."

At this point the driver noticed the knife and said, "Is that a knife?"

"Yes," my friend said.

"There's no call for that."

"Evidently not. But since you just tried to kill me, I thought I'd rather be safe than sorry."

There followed a bit more verbal posturing and the driver got back in his car and drove away.

The thing I find interesting about the story is that the driver never seemed to recognize that he had done anything wrong, or that his actions had endangered my friend's life. He was confused by the appearance of the knife: he didn't understand that he had actually committed assault with a deadly weapon, and that the situation was already escalated to that stage when he got out of the car.

I've had many similar experiences myself: for some reason, people driving cars seem to have a hard time grasping that cars are dangerous, and that hitting someone with one -- particularly someone who is not in a car -- is a profoundly dangerous and aggressive thing to do, and that it will provoke a reaction similar to what you could expect if you fired a gun at someone or swung a knife at them. Many drivers threaten pedestrians and cyclists with cars pretty casually, and only realize the magnitude of the offense after the fact.

Whatever led up to the incident, from the cyclists' perspective, the driver escalated the confrontation to the use of deadly force by accelerating his car into them. They reacted as if he had opened fire into a crowd -- which he essentially had -- and they were right to do so as far as that goes. The fact that "the gun just went off" isn't really germane to the appropriateness of their reaction.

"I can accept that the driver screwed up, he just one guy, what I can't accept is that there were dozens of cyclists who were totally okay with assault with a deadly weapon, destruction of property, unlawful detainment, hiding the identity of the suspects and fleeing from the scene of a crime. Way to take the high road guys."

And the Stranger (Erica) is working hard to excuse and justify all this. You are supposed to be journalists. Nice work, Jonah.

driver being gay is not relevant. earlier comments speculating he was an Eastsider also not relevant. if you're for equality that is.

response to 15: and saying "fuck this" before he hits the gas doesnt really seem to be an accident to me.

@19 so your friend, instead of I don't know walking away, decides to confront the guy with a knife. That story sounds like exactly what happens when two assholes meet.

It was terrifying for me. I was pissed off, I overreacted,

He was terrified and pissed off. Sure. Or maybe he was just pissed off and decided to hurt some people.

Eco Terrorists?!

I'm sure that this guy is partly telling the truth. But I'm also sure that if he actually intentionally hit bicyclists with his car in a fit of road rage, that he wouldn't admit it, and would have to at least claim it was a mistake to run people over, and that this was totally out of character for him, and that he was basically forced to do it. So he'd give us some harrowing victim story about how he was really scared by... terrorists! Better to lie than to go to jail for vehicular assault.

But maybe he's telling the truth. Maybe he had no idea his car was in first gear. But wouldn't that still be reckless, even if it wasn't intentional? And shouldn't he be held as accountable for his actions as the bicyclists, instead of scapegoating them?

@14: I (a CM non-participant since 1995) don't see the point in your challenge, because I don't see CM as a political protest. I see it more as a community-building exercise. What has the Boeing company picnic done for aerospace innovation in the last 93 years? *Shrug*.

But, anyway: CM -> .83 -> Ghostbike -> improvements on NW 45th St. Also,
CM -> .83 -> SeattleLikesBikes -> Stone Way bike lane and prevention of the Burke-Gilman closure last year.

Kudos on the apologies, but this guy better get a lawyer and shut up quick.

Again, not to pick sides, but if I had hit to bicycles I would get out and see if they were ok, not try to leave.

that's 'hit two bicycles" .

@23

No, what my friend initially did was hit the car, causing no damage. When the driver got out of the car, my friend was worried the driver might have a gun so he went in close, where he'd have a fighting chance.

I actually think my friend zigged when he drew his knife, and he agreed with me when I said so. But your assumption that my friend should just walk away after someone tried to kill him is as good an illustration of my broader point as I could have asked for.

“I didn’t realize my car was in first [gear].”

Smart...

@26, But it builds community at the expense of pissing people off. Every time I see those fuckers it makes me want to fight bicycle improvements and work to ban them from the street.

Well it's good to know that getting in a car and starting it is an act of attempted murder. I suppose people walking on sidewalks who might get in a bicyclists way are guilty of assault and battery. Wow, the only way to be completely innocent appears to be never to move from one place to another unless you're on a bike.

@26, when's the last time a bunch of Boeing company picnic participants beat the shit out of someone?

*shrug*

When's the last time a Boeing company picnic terrorized passerby, blocked traffic, inconvenienced people?

*shrug*

If CM is a "community-building event" as you say, then why piss off the rest of the community? Why not announce routes ahead of time, so that people who don't want to get stuck can avoid it? Why not work with the city to make arterials car-free on certain days, so that people who are intimated about commuting by bicycle might take a chance on it? Why not constructively educate drivers? Why, on the CM Seattle web site, in the flyers section, is there a flyer with a pretty angry-looking cyclist? Why do the flyers include the words "demonstration"?

@ 15 & 22: Still doesn't give any one the right to trash a car or hit someone with a U-lock (in the BACK of the head, no less. what a puss)

Accidents happen. Assault and vigilante justice is not an accident.

also, +1 for Cyclists against Critical Mass.

@32: Well, now you're going down a different path, but I'll follow you down it a bit.

Every year, Cascade Bicycle Club puts on the Seattle to Portland Ride. Every year, they piss off hundreds, if not thousands of residents of communities like Chehalis, Goble, and Castle Rock with 9000+ cyclists on their roads. So should Cascade cancel the STP?

Only one way to settle this: a small tribe of motorists and a small tribe of cyclists, stranded together on a Seattle traffic island with nothing but their wits (and a professional video production crew), forced to live off the land.

@30
But your assumption that my friend should just walk away after someone tried to kill him is as good an illustration of my broader point as I could have asked for.
Your broader point is wrong. Walking way is exactly what he should have done. He was in a public place and on the other side of the car.

Walk/run away and call the police equals the right decision. Charging around the car with a knife drawn is a dumb and assholish one. Had he been cornered in or otherwise unable to get away sure, but at least form your description he could have left rather easily.

"I didn't realize my car was in first [gear]"

Essentially this is only likely as someone else pointed out, if he was driving a stick shift. You don't accidentally end up in first gear in an automatic, especially if you are trying to rev your engine. Something you can only accomplish in nuetral on an automatic, or park.

Of course this is also a stupid move, basically saying, yeah I amped up the situation.

“I thought I just knocked 2 bikes over,” Mark says. “I wanted to get away from the situation but if I’d hurt someone, I didn’t want to flee.”

Ok, so he's also admitting to damaging property and attempting then to flee the scene of the crime. Also not smart. Maybe Mark should learn to keep his mouth shut and talk to a lawyer at this point.

I have no sympathy for the Critical Mass riders. None. I also have no sympathy for Mark.

Both sides of the situation acted innapropriately, and illegally. Both sides are wrong and no one is right.

Also, how is it that you don't notice when you run someone over?

BTW, has anyone else noticed that while it is illegal to ride a bike without a helmet in Seattle, no one seems to care? Where exactly does the decision not to enforce laws come from, the chief, the mayor, the individual police officers?

@36, but that event is organized and predictable. Steps are taken to minimize the disruption and keep everyone safe. Its no different from a marathon, march or whatever. We do need to share the road, but there is a right and wrong way to do that.

If CM wanted to do a similar event once a year that would be cool, or if they conducted themselves in a law abiding and responsible manner that would be fine as well. Mobbing the street and shutting shit down when people are just trying to get home is not.

Just to keep the timeline straight, here are the events numbered in order:

1. Mob surrounds the car and threatens to tip it

2. Driver accidentally hits people with car

3. Mob attacks the driver.

His remorse doesn't really make much sense. They threatened them (if he's telling the truth), he had every right to defend himself with the means at his disposal.

They've been known to do that kind of shit so that part of his story isn't hard to believe.

I hope they catch the criminal piece of shit that hit him with a U-lock.

19's story is something every habitual pedestrian should read. It's true that lots of driver's are oblivious to the lethal nature of their cars, but not relevant to this story.

I take that back. It is relevant. Drivers need to be aware that their cars pose a lethal threat to people. Mobs of protesters need to be aware of the fact that mob violence is also potentially lethal and that intimidating those around them may provoke a violent response.

@34: You asked, I answered.

If you want answers about why CM works (or doesn't) the way it does, you should probably talk to someone who's been on a CM ride in this century.

@30

again, your friend should have walked away or called a cop. i agree with @23, it sounds like there were two assholes in your story; one on foot and another in a car. and your argument solidifies the point that your friend was one of those assholes.

unless you are a police officer don't take the law into your own hands. call 911, get the license plate number and let the cops do their job. attacking someone else with your car, a ulock or a gun/knife is pretty fucking ignorant.

@41 -- Any word on that other car found inverted on the Hill that night (as reported in an earlier comment)?

@40: Your claim was that CM pissed you (and presumably others) off, which makes it an invalid community-building activity. STP is also a community-building (and fundraising) activity that pisses people off. Oh, and plenty of riders break plenty of laws during STP (I have ridden in STP during the last few years).

