Critical Mass ends up a mess in Seattle
There was a nasty confrontation between riders in Seattle’s Critical Mass on Friday and a motorist late for dinner, resulting in several people going to the hospital, a couple of wrecked bikes, smashed car windows, slashed car tires, and lots of U-lock-sized dents in a car.
- A television station’s report on the incident
- Many witnesses (see link below) argue that the facts in the King5 report are inaccurate)
- A participant’s perspective
Critical Mass is supposed to be about making the driving public aware of bicycles’ place on the roads–their tagline is something like “We don’t BLOCK traffic. We ARE traffic.”
I’m not so convinced, though. As someone who rides for recreation and as a part-time commuter, I care about how cars perceive me when I’m on the road. I don’t want to be associated with groups who violate the law and anger drivers–drivers who may want to make a little swerve in my direction (or my kids’ direction–they ride their bikes to school, and have had incidents with aggressive drivers) just because they think I’m the same as the riders who blocked downtown streets on the last Critical Mass ride.
I firmly believe that bikes need to be better accepted as part of the traffic patterns–whether in Seattle, or here in Chico–but I don’t see that skirting traffic laws is the way to make that happen.
July 27 2008 11:00 am | cycling
Okay.
So I’m totally NOT stalking you, Peter, but yes I *did* find this blog by googling “Peter Kittle.”
But I did it for a very important reason. I am going crazy about an idea I have for a teaching unit, and I think you could provide some helpful information.
If you would.
Please.
Details gladly provided, but I wasn’t sure if you checked your CSU email during the summer. Feel free to email me (I check it twice a day during the summer.)
Hope to hear from you soon!
-Donnie