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Critical Mass Protest →
Normally, the term known amongst the Critical Mass participants for the defining of a traffic perimeter using bicycles and human bodies is “corking”. Corking generally takes place at intersections. The collective pack of Critical Mass bicyclists travel without regard to traffic signals. This disregard for the rules that motorists follow requires that cyclists take measures to control car traffic. Cyclists use their bikes and bodies to make barriers designed to block cars that would otherwise try to travel directly through the crowd, which is obviously dangerous to the cyclists. Sometimes it is necessary to block cars waiting at “stop” signals who find themselves enveloped by flow of hundreds of cyclists who might otherwise,in the absence of a human barrier, decide to continue forward when the light turns green. The goal of corking is to keep bicyclists from getting hit by cars when drivers choose to ignore the fact that hundreds of human bodies are a physical obstacle to forward motion.
The majority of the time the drivers of the cars are compliant and choose to wait, patiently or not, while the hundreds of bicyclists stream by. Some drivers enjoy the spectacle and cheer the bicyclists on, while others spew obscenities and pound their fists on the steering wheel, ostensibly upset by the additional time spent waiting for cyclists. Often times the friendlier, more outgoing members of Critical Mass will approach the driver’s window and attempt to engage the driver in conversation. The intention there is to inform and befriend the driver and keep him stationary for the three to five minutes it takes for the cyclists to pass, depending on the size of the crowd and the incline of the hill they find themselves on. I have yet to see a cyclist touch a driver’s car without provocation, nor have I seen a driver become upset because for reasons other than being forced to halt. - Critical Mass leadership
I am fully in support of bicycles being able to use the road, as long as they follow the same traffic rules as the cars that they demand “share the road”. I think that it is the responsibility of both driver and bicyclist to be respectful and careful of each other, similar to drivers and pedestrians.
I do NOT support Critical Mass. I think it’s a bullshit way for bicyclists to go out and be aggressive towards drivers while breaking laws and blocking roadways.
All of that being said, the driver in this case was most definitely in the wrong for hitting several bicyclists, most likely on purpose. And the cyclists are most definitely in the wrong for surrounding him, hitting him in the back of the head, breaking his car windows, even throwing a brick through the windshield. No one is blameless in this situation. I think it’s a good example of the tension that these events create.
If you were curious, I sold my car early this year, and I walk and bus everywhere. I have sympathy for both parties. But this is just ridiculous.