So I can only surmise that your problem is not, in actuality, that CM pisses people off, but the degree to which it does vs. the degree to which it builds community. I agree. So what do you do about it? I would hope that CM riders and leaders think long and hard about that (I've already seen evidence that this is going on). I imagine the cops will be out in force during the August CM. Who knows? I might even show up. Apparently they could use some more calm people on these rides.

CM need to be fed to a band of rabid pit bulls. They deserve each other.

Didn't realize so many supposed Stranger readers were so ignorant about the purpose of critical mass and seemingly opposed to bicycling. Makes one wonder how many of the hateful comments are actually from the cops (who have long had a grudge against CM).

It's just a means of transportation for crying out loud... The fact that cyclists around here think they have to form some kind of 'community' to defend their rights is a joke.

Someone ought to tell them that roads are dangerous for drivers and cyclists alike. Accidents happen, and just because you're in a less protected vehicle does not immediately make it the driver's fault. You deserve the same consideration as anyone else on the road, but you have also chosen to hop onto a busy and clogged roads populated by two ton piles of metal that go very fast. That's the nature of cars and roads.

I don't drive or ride. I walk. And I find most of the drivers in Seattle to be very conscientious. Not all, but most. Drop the self-righteousness, and you might be surprised.

I guess CRITICAL MASS thinks it's ok to blow thru crosswalks with peds walking in it. I've almost been hit 4 times this month by smartass bikers making left turns weaving thru the crosswalk on Pike & Pine. If they want more rights, then they better start respecting the pedestrians too. I guess I should just knock 'em off their bike next time they cut thru. Well, only if I was going to use their mentality. Whatever good they were trying to do, just got set back a few years.

"Mark says he actually used to be a bike commuter."

--This is irrelevant.

“What I did was probably a mistake.”

--He ran over two cyclists, and he's not sure if it was a mistake?

“I’m gay, the person with me was a lesbian and we were a attacked by eco-terrorists."

--A desperate and clumsy way to spin the story. Using the term "eco-terrorists" completely undermines whatever remorse he is expressing.

“I’d rather not have anyone…be charged from any of this.”

--Here is the entire point of his apology. Of course doesn't want anyone to be charged; he committed the more serious crime.

This whole statement is incredibly self-serving. He should be charged for reckless driving and endangering the lives of others, and the cyclist who hit him with a bike lock (if that's what happened) should be charged with assault. This whole "fuck Critical Mass" attitude is biasing too many opinions and preventing people from focusing on the facts.

Go OKC Potatoes!!!

That's right, everyone who disagrees with CM is a *cop*. Or maybe they're with the Bush White House or Fox News.

Because all the regular people love the CM boys with their ramped up testosterone and their fixies.

He drove his car into a group of people intentionally--that is the claim of the eyewitnesses--he admits he did it but not intentionally. This seems unlikely given the 1st gear thing that a few people have pointed out. So that is attempted murder or reckless endangerment. At that point isn't it acceptable for people to use force in apprehending someone who attempted murder?

If someone said "I've had enough of this--fuck this" while holding a gun, and then fired into a crowd, and then ran away (later claiming it was an accident and he just wanted to scare people), aren't citizens allowed to use whatever force necessary to stop him? Would not hitting him in the head at that point be o.k.?

A car can be used as a deadly weapon, can it not?

Not rhetorical--I would really like to know what the law says. And this comment isn't about what I think about CM or what you think...

The police seem to believe that CM was menacing him and that he was fearful for his safety and reacted on that basis as opposed to simply being annoyed and deciding to take out some cyclists.

Seems to me that the whole point of a CM ride is to be confrontational; they're looking for a fight. And at the risk of sounding like an oldster... they're breaking the law. Sure, "just" traffic laws but still... they put themselves and others in danger.

"Porkchop", you don't sound like an oldster. You sound like a cop, who as I previously mentioned have a longstanding grudge against CM.

It amuses me that so many commenters who are supposedly indignant about "mob mentality" have such a lack of self-awareness.

@38 & 43

Neither of you has any idea what you're talking about. The car, which the driver had already demonstrated a willingness to use as a weapon, would easily have outrun my friend. And his thinking that his attacker would not abandon his weapon (the car) unless he had another one in-hand was logical, even if it turned out to be inaccurate. Both of you assert that my friend should have walked away on principle, but neither of you address the above fact, or the reasoning that follows.

Your broader point is wrong.

I wonder if you appreciate the irony here: my friend's actions were predicated on the fact that his attacker has escalated to the use of deadly force, using a weapon that my friend could not evade by running away. Your inability to address this point illustrates the mental block I've been discussing: the car is a deadly weapon and the driver had attempted to kill my friend with it. My friend's only real mistake was drawing the knife before he confirmed that the driver was armed, and threatening the driver with it after he'd ascertained that the driver wasn't armed. His tactical analysis was perfectly sound.

The guy who hit him on the head is not even around, the bikers who got arrested are being charged for slashing the tires, so it seems to me that Irena is right, and driver is saying he is sorry because he doesnt want the rest to press charges on him.

@53 ooooooh I LOVE this game! my turn:

Let's say he was in a spaceship and said "I've had enough of this--fuck this" and then tried to disconnect Hal, and then Hal tried to kill him. Aren't robots allowed to use whatever force necessary to stop him? Let's just say, even though it didn't happen.

Makes one wonder how many of the hateful comments are actually from the cops

Bope, I bet dollars to donuts that the "CM haters" here are neither cops nor generally conservative SUV-loving bike-hating folks. Most simply think CM is counter-productive, at least, and should likely be banned, at most. As many, many people have pointed out, those of us who are otherwise disposed to be sympathetic to cyclists find it difficult to support CM because of their actions.

For example, every time I encounter them (sitting in my car, usually at a stoplight, not moving), they act like self-righteous assholes. It's not enough for them to take over the street, swarm around you and keep going, sometimes keeping you from going anywhere for 5 or 10 minutes. They have to give you the finger, scream, block many lanes of traffic and disobey stop signs, traffic lights, rights of way, etc. And I have never once moved, given them the finger, yelled at them, etc. Mostly because I fear inadvertently hitting someone, even if I had the right of way.

Cyclists who go out of their way to act like this throughout every ride aren't going to engender much support, and aren't going to be believable in an incident where they claim not to be instigators/agitators.

I feel the same way about the cyclists who fly through intersections, down hills, weave in and out of traffic, etc. with no regard to pedestrians or other vehicles around them. I would feel terrible if I hit anyone (my fault or not), but they don't care if they scare the crap out of me, or cause me to slam my brakes and have someone hit me from behind.

Those types of cyclists dominate Critical Mass, judging by every encounter I have. And they are the worst emissaries the "bike community" could have. I listen to them about as much as I listen to the Nation of Islam or Operation Rescue.

It's like having the drifting/drag racing demographic fly through downtown traffic every couple of months and then demand rights for Asians.

I myself was held up in traffic by them once before and promptly called 9-1-1 and the police were there within seconds to block the bicycle traffic and allow the car traffic to continue.

Execute these piece of shit cyclists live on TV to send them a fucking message. They see it as an opportunity wreak havoc on the city.

If the driver feared for his life or safety (i.e. if he heard someone say, "let's tip it"), then he's not going to get convicted of any crime.

@53 if you feel your life is in danger (circled by a mob saying "tip car") you are allowed to use any force necessary to get out of the situation. ANY!

@62.....wow.

@57,
He was a block from Broadway. He could have been in a business or otherwise unreachable by car before the guy could even get out.

And no is it not logical to assume a person would not, having tried to hit your friends, only abandon that weapon if he had another, especially given your assertion that there is a mental block against viewing car as such.

@49

I love this mentality that cyclists have to ask for their rights, and that behavior that paints cyclists in a bad light is counterproductive to the point that people who engage in it "deserve whatever they get."

There have been many groups of people throughout history who were deprived of their rights and had to mount a protracted PR campaign to gain franchise. The soft touch wins -- King or Ghandi -- but the hard touches like the Black Panthers are still basically justified in their responses.

@64 - Jinx!

He was a block from Broadway. He could have been in a business or otherwise unreachable by car before the guy could even get out.

You know that for a fact, do you? You keep making these unqualified assertions about a situation you didn't actually see for yourself. We can trade assertions all day; neither of us was there. My friend didn't feel he could outrun the car if it came down to it. His opinion was better informed than either of ours.

As for the rest of your comment: whatever. My friend based his assumptions on demonstrated intent: the driver had just tried to kill him. He couldn't assume that the driver was an idiot (abandoning his weapon) until he had some proof to that effect. To make the assumption you're saying he should have made would have been to bet against the odds in a situation where his life was at stake. If your solipsistic bigotry prevents you from even acknowledging that a factor, I don't need to waste anymore time with you.

@56

Pointing out that breaking the law is ... illegal makes Porkchop sound like a cop? Really?

No. It makes PS sound like somebody who doesn't like fucking mob rule on the road, you dick. You giant dick.

If -- and only IF -- the cyclists threatened him, his behavior was, frankly, totally understandable. If people are surrounding you, it's a hostile gesture. If they're banging on your hood, it's a hostile gesture. If you've done nothing, and they say, "let's tip the car!" you're entitled to get the fuck out of there. If their actions would lead a reasonable person to believe that he might not be safe even if he left the car, then a reasonable person has grounds to step on the fucking gas.

@66: I love this mentality that cyclists, in response, should be able to take away my rights as a pedestrian, just because they're cyclists. (Or as a driver... although I haven't experienced that with CM yet.)

Talking about how they "deserve it" doesn't mean that the driver isn't liable for damages, but it's a way for people that are frustrated with CM to blow off steam. If you get in people's faces for long enough with this holier-than-thou bullshit, people are going to applaud whomever punches you in the nose.

And stop comparing yourself to Gandhi or the Black Panthers or whomever, you sanctimonious fucker. You're just not in the same league.

Critical Mass is about memorializing cyclists who lost their lives to careless/aggressive drivers and about creating awareness that cars must share the road. I've ridden in it to memorialize a lost friend before. I believe the driver should be charged for assault and so should the cyclists who destroyed his car. Both broke the law. It's a shame this message board is becoming a venue for advancing violence against cyclists - that is not what CM is about. Incidentally, pedestrians are just as apt to attack a driver who purposefully runs over their fellow pedestrians as cyclists - so let's stop talking about retaliating, shall we? More constructively, let's start talking about how better to share the road.

CM's tactics set the stage for incidents like this. Their intent may be to raise awareness and promote cyclist safety, but their failure to police themselves has created an atmosphere of thuggery and malice seemingly sanctioned by the organization. I supported CM in theory until I encountered them on foot; I was shocked and disappointed by their behavior. Hopefully CM will be provoked into some serious self-analysis and action; I think it more likely they will use it as an excuse to throw another mass cyclist tantrum.

And stop comparing yourself to Gandhi or the Black Panthers or whomever, you sanctimonious fucker.

No shit. Do the cyclist jihadis realize how ridiculous this sounds? There needs to be an Internet rule about comparing oneself to Rosa Parks/MLK/blacks in the pre-Civil Rights south, not unlike Godwin's law. It's reached for way too often, and for the flimsiest of causes.

Critical Mass is about memorializing cyclists who lost their lives to careless/aggressive drivers and about creating awareness that cars must share the road.

Which they do, of course, by illegally overtaking it and denying every non-cyclist access to it. And then picking fights when people object.

"I’m gay, the person with me was a lesbian and we were attacked by eco-terrorists. It’s the most Seattle thing that could have happened."

- New set of tires for a Subaru: $400

- New bike for the Masshole: $1500

- "Mark's" comment: PRICELESS

And stop comparing yourself to Gandhi or the Black Panthers or whomever, you sanctimonious fucker. You're just not in the same league.

Hey, good point. I should try comparing the bicycle rights movement to the struggle of pea growers against corn growers in central Washington during the 1970s. Except, oh, wait -- you wouldn't have any fucking idea what I was talking about. So I used examples everyone's heard of in order to illustrate a point about responses to quasi-legal policy compromises that deprive groups of their rights and liberty. Maybe it's just a convenient rhetorical device that doesn't imply anything about "leagues". And maybe you're just an argumentative little weasel who's trying to set up a straw man so you can make a run a the moral high ground.

(And just as a point of order: I didn't compare myself to anyone, you stupid fuck. I don't ride with CM, I don't protest, I'm not involved in any movement.)

As to the rest of your argument: a bicycle can go through a crosswalk much more safely than a car. Bicycles are narrower, move at slower speeds, and do not have the mass to do as much damage as a car. Additionally, cyclists, unlike drivers, are in almost as much danger from a pedestrian collision as the pedestrian. That doesn't excuse cyclists who blow through a crosswalk, but they're hardly "taking away" you of your rights as a pedestrian, nor does their behavior compare in any rational way to that of drivers who blow through crosswalks -- given that car drivers offenses are both significantly more numerous and orders of magnitude more dangerous.

"Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary tactics of nonviolent resistance"

The CM tactics are aggressive and often violent -- it is disobedience, but it is not at all civil. How dare they try to use the term to describe their thuggery.

Listen, the roads ARE meant for cars. We are not a preindustrial society. If we had nothing but bikers we would have worse environmental and social conditions than we have now. Everybody would be crowded together like in New York at the turn of the century. Nobody is going to change the entire infrastructure just for a few bikers who act like they are so holy because they don't burn any fuel. The road are meant for motor vehicles.

So far I've lost two friends to biking accidents where a driver hit them and left them by the side of the road to die of their injuries -- one guy left his bumper on the scene, which police found next to my friend's body. Another friend of mine was riding in a Critical Mass event last year downtown and was wrestled to the ground and beaten by a van load of aggro cops (remember that incident?) So this is the background that informs the CM participants' feelings and actions. They have good reason to feel that the police are hostile to their cause and disinclined to see the bicyclist's side in any incident, and they are almost certainly keenly aware not only of the damage a car can do to a person on a bicycle but to the fact that there are people out there who will run down a bicyclist in "the heat of the moment" and then drive away to avoid prosecution.

So in light of these facts, chasing down and apprehending a driver who ran down some bicyclists doesn't seem in the least bit unreasonable. Assaulting him with a bike-lock was certainly not appropriate, any more than is running people down with your car because you're angry or scared. But let's try to remember the order things happened in -- the driver of the car drew the first blood here. He may well have made a mistake (although mistakenly driving through several cyclists and then driving away seems extremely unlikely to me), he may well have been panicked, but there is no way the people outside the vehicle could have known those things. What they saw was an assault with a deadly weapon and a subsequent attempt to flee the scene. Remember that story from earlier in the week about Bob Novak hitting a pedestrian and driving away, only to be stopped by a bicyclist? Everybody seemed to think the bicyclist was some kind of hero in that instance. Well, at least people who are predisposed to dislike Novak probably see it that way.

Whether you like or dislike the bicyclists in Critical Mass doesn't really change the facts in this instance (which are still admittedly somewhat unclear.) Nobody "deserves" to be assaulted -- not asshole protesters, not asshole motorists, not guys slowing down traffic by placing traffic cones around the traffic circle they're watering -- nobody. Using force to apprehend a violent criminal trying to flee the scene of the crime might in some cases be appropriate (if inadvisable) but beating him after he's shown himself to not be a threat is not.

The need for people to identify heroes and villains tends to lead them to leap to weird conclusions and employ highly situational ethics -- such as saying assault is justifiable when the person I like does it and not when the person I don't like does it. Perhaps waiting until a clearer picture emerges might be a good idea before trying to extract a clear "moral" from an incident like this.

Judah has a point. If no one will stand up for the rights of white middle-to-upper class bicyclists to act like douchebags, who will? Hitler certainly didn't. I think most of the CM haters just want to kill a lot of Jews.

This exactly like the Mississippi lynchings of 1964. These people are martyrs to the cause. Cyclists are the modern-day negro of Seattle.

I think comparisons to Jesus aren't off-base either.

Why are bicyclist getting killed by aggressive drivers? Because they are riding around on streets designed for motor vehicles and not using common sense. Is your life worth risking for a couple hundred bucks worth of saved gas money? Urban biking works in societies that are so crowded that motor vehicles are forced to drive at slow speeds, like in India. That is not the case here. Don't be stupid. Your holier than thou biker attitude isn't enough to keep you alive when a giant car hits you.

"Critical Mass is about memorializing cyclists who lost their lives to careless/aggressive drivers and about creating awareness that cars must share the road."


And as long as they keep running red lights while riding fixed-gear bikes without helmets, there will be plenty of cyclists to memorialize.

Just call an anarchist an anarchist and cut the bullshit ...

If he was ahead of the herd of riders why did he pull over to the side to allow them to pass, especially if he was in such a hurry?

"Why are bicyclist getting killed by aggressive drivers? Because they are riding around on streets designed for motor vehicles and not using common sense. Is your life worth risking for a couple hundred bucks worth of saved gas money?"

WOW!!!!!
Actually bicycles have the right to ride in traffic, those streets are not only designated for motor vehicles; the only restrictions are freeways, or highways etc...
If you have the attitude of "its not worth risking your life for gas money" you would be questioning peoples ethics.

@78 (for one): On the contrary, the streets of Seattle are meant for bicycles, cars, scooters, buses... Perhaps not in your opinion, but according to the City of Seattle.

I don't understand how anyone could rationally label Critical Mass as "eco-terrorists" or that they use "mob violence." Do people even understand what those phrases mean? Reading some of these comments just remind me how sheltered and selfish so many people in the US are, even in a "liberal" city like Seattle. (Oh yeah, big welcome to the PI Soundoff douchebag commenters.)

Also, for people who claim the driver was provoked and within his rights of self-defense: RCW 9A.16.110 states you can protect yourself "by any reasonable means necessary" - not any means necessary. Based on his own account, I don't think he was actually in imminent danger of assault when he started revving the engine and then "accidentally" ran over someone. Also, revving your car engine when surrounded by people on bikes seems pretty reckless to me.

Of course, the people who broke windows, slashed tires and hit the driver also were not acting in self-defense and deserve to be charged as well. As others have pointed out, this is another example where a few people acted like assholes and people got hurt. But it's no reason to say everyone in Critical Mass deserves to be run over.

Share the road? LMAO!

How about share traffic rules as well?

Ive almost hit a cyclist in various places making a right turn when one asshole in my blind spot on the right side smacks the top of my car. Why are you riding on my side and not behind me? You don't see my turn signals? Thats not my fault and don't even flip me off or give me a look for a mistake you made.

Fuck those type of cyclists.

Jesus, this incident opened a huge fucking can o' worms, didn't it?

I can only agree with two of the commenters:

Cylclist @71 is correct. Charge the driver for vehicular assault, and charge the cyclists who fucked up his car.

Also, jcricket @60 is correct. If anything, this whole incident shows that CM is no longer content to be irrelevant, now they are bent on being counter-productive toward the cause of cyclist acceptance in Seattle.

Here's a big, obvious note to CM riders: If you hadn't fucked up his car, the driver would be in jail and everyone's sympathies would be with you. Grow the fuck up, mob violence drains your cause of any legitimacy.

It's always amazing to see the number of people here who are experts on Critical Mass, the law, the history of roads, and the motivations of every cyclist in the city.

Worse, people are obviously ignoring facts that they don't agree with so they can make some point.

I guess the one good thing is that it lets us see who the crazies are. ("Execute these piece of shit cyclists live on TV"??)

He was driving a subaru? Some subaru models have an electronic clutch-less shifting system that allow you to put the car in first without using a clutch...

Had this dude backed into a group of cops and revved his engine he would have been shot dead. He is quite lucky to be alive. The bikers are heros for stopping this sociopath without killing him. And to the "stinkbug" blogger advocating execution. We are heavily armed and combat trained on the streets of Iraq, we are calmly waiting and will resist you.

Ive almost hit a cyclist in various places making a right turn when one asshole in my blind spot on the right side smacks the top of my car.

Cyclists are instructed, by law, to ride on the right side of the road when there's room for them, in order to let car traffic operate at speed. You, on the other hand, are required by law to yield to them before turning right.

@92, it's called a "blind spot" for a reason. A cyclist on the right between a car and the curb can be basically invisible to a driver. It is the cyclist's responsibility in that situation to either make his or herself clearly visible to the driver, or, if the driver is turning right and the cyclist straight, not to impede the driver.

I see cyclists doing the exact opposite of that on a daily basis. I mean, that's like basic survival. Don't want to get killed by a car? Then watch out for yourself. Don't EVER assume that a driver can see you, or for that matter, sees you but doesn't give a shit.

As a dedicated pedestrian I never jaywalk, cross only at intersections and crosswalks in downtown and busy streets, and never step out into the street without making eye contact with drivers. Why? Because I don't want to get run over. Sure, it might happen anyway if a driver isn't paying attention, but I take every reasonable precaution to avoid that. Same goes for cyclists. You make a choice to ride, you need to accept that there is risk, and you need to accept responsibility for your own safety.

Beyond that, the risk-taking I see by cyclists every day does not just endanger themselves. A car that suddenly stops because a cyclist rides into the intersection on a red light is endangering that driver and other cars that were legally moving on a green light, as well as pedestrians in the intersection. I witnessed this on Saturday at Denny and Westlake, where four cyclists in a row crossed Westlake against the light, causing a turning car to swerve to avoid them, and narrowly then missing two pedestrians. One of the cyclists had the nerve to turn around and yell "FUCK YOU!" before turning the corner and riding off. I offered to be a witness if the driver wanted to call the cops, but by then the cyclists were gone, and it happened so quickly that none of us could really identify them.

Every day I see cyclists on Eastlake, downtown, the hill, and Madison doing things that are very likely to get them injured, and then screaming and yelling at drivers and pedestrians when something happens. Riding a bike does not give you special rights to do as you please with no regard for the consequences.

@91 - One difference in your example is I'm guessing a group of cops wouldn't have first threatened to flip his car over.

Nobody in his right mind would singlehandedly attack an entire mob, with his car or otherwise. I think it's a safe bet that the guy felt threatened first, panicked, and then did stupid things. There's even a good chance his actions were justified (at least, by our laws concerning self-defense).

I am a bike commuter and I've seen more than my share of stupid drivers, so I definitely sympathize with the cause. However, purposely intimidating or threatening drivers (who may or may not be of the stupid variety) is counterproductive at best.

@87,@93 - More often than not, the person in the car will first PASS the cyclist, and then turn right in front of them. This means, blind spot or not, the driver is (or should be) aware that the cyclist is there.

If you pass a cyclist while driving and are planning on turning right anytime in the next mile, it's on you to know where the bike is at all times. Rare is the case where a cyclist makes first contact with cars by riding up on them while they are stopped at a red light.

So...

1. Guy gets boxed in by cyclists who want to raise awareness of equal traffic rights who go about this by breaking traffic laws and being douchebags.

2. Guy gets held against his will by cyclists breaking traffic laws, so he revs engine to try to scare them off.

3. Guy claims to accidentally lurch forward and bump into a few of the cyclists who were holding him and his passenger against their will. Minor injuries occur to criminals who were holding him and passenger against their will.

4. Guy hears threats about vandalism by people who were holding him against his will and is attacked, resulting injury and property damage.

5. Cyclists earn the respect of all in Seattle for being upright citizens, not instigating the situation, not committing multiple crimes, and being all around great people.

Right?

Each month I see CM roll by, it seems to surprise quite a few motorists and peds, and those polite cyclists always seem to have some nice things to say to anyone honking, and have never thrown anything at or damaged any annoyed motorists vehicles.

I'm confused by the feigned innocence on the part of the CM folks.

Lesson learned, right?

Don't stand in front of some one's car when they're trying to leave, especially when you are given multiple warnings.

My favorite cyclist moment was when I was taking a bus along 5th, and some guy in spandex hopped off the curb and into the section of road marked "Bus Only". A bus was approaching and slowing to drop someone off. The bus's side view mirror almost clipped the cyclist who decided to ignore the posted law by hopping into traffic in the wrong place. What does the cyclist do?

He pounds on the bus door and starts screaming at the driver, demanding name and other identification, and threatening to sue. "For what?" the driver says.

The cyclist says "You should really be more safe, you almost hit me with your mirror."

"Almost? Perhaps you should follow the traffic law. You jumped off a curb into a bus only zone in front of traffic. Learn the law before you accuse me of breaking it."

A handful of people on the bus burst into laughter, myself included, the cyclist stepped back off the bus, red-faced and most likely preparing an angsty blog post in his helmet covered head, and he sped off to go ignore more traffic law and place blame on people other than himself.

It's events like this that make people hope to see some douchebag get clipped and scuff up his knee or break a wrist as he tries to weave between traffic and pedestrians instead of following the law.

Matt, blocking the movement of a vehicle is not the same as "holding someone against their will." Your numbered list doesn't reflect what happened on Friday.

Reading all of these anecdotes about irresponsible cyclists running red lights, clipping pedestrians, etc. (many of which I can relate to) begs the question: why aren't there such things as bike license plates?

I can't tell you how many times I've wished I had a way to report dangerous bike driving, the way dangerous car driving can be reported. I feel like part of the problem is that there is no way to identify cyclists on the road - they can operate under the cover of anonymity. I've never heard of such a thing enacted - does anybody know of any reason why?

someone i know was walking across denny last week, and a cyclist came flying down the hill:

1. running a red light
2. speeding

and yelled "coming through", coming close to hitting the pedestrian.

this person i know stood right in front of them, made their ass bail and flail all over the pavement.. then proceeded to walk over to the bike and bend its wheels to a 90 degree angle.

fuck you seattle bikers, you're a bunch of self-righteous smarmy fucks.

i watch you get hit by cars as you break the traffic laws, running into cars as they take right turns (you should be behind the car, watching its traffic signals) -- and i watch you fucking flail and scream like babies.

go to the monorail and drown yourself in espresso and tears.

without having been there, and with the extremely confused reporting of this, it seems absurd for anyone to extrapolate out from their own personal experience and assume they know what happened here. also, it seems actually very reasonable that different narratives of the event can coexist and all be honest- anyone who has ever served on jury duty should know this and know that these discrepancies don't necessarily indicate lying, rather just the fractured nature of memory and adrenaline.

it is interesting to see how much hatred for CM-ers must have been simmering for so long leading to this point...and interesting that they're lying so low and not commenting much at this point. hope they find a good spokesperson and perhaps regroup and refocus their efforts to be more in line with what the rest of the biking community seeks to promote.

Not charge anyone? This guy is a joke. He needs to go to prison for assault with a deadly weapon -- his automobile. Just "running over some bikes" should have been enough for a police office to charge him with intent to harm.

In this society where auto-dependence is normalized. People feel entitled that the road truly belongs to cars. Critical Mass is a political statement and it will inconvenience people, it is kind of the point. The society is structured to create a world where cars existence and prevalence is endorsed, while more sustainable modes of transportation must change their behaviors for cars. Critical Mass builds confidence in bikers by allowing for a small moment a culture that creates norms and destroys their anxiety about accommodating for more mainstream modes of transportation.

How the media displayed what has happened was not only not accurate but from a perspective that probably drives to work each day. to present this as anything but an intolerant act against political expression is disregarding an entire social and environmental movement.

@99 (lewls): And what's your point there? I believe your anecdotal story. Likewise, every day I see cars knowingly zoom through red lights at pedestrian-filled intersections. But most drivers aren't running red lights. And neither are most cyclists.

@101 What about the fucker that hit the driver in the head with a bike lock? That's not an assault with a deadly weapon?

"Critical Mass is a political statement and it will inconvenience people, it is kind of the point."

Really? - My new hobby of paint-balling, spoke-sticking, or dry-chemical-extinguisher blasting bike riders will be a political statement as well . .

One of the fun things about being 6'5" and 310 has been the occasional opportunities I've had when walking on the hill, or down Denny, or around DT Seattle to make one of you bike-homo's go sprawling face-down along the pavement. And as always, when you jump up all indignant and start trying to flip me shit, I'll answer you like i always do . . with a nice 10 second face-blast of bear-spray for ya . .

@103

there was no point, i'm just shooting the shit here amidst all the babble. while of course cars and bikes alike always run red lights, this particular cyclist was yelling in a negative tone for my friend to get out of the way. when he didn't, he responded with profanity and derision. he got what he deserved.

you don't need you to believe my story, but it's actually true. bent the wheel and said "try being a pedestrian for a few days".

Hey #91 - You're a pussy and a tea-bagger . . STFU . . The only combat you know is combating anal herpes . .

answer to 104, you are right the person who hit him on the head should be charged too as well as the fucking driver.

First, GAWD I feel old. I usually post in another stream that got shut off sometime today. I remember reading this level of scorching foul-mouthed vitriol some decade last millenium on way dicier video technology. Just because the Stranger lets people use whatever epithets you want does NOT mean mindless namecalling enhances the conversation. Okay. Geezer rant OFF.

Well, maybe not. First, dude with the U-lock, (silly me I assume it was a dude) should find himself a lawyer and turn himself in.

I am really glad the driver talked to this reporter. I have a feeling a lawyer would have told him to shut up and not talk to the press, but his comments certainly solidified my sense that people on both sides might have been overreacting due to 1. incomplete information. 2. being pissed off and scared. 3. multiple misunderstandings and misperceptions.

I would not presume to have peered into the driver's soul, but I once had a nearly comical traffic accident by popping the clutch on a stick shift so I find his accident comment at least credible. The fact that he stuck around is also a point in his favor, for which he was not exactly appropriately rewarded.

Alas, I can also easily see why different people in the Critical Mass crowd might have interpreted different circumstances quite differently. I do not think that justifies working out all of one's aggravations about bicycling in Seattle on one driver unfortunate enough to get caught in the middle of a CM ride.

@91: the bikers are heroes?????!!!! Jesus Christ. However much the driver may have erred (and frankly, who knows what the hell happened and in what order), there's no excuse ever for mob violence. Take down his license plate if he's leaving the scene, for god's sake. Vigilante justice is an oxymoron. And people like 91, well, you're clearly a major part of the problem.

@95: You're quite right, except if a stop sign is involved. If a bicyclist is planning to blow through a stop sign at speed, which, let's face it, is the norm, then it is on them to watch for cars turning right from the stop sign.

On the broader topic, wow, some of you are really, really twisted. It's an unfortunate situation where it sounds like everyone behaved badly. Defending any of the parties is kind of a stretch. It's embarrassing to even read many of these replies.

Wow, blog commenters seem to have some serious anger management issues. fun.

Where is Rodney King when we most need him?

I looked out the window and failing to see any canals, tulips, windmills or wooden shoes, realized I was not in Holland where considerate bicycle etiquette prevails. That will never be the case in the United States of Automobile.

Critical Mass vs. People Who Drive Automobiles proves the following law of physics: For every action, there is a reaction; for every reaction, there is an over-reaction.

Deal, folks.

Does anyone know exactly why the PI SoundOff page on this story was shut down after ~350 comments? Were there specific posts causing troubles? Was it just the general "let's kill all the cyclists" tone?

Critical Mass serves no purpose other than to inconvenience and infuriate. It does NOTHING for cyclists' rights and the only awareness it serves to raise is that some cyclists are juvenile idiots who revel in a mob mentality. As a bike commuter and road racer, I resent Critical Mass for inspiring anger toward cyclists when there are those of us out there who are just trying to get around-- and doing it safely.

Critical Mass may have served a purpose once, but it has outlived it. Now it is its own worst enemy. What a disappointment.

People ride bikes a lot. People drive cars, too.

I had fried fish for dinner. It was delicious.

Hooray!

So when will The Stranger blame the whole thing on Dino Rossi?

@111 - I was referring to a law-abiding cyclist getting hit by a law-breaking driver.

I'm a bit surprised by all of the claims of cyclists blowing through stop signs at full speed. I can understand someone rolling slowly through a stop sign, particularly if they're clipped into their pedals, but full speed? I ride and I drive, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that. It certainly is NOT the norm.

Isn't the whole issue with the critical mass ride that the riders act as if they are one vehicle? That they aren't 1000 bikes, but just one "giant bike"?

It doesn't make sense to me. The law says 1000 bikes are all separate, so why should the cyclists break the law and then argue they aren't?

Secondly, in every other country, cyclists avoid cars too, and don't attempt to assert their "dominance". It has nothing to do with rights; it's common sense. A car is several tons of glass and metal. A bike isn't.

Third, the whole problem with critical mass, is that barring events like the STP, there are almost never 100's of cyclists all on the same piece of rode at the same time.

I'm a cyclist and used to commute over ten miles a day (before I started working from home) and think this guy was definitely in the right in this situation.

A dozen thugs surrounding him and aggressively threatening him is considered a disparity of force and he has the legal right in that sort of situation to use deadly physical force to escape an imminent physical assault.

I don't know the exact details of what happened immediately before he tried to escape the mob, but it's certainly possible that the situation had risen to the level that he would have been completely legally justified in running directly over the CM idiots in order to escape.

This is the sort of thuggery that makes reasonable cyclists hate the shitheads who take part in CM mobs.

So, if confronted by a parade or marathon on his way to a birthday party, would this guy get all freaked out and floor it into the marathoners? Ram a float? There is NO reason any bikes should have ended up under this guy's car. You would have to try something stupid and aggressive to have this happen.

If the marathoners surrounded him and acted like these cyclists did, absolutely. And rightly so.

The reason that bikes ended up under the guy's car was because the cyclists were stupid and aggressive, not the driver.

Accidentally lurching forward in a stick shift car involves letting up on the clutch and stepping on the gas. It seems hard to do this accidentally.

Yeah, real hard to do when a bunch of bicyclists are screaming at you, pulling your car's mirrors off and saying, "Tip the car! Tip the car!"

The only mistake that driver made was to apologize to anyone. Those Critical Massholes terrorized the driver. They deserved everything they got, and then some.

It is time for the Seattle Police to crack down on Critical Mass. From now on, the police should be closely monitoring their little stunts and issuing tickets left and right. It's time these children got a taste of the inconvenience they've been inflicting on everyone else. Fuck 'em.

Another friend of mine was riding in a Critical Mass event last year downtown and was wrestled to the ground and beaten by a van load of aggro cops (remember that incident?)

Next time, I hope they beat him harder. Then they should beat a few others. If it were up to me, we'd implement a little Singaporean justice with these dipshits at Critical Mass. What a bunch of jerks. Isn't it interesting, by the way, that the comments on The Slog are running so heavily against them?

Accidentally lurching forward in a stick shift car involves letting up on the clutch and stepping on the gas. It seems hard to do this accidentally.

Yeah, real hard to do when a bunch of bicyclists are screaming at you, pulling your car's mirrors off and saying, "Tip the car! Tip the car!"

The only mistake that driver made was to apologize to anyone. Those Critical Massholes terrorized the driver. They deserved everything they got, and then some.

It is time for the Seattle Police to crack down on Critical Mass. From now on, the police should be closely monitoring their little stunts and issuing tickets left and right. It's time these children got a taste of the inconvenience they've been inflicting on everyone else. Fuck 'em.

As to the rest of your argument: a bicycle can go through a crosswalk much more safely than a car. Bicycles are narrower, move at slower speeds, and do not have the mass to do as much damage as a car. Additionally, cyclists, unlike drivers, are in almost as much danger from a pedestrian collision as the pedestrian.

When I lived in Boston, a pedestrian was killed by a bicycle messenger outside of my building. I was missed by inches by a messenger traveling at least 25 mph through an intersection jammed with pedestrians.

Oh, something else. I clicked around the Web and found a federal report that had a couple of interesting stats: One quarter of all bicyclists killed in traffic accidents are drunk, and eight times as many males are injured on bicycles as females.

So knock it off with the testosterone and the drugs, Critical Massholes.

@118 "I'm a bit surprised by all of the claims of cyclists blowing through stop signs at full speed..."

A few months ago, I was on Boyer coming out of the arboretum and turning left onto 24th Ave to go up the hill. I had the green light. I was waiting for oncoming traffic and I had not yet pulled out into the intersection (although I certainly could have). As the last car coming from the opposite direction approached the intersection he turned on his left turn signal and started his left turn, so I started forward (again, with the yellow). I got about 2 feet and out of my peripheral vision I saw something moving so I stopped. A dude whizzed by on his bike from my left (going down the 24th Ave hill), probably going at least 30, on the sidewalk. I managed to stop, but he definitely rubbed either his leg or some part of his bike on my bumper. Another inch and this guy would have been airborn, and likely seriously injured, as he was not wearing a helmet. There's no way he didn't see the red light, as there were cars on 24th in both directions stopped there already.

@126 Oops. replace "again, with the yellow" with "again, with the green". I was going to just clarify that the light had not even turned yellow yet. Doh.

Wow, a good old fashioned apology and acceptance of partial responsibility and not a word of apology from the WTO/Barista rejects. Guess we know who douche bags are.

BTW, was this a graduating ceremony for some Evergreen State eco-terrorist grads?

So, if cyclists take down the info of a car that assaults them, or drivers flagrantly breaking the law and aggressively, deliberately intimidating cyclist, do the cops do anything? Because they don't where I live. I've given them driver and vehicle description, complete with make, model, color, and license plate, and they're basically like, "haha, yeah, we're not going to do anything about that. we don't even have a catagory for doing anything about that."

doing nothing to defend cyclists' rights as road-users, but issuing them tickets because they annoy drivers is pretty fucking unfair, and it is uncivil treatment. it certainly inspires hating the cops in one's city.

After reading all the comments in these Slog Posts, I will now identify the real criminal: All the ignoramuses who moved to the Puget Sound post 1990.

If this were pre-1990, there would be no question: the motorist was wrong...100%

But now that we have a surfeit of blockheaded, Californians roaming the streets, the idea of a pedestrian having the right of way is anathema. Did you know that at one point, a person crossing Broadway in the middle of the street would have cars stop and let them pass?

But no, a cruder, more ignorant, more obnoxious breed of human has scummed its way North and turned a once genteel place into a garbage bag.

John Bailo-

I'm from the midwest, but lived in the CA for a few years. You are an ignorant slut. The Bay Area was by far the best cohabbitation of bicyclists and auto drivers I've seen. I did Page Mill Rd probably 50 times- tons of hairpin turns- and never had one problem. Meanwhile, it's *inconceivable* for me to commute from Issaquah to Kent because both Issaquah Hobart Rd and Hwy 900 are total deathtraps for bicyclists. Cheers.

But no, a cruder, more ignorant, more obnoxious breed of human has scummed its way North and turned a once genteel place into a garbage bag.

Yes, it is a shame about our militant cyclistas. I don't recall them being around here before, gee, the 1990s.

I agree with #130 but think it's not so easy to blame it on migrating Californians. From my experience in bike commuting and generally driving less for several years in PDX, I've learned quite a bit about how I act when I'm now behind a car. It just seems easier to go faster and believe that I deserve to get where I want to go without anybody getting in my way. The separation that a car provides from the elements just seems to provide for this detachment from humanity. And I actually ride a scooter most of the time (don't worry car drivers, it's a 200 and goes 95 so you'll still get to dinner on time) and can see the difference there as well. People just don't care about you if you have anything smaller.

And some of you people are beyond scary. I can't believe how many people are screaming for death sentences and without a trial no less. I hope this is just feigned bravado brought on by convenient anonymnity.

Did you know that at one point, a person crossing Broadway in the middle of the street would have cars stop and let them pass?

True enough, but you saw a lot more respect all the way around. Under that mythical old code, you wouldn't have ever seen packs of spandex-clad thugs on bikes choking off the streets on Friday nights at rush hour just for the hell of it, either.

The separation that a car provides from the elements just seems to provide for this detachment from humanity.

Horseshit! Like many people, I ride a bicycle and I drive a car and I walk. When it comes to craziness on the streets, bicyclists take the cake, followed by pedestrians.

@126 - Wow, that guy was nuts! However, just because he is an impending organ donor, doesn't mean his behavior represents "the norm".

"it certainly inspires hating the cops in one's city."

Oh please, hating the cops is these rich white boys biggest hobby, makes them feel oppressed. These guys go out on CM HOPING to get in a rumble with the cops, it's the only way to impress the bearded, tattooed ladies in the local coffee shop with their tails of bravado on their stupid, Darwin Award winning fixies.

"The separation that a car provides from the elements just seems to provide for this detachment from humanity."

I hear the Dali Lama arrived by car. Maybe His Doliness is a car nazi too?

Do any of you bozos actually have kids and real jobs with two working adults in the home, trying to pay a mortgage, trying to feed a family of 4. Some us try to use public transportation, (hell, sometimes I even ride a bicycle!) when we can but driving more often because that's the only way to get around town with kids when you have to work 30-50 hour work weeks.

Sorry, your silly Socialist dream is dead, it's why Obama is tossing the whacked out, far leftists, like the middle class rejects in CM, over board.

@126 and @136, I have seen some amazingly stupid behavior by cyclists. A couple years ago, one of them ran a stop sign as I was driving downtown and came directly into my path. I was driving a Mercedes 560SEL, a/k/a the last of the Wehrmacht staff cars, and it's a good thing because even though those things are tanks they are tanks with great steering and brakes and I was able to narrowly miss him.

Naturally, he shouted at me as if I had done something wrong, but I managed to impress upon him the fact that he had run a stop sign and that if I had hit him that he or his estate would have gotten the traffic ticket and my bill for cleaning my blood and bone fragments, removing dents, and restoring the paint job.

Bike messengers, of course, are the absolute worst of the worst. I'm convinced that most of them are on drugs.

Correction:

" ... and my bill for cleaning his blood and bone fragments, removing dents ..."

@138 - Once again, everyone has a story about a crazy cyclist who ran a red light or a stop sign. However, there is no mention of the countless cyclists encountered on a daily basis who are riding safely.

Unless you have a story that says, "every day when I'm driving, a different cyclist blows through the stop sign at intersection x", then you are only proving my point - that is, MOST cyclists are not suicidal. The point of my post was disagreeing with the assertion that blowing through stop signs and red lights is "the norm". I've seen no evidence, neither on the message boards nor in "real life", to indicate that most cyclists are unsafe.

Let's take away all the wheels of the equation. And the sexual orientation drama. What do we have left?



A scared driver and his companion. Unlawfully detained and feeling threatened. BOUND to make a mistake, especially in a hunk of metal 10x heavier than him.



How many? 10 some hooligans, taunting and making threats and not letting the first two leave.



What would you do??



I'm not from Seattle, don't know your trite little rules/culture, but as a tourist in a rentacar, if *I* were faced with the 21st century incarnation of Alex and his Droogies I would NOT be inviting them to the Korova Milk Bar. I'd be 'bumping' my way out of there.



And, as a cyclist I'd *never* do critical assness. We all surround ourselves with metal, we're all people. Except for the thug with the bike lock and his droogies.

He has the right use deadly force? Whatever, internet tough guys, it's easy to say whatever you want on the net, but let's see if he can pull of lying to a court that he felt in danger of his life.

@140, remember, I am all of the following: motorist, cyclist, and pedestrian. Yes, of course most of all these categories are well-behaved. And everyone who's been doing these activities for any amount of time has made their mistakes, too.

As a driver, I've cut people off. As a pedestrian, I've jaywalked. As a cyclist, I've run a stop sign or two. My point isn't that all cyclists are horrible, or that Critical Mass represents cyclists. My point is that, if you spend some time out there and are honest about it, it won't be long before you'll notice that cyclists are by far, on average, the most unsafe.

What happens is that a cyclist gets a head of steam up, and then doesn't want to stop for the light. It's always tempting to race through a red light or a stop sign when you don't see anyone in the intersection. I know what it's like. I've been there.

What gets me about some cyclists is the combination of recklessness and self-righteousness. There is a type of cyclist who, upon pulling a boneheaded stunt that comes close to killing or maiming himself and/or others, proceeds to blame everyone but himself.

Critical Mass represents the distillation of the worst cyclist behavior. It's all the more galling when it's paraded as some sort of civic virtue, rather than the calculated insult to the community that it really is. Critical Mass is a group of bullies, and like bullies everywhere they need adult discipline and supervision. That's why we have a police department, and I hope someone in that department will pay attention before something really bad happens.

Why do CM riders carry knives? Is tire slashing routine for them? Accounts form all witnesses mention multiple tires were slashed at the same time, that seems to indicate that CM riders routinely arm themselves before rides. That is rather disturbing.

Main point to be drawn from this story:

1) Idiocy reigned supreme this past friday evening. The car driver acted like an asshole, the bikers acted like assholes. Nobody comes out of this incident looking innocent or justified. Nobody. So there is no point in labeling one group (all drivers) or the other (all cyclists) as being accurately represented by the actors in this moronic tragedy. This was a clash between assholes. HOWEVER, certain conditions increase the chances of conflict when assholes are present (see #3).

2) This event (let's call it "asshole vs. assholes") has served to drive an EVEN BIGGER wedge between the cycling and driving community. I could almost feel the disdain of drivers as I rode by them this weekend. That is a terrible feeling.

3) The CM mantra "we're not impeding traffic, we ARE traffic" implies that bicycles are a legimite road-use vehicle and have every right to use this space (obviously). However, they have every right to SHARE this space, as is the expectation with every other vehicle on the road. So it is staggeringly obvious to me that hijacking the road (corking cars, blocking intersections, etc) seems like a strange method of advocating sharing the road. I'm sure CM is a helluva lot of fun, but those participating in it should not maintain any illusions that they are actually furthering any cause.

Want to ride bikes around town with friends on the last friday of every month? Fine. Just SHARE the road and obey the traffic laws that everyone else obeys. Anything less is damaging your (our) cause.

@141, if I were you I'd look through the comments here. "The Slog" is probably the most liberal blog in Seattle, and the sentiment is running overwhelmingly against Critical Mass. Seattle is famously reluctant to throw the book at its activists, but I predict that CM's string has finally run out. At least I hope so.

Why do CM riders carry knives? Is tire slashing routine for them? Accounts form all witnesses mention multiple tires were slashed at the same time, that seems to indicate that CM riders routinely arm themselves before rides. That is rather disturbing.

You're damn right it's disturbing, and I hope that the Seattle Police will take a hard line not just on traffic infractions from these thugs but on everything else they're doing that's against the law. Drugs, weapons, assaults, the whole nine yards. Book 'em, Dano.

I believe that CM actually stands for "Confrontational Misfits". They purposely provoke confrontations and then whine when there actually is a confrontation. If there ever was a point to their childish behavior, it was made several years ago. From now on they should be treated as any other negligent driver and ticketed.

I believe that CM actually stands for "Confrontational Misfits". They purposely provoke confrontations and then whine when there actually is a confrontation. If there ever was a point to their childish behavior, it was made several years ago. From now on they should be treated as any other negligent driver and ticketed.

Wait, I've driven a manual transmission vehicle. When you want to "rev" your engine, you do not pop the clutch.

Why did this driver do that?

@137- oh please. like nobody with a partner or kids or a mortgage rides a bike.

when you belong to a class of citizens who the police don't care if they die (won't investigate hit and runs, won't even take a report about super-aggressive driving, trying to run you off the road, ect), then you are justified in indignation and an attempt to change things. i don't think that critical mass is the best way of going about that, but i do understand the frustration and the feeling of oppression.

and i can also understand a motive for why the massholes fuck with the cars on purpose by being an obnoxious traffic pattern. cars fuck with cyclists ALL THE TIME, and corking, ect, is both to keep the ride together and to be like, hey, how do YOU like it? not very fucking much. so maybe think about that next time you think 8 inches is enough room to pass a bike, or that you should yell and curse at them.

I linked to this article after seeing it in today's Crosscut newsletter...I've been sitting here at my desk for about ten minutes now giggling at the quote about the "most Seattle thing that could've happened." YEAH, no lie. (Except if you live in Olympia like me, then I suppose it would be the most Olympia thing that could've happened.) I appreciate that it was a very tense situation and people got hurt, but thanks for the laugh.

"Execute these piece of shit cyclists live on TV to send them a fucking message. They see it as an opportunity wreak havoc on the city."

#61: Why don't you just pull out an Uzi and blow away all the bicyclists with it like that guy who just killed all the homos and atheists T the Knoxville Unitarian Church? After all, that's the Amurrican Way, isn't it -- wipe out anybody who doesn't agree with you, preferably in as brutal a manner as possible?

Seriously, I'm absolutely horrified at most of the comments on this list. I don't live in Seattle, but at this point, I'm almost afraid to go there, especially with my bicycle. The level of hatred on this list towards people who are doing something as innocent as choosing to get around by bike instead of car is nothing short of horrifying.

"What is needed is a large group of pedestrians to congregate at one of the intersections on the next CM ride and walk in a dense square, slowly, around the intersection, again and again, blocking them entirely. Share the road, Massholes! We pedestrians pollute even less than YOU do, so we're even cooler. You just sit there and wait for us all to decide to let you pass."

#17 -- Please, be my guest. The point of Critical Mass is to slow down the streets and make them safer for everyone. Nothing would do that better than a huge group of pedestrians clogging up the intersections, which are really theirs to clog. Pedestrians and Bicyclists are natural allies in ending the tyranny of the automobile over our public streets. I believe the days of automobile-dominance are severely numbered, but anything that helps bring about its downfall even sooner is extremely welcome.

As for all those people who suggest reporting outrageous, life-threatening acts of aggression to the cops instead of confronting the people who are responsible for them -- all I can say is, could you try this, and then get back to me? I'd bet dollars to donuts that if Judah's friend who almost got killed had gone to the police, they would have cited him for thumping the SUV, and let the driver off with an apology. Anybody who thinks otherwise is dreaming. I'd love to be proved wrong about this, but my experience tells me differently. just like the people on this list, the cops are all too quick to assume that in the case of any problem, the bicyclist must be at fault.

i can't wait for the next CM!

this supposedly-liberal city STILL needs a wakeup call..

and it will be delivered by about 200 cycists, monthly.

AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU (that's you, car-hugger) CAN DO ABOUT IT!!!!! As Nelson from The Simpsons says, "Ha Ha!"

This guy shoulda had some bear spray in his car. Works great for getting rid of aggressive animals.

Need to be careful in how you store it if you leave your car in the sun though.

Bear spray works great against aggressive asshole drivers too! The riders I know are talking about carrying it.

The thing I don't get about this driver and his version of what happen is this. Why didn't he just stay put? Why did he feel the need to turn around or get off the road? I don't mind a stopped car in the middle of the road on a CM ride. I do get sketchy when there's a moving car in the CM pack.

Bottom line is cars turn you into a raving lunatic at times. And yes I do own and drive a car too.

Heh, if one of the CM idiots was actually stupid enough to use pepper spray or bear spray on someone driving a car, the driver would almost certainly floor it to get away from the assault, not caring who they drive over in the process.

@136, 138

I never claimed that it was the norm. But it does happen. That was just my most extreme example. I am well aware that there are most cyclists follow the rules of the road and ride responsibly. Just as there are many good drivers who follow the rules of the road, and actually treat cyclist with respect when sharing the road with them.

That being said, there are plenty of places where cyclists routinely ignore traffic signals. One is at the T-intersection of Broadway and Summit (I think its Summit; its at the north end where Broadway bends and becomes 10th, where the Kinkos is). Bikes travelling north on Broadway go by the traffic stopped at the light and continue up Broadway/10th all the time, probably because they can do so relatively safely as there is no street on the east side of the intersection. I've seen some near-collisions there with pedestrians that were walking east in the crosswalks.

Another is right by where the incident occurred last weekend. At the 12th and Aloha intersection, since 12th turns one-way north of there, bicyclists often blow through that intersection, sometimes barely slowing down.

So those are two examples on my short, couple-of-times-a-week drive. I actually don't drive much or very far when I do, or I'm sure there'd be at least a couple more.

But the point of all this is not that people in general think that all cyclists are idiots or assholes. Most aren't. But the bad ones tend to be pretty bad. The people who tend to ride that way are probably aware they are not likely to get caught, and are cocky enough to think they won't make a mistake and cause an accident. And they don't care about anyone but themselves, including their fellow cyclists.

Seems like CM draws a lot from that crowd, so the CM body has a higher-than-usual percentage of them, and combined with the fact that it has a 'protest' mentality, everyone suddenly feels like it's Berkley in the 60s and the asshole factor goes way up (missing the whole point of what actually was going on in the 60s, mind you).

If CM wants to go legit, work with the SPD, announce the route ahead of time, and ban alchol, they'd go a lot farther making a statement and there would probably not be these kinds of problems. At this point though it's hard for anyone to treat them as anything but a bunch of self-serving assholes. What I don't get is why some of the non-assholes who ride along don't start their own thing and do it the right way, or at least make an effort to police the group themselves better.

Slaughter every cyclist. Kill them all and use their bones to make my bread.

@153 "Pedestrians and Bicyclists are natural allies in ending the tyranny of the automobile over our public streets."

This is complete bullshit. In this case, the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy. Cyclists treat pedestrians the way that cars treat cyclists. And I'm not just taking about the assholes who ride around Capitol Hill on the sidewalks.

The point of Critical Mass is to slow down the streets and make them safer for everyone. Nothing would do that better than a huge group of pedestrians clogging up the intersections, which are really theirs to clog. Pedestrians and Bicyclists are natural allies in ending the tyranny of the automobile over our public streets. I believe the days of automobile-dominance are severely numbered, but anything that helps bring about its downfall even sooner is extremely welcome.

Yeah, I'd love to see what the Critical Massholes would do if, during one of their Friday rides, a bunch of pedestrians blocked their way and then "corked" them for 10 minutes. They'd go fucking ballistic is what they'd do.

You know, I'm a fairly liberal guy, but the puritanical streak on the left really leaves me cold. The right-winger puritans want to forbid abortion and "sodomy" and unapproved fun in general, and the left-winger puritans want to forbid cigarettes and cars and unapproved fun in general.

You are brothers under the skin with Pat Robertson. It is all about reforming the behavior of other people, in the name of a "community" that you neither understand nor respect. If I had $100 for every one of you oh-so-lefty jerkoffs who loves the "community" but hates most of the people who happen to live in it, I'd be Bill Fuckin' Gates.

You don't like cars? Fine! I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell to my relatives back in Dunfuckistan who don't like abortion: "Then, for cryin' out loud, don't get one."

@124 - even the comments on Indymedia are running more towards the driver.

@105 - the only "homo" involved was the driver, not the cyclists. The cyclists are probably overwhelmingly hetero, and think their aggro behavior and combination of American Spirit/PBR/sweat/skanky feet smell attracts the girls with dreadlocks.

kill all hippies

Is "aggro" a new word among the terminally trendy?

This is why you should support Conceal and Carry laws.

can't we all just get along....take a deep breath people.

To everyone, on both sides, who are all geared up and posturing for a fight: Go Join the Army - I hear they're hiring!

Everyone else - chill the fuck out.
I know this is Seattle but puuhhhleease - stop with the whining. Oh.... my bike got run over -waaah - Oh, I once got cut off by a biker - whaaah!!

If this is the biggest issue you have in life, be thankful. Accidents happen - move on.

Nobody likes a crybaby - except your Mommy.

Oh god, this is such bullshit, and you assholes are swallowing it right up.

Someone said "Let's flip the car?" and they wouldn't let him leave even after CM had passed??? Yeah fucking right!

This asshole lost his cool and hurled a couple of tons of machinery at a few people who got mad and struck back. He deserved a beating, and he certainly does NOT deserve an opportunity to tell his "side" of the story in Seattle's "alternative" weekly (with the protection of his last name, no less.)

MP - you're the asshole. That guy didnt 'deserve' a beating, anymore than you do for your dumbass comments

I think Critical Mass is being corrupted by its environment. Remember, you become like those you fight against. Motorists also hate each other, not just you. For me, one of the main benefits of using a bicycle is that I can avoid most of that aggressive, competitive, polluted bullshit.

In this world, you're always going to encounter assholes. The trick is to not become one yourself.

Okay, Steve. Maybe next time a motorist attempts to run over a few bikers because he's been inconvenienced for a few minutes, a few of us can pass a petition around asking him to please not crush us or our friends anymore. When he doesn't listen to reason, we can call the cops and they can show up late, do nothing, or even arrest us. Then we can file a complaint with the PD and they can disregard it completely. Maybe we could go so far as to elect new politicians who will promise to make police more responsive! Anything to avoid, you know, standing up for ourselves, defending our friends, or holding people responsible for the dumbass, life-threatening shit they did right in front of our eyes.

The view might be ugly from under the wheels of a two-ton machine, but remember: you're taking the moral high road! Yay!

MP, You and your friends broke the law by 'standing up for yourself' , and it didnt prevent any damage. It seems like the guy stopped on his own, and then you vandalized his car and assaulted him.

At least that is the statement from the lawyer guy who was the actual victim, as reported on the SLOG.

Most people agree that the dumbass shit came out of the orrifices of people like you.

all of these crit mass cyclists who think they are out battling for some common good by ganging up and beating up a gay guy with his girl friend in the car next to them are pathetic.

(btw,i bike commute to work and walk and bus 90% of the time)

What's really pathetic is your attempt at constructing an argument. First, you appeal to authority, citing the fact that people broke the law (omg!). As everybody already knows, what's legal ain't always what's right, so I don't know what your point is here. For what it's worth, attempting to run people over ain't legal either. Next you appeal to the masses, that "most people agree" with you. Okay, thanks for letting me know the results of your poll, but again, that's just piss-poor argumentation and wouldn't prove anything even if it were true. Next, like SLOG, you want to point out that the guy who was attacked was gay (and also that he's a lawyer.) Now you're just bringing up irrelevant details. What's the implication here? If we're going to add more character details, can we also tag him with "clown" for actually calling his attackers "eco-terrorists"? Finally, you let us know that you bike and walk to work 90% of the time. Congratulations. I live in an igloo and have pop-tarts every morning for breakfast. I'm so glad we're getting to know each other, even if how you get to work doesn't mean shit about your input into this situation.

This situation is simple. By his own admission (since you trust his laughable account so much), he tried to act macho and intimidate people with what amounts to a lethal weapon and at best (again, if we are to believe him) "accidentally" charge his car right into standing people, running over their bikes as they moved out of the way. When he got out, his car was forcibly disabled and he got cracked in the head. If I waved a loaded gun in someone's face threateningly, and then it "accidentally" went off, but luckily enough no one was hurt, and then I put it down to make sure everyone was okay, I wouldn't be surprised or even feel wronged if someone punched me in the face and threw my gun into a lake because, yo, there are repercussions for stupid, life-threatening behavior. And even more simply, when someone acts macho and intimidating they should expect that someone might rise to the their challenge (and they should remember that they might not feel so tough when they're out from behind the wheel.)

But really Steve, good luck out there with all that bike commuting, and let me know if you need me to sign a petition or something if someone half kills you because of moronic road rage and you feel like doing something symbolic and ineffective about it.

MP - you and your pals have fun out there on your bikes. You win!

Anything to avoid, you know, standing up for ourselves, defending our friends, or holding people responsible for the dumbass, life-threatening shit they did right in front of our eyes.

Want to know what the Critical Massholes are really all about? Check out this lovely video of a bunch of them surrounding an elderly, handicapped couple in San Francisco.

Vandalizing their minivan. Jamming their bikes under the vehicle. Claiming that there's someone trapped under the car. Swearing at them. These are the people who love their "community" so much.

Such lovely thugs you are.

Corking is illegal. Vigilantism is illegal. This whole event highlights why CM has such a bad rap. It is biker's chance to get back at all the commuters that don't give them enough room. I ride. There I said it. And I ride hard (in and out of traffic etc) but I know that if I'm going up a hill and not moving faster than traffic - I GET OUT OF THE WAY. Its a respect thing. I appreciate the folks that let me roll a stop sign - its human power and saves me some energy but I also don't intentionally hold people up. Get along or get the hell off the road. That goes for everyone. If you bike and hold up traffic, I hope you get hit. If you're a car that squeezes me out, yes I'll take your damn mirror off. Respect eachother or don't complain.

Corking is illegal. Vigilantism is illegal. This whole event highlights why CM has such a bad rap. It is biker's chance to get back at all the commuters that don't give them enough room. I ride. There I said it. And I ride hard (in and out of traffic etc) but I know that if I'm going up a hill and not moving faster than traffic - I GET OUT OF THE WAY. Its a respect thing. I appreciate the folks that let me roll a stop sign - its human power and saves me some energy but I also don't intentionally hold people up. Get along or get the hell off the road. That goes for everyone. If you bike and hold up traffic, I hope you get hit. If you're a car that squeezes me out, yes I'll take your damn mirror off. Respect eachother or don't complain.

fuck all you im going swimming...and jump roof top to roof top.
Any one step ? they get knoked the fhuc out..

#125

When did this purported killing take place in Boston? The ped dropped by a messenger?

I think you may very well be mistaken.

@179, it happened in 1998. As a result, Boston required bicycle couriers to be licensed and to prominently display their tags. Of course, the couriers have ignored the law just like the Critical Massholes ignore the traffic laws wherever they are.

The typical bicycle courier is a drug addicted loser who doesn't give a damn about anybody or anything in its path. Just like Critical Mass. Peas in a pod.

I got it wrong on the bike courier death in Boston. It wasn't a death. A courier ran over a 62-year-old man and put the man in a coma for five weeks, and caused him to undergo years of physical therapy to recover. That's what led to the licensing law, which was opposed by the trade association for the thugs.

The victim was William J. Spring. The accident happened in 1997, not 1998. In 1999, another bicycle messenger, a loser by the name of Darrin W. Linder, struck 54-year-old John R. Falante, causing massive head injuries. The loser biker, who was riding the wrong way on a one-way street, was not licensed, even though the law required it.

f you're a car that squeezes me out, yes I'll take your damn mirror off.

All I can say is you'd better be pretty damn careful about whose mirror you take off, and when. Try it with me, and you'll regret it.

And all I can say is INTERNET TOUGH GUYS FTW!

AND ANOTHER THING: fuck the law AND fuck critical mass, too.

Yay, go America! You guys are just GREAT.

Is nobody going to call out Dead Bike Riders (105, 107) for being a cunt of the highest magnitude?

Dead Bike Riders. You are a cunt of the highest magnitude.

And you have a tiny johnson. Your impotent 'roid rage is palpable from your projective, wishful postings.

6'5 310lb? Fuck off and pull the other one, warrior - it's got bells on, you pussy liberal fag.

Someone from CM said that part of the purpose of the ride is to encourage people to use bikes or public transport. Yeah. Public transport. Like the BUS this non-car and non-bike owning citizen uses that's delayed by an HOUR every time the CM morons go hunting motorists to beat. Way to go, CM pusses.

To repost another commenter: "Only when cyclists are required by law to pass a cycling test, maintain a valid cycling license, annual cycle registration and insurance should they be allowed on a public roadway". That would mean only responsible folks got to use bikes and the ecoterrorists would be weeded out.

SPD need to police the CM rides from here on, and ticket/arrests every "cyclist" who violates traffic codes. Period.

Critical Massholes need to get beaten up early and often. The sooner we rid the streets of these anarchist foul mouthed troublemakers, the better.

if any of these jerkoff bicyclists fuck with me, I'll be happy to show them the business end of my 9mm and remind them that being a fucking asshole has consequences. suck on that, massholes!