This was a Critical Mass event, which is why the bicyclists are taking up all of the street as a way to reclaim the streets and protest the lack of safety for riders under usual conditions. It’s not legal, but protests are never useful if they’re fully legal now, are they.
I don’t like cars, but this is fucking bonkers. Trapping people in place isn’t ‘protesting’, it’s being a twat.
All the people claiming that this is a legitimate protest surely understand that the car driver was only ‘counterprotesting’, right?
Only protest where no one is inconvenienced and you can easily be ignored, mkay?
What’s fucking bonkers is car infrastructure. Highways trap me in place all the time when I want to talk a a walk or cycle.
Meanwhile, in Germany: §1 StVO
Where I live, critical mass is legal. Bikes can go on the street and we have a law that allows multiple vehicles that move as one to be treated like one vehicle.
Where is it legal to drive in the oncoming lane?
The organizers will inform the city that a critical mass protest is taking place, the city will inform the police and they will cordon off the route. If there are enough people talking part in the protest, the public order authorities will have no other choice - thus the name critical mass. The right to protest takes precedence over the right to drive this specific route.
And recording while driving…
lots of people in this thread that don’t understand how protests work.
Idiots in cars, idiots on bikes. Hell yeah I’m pro bikes but setting a wheel on incoming lane? Yeaah… no thanks, I’m fine
In the bike party near me, we take over the traffic lane but not the oncoming lane.
Maybe that’s why bike party split off from critical mass
Can’t see it; “failed to load media”.
It doesn’t matter if a protest is legal. The word you’re looking for is “non violent”
Imo it looks remarkably safe as long as we ignore the person in the car driving into oncoming traffic.
With her smartphone out, recording.
No but see youre responsible for all the actions of people who want to kill you.
The bikes in the oncoming lane are safe? C’mon what kind of joke. Blocking streets is one thing but they’re actually moving forward straight on in oncoming traffic, in what world is that safe?
in what world is that safe?
In the world of every parade that has been performed in every major city for the last two centuries at least.
Protesting the lack of safety for riders by being unsafe riders? I don’t think the best way to convince the public that cyclists can be safely integrated into traffic is to purposefully create dangerous situations.
Ah yes, the inevitable “protests should only happen when it’s convenient for everyone and 100% approved by the authorities” comment.
Ah yes, the inevitable disingenuous comment which puts words in my mouth. Not that I should expect reading comprehension skills from someone who apparently doesn’t know how to ride in the proper lane.
Yeah, but this is a little like protesting against gun violence by juggling loaded handguns and putting everything on the safeties working perfectly. You don’t protest an unsafe amusement park by going on the unsafe rides standing up.
Point being, most people would probably not want to serve as the example of what not to do. Most rules/regulations are written in blood, but most people aren’t volunteering to be the ink to pen those regulations.
No but how about do this but only in the proper lane? You’re still causing attention/inconvenience, but it’s a lot less likely someone is going to mow you down from behind over driving slowly behind you, versus riding directly into oncoming traffic.
Use your brain for two seconds. Don’t you think they already tried what you’re suggesting? If you were planning a bike protest, wouldn’t you only go down one side of the lane? Well, it turns out, the people running this already tried that years ago, and they found that blocking both lanes is the only way to do this safely. Otherwise asshole drivers will try to “just slip past” by doing things like taking left turns. Parades take up all lanes on a road for a damn good reason.
Your idea was already tried and found not to work.
Parades close down the street with barricades/detours and such so cars don’t have the option to dangerously drive at them.
What is the best way?
They could try attending local government meetings that decide city ordinances, or protest outside of the city government buildings?
Are people on this thread really that ignorant that I need to explain how local government works and how the people trying to get home from work in this disaster are not magically going to be on the side of these criminals trying to cause accidents?
Who’s to say that they’re not doing both?
I sometimes go on these critical mass rides and I am heavily involved in the local council meetings here when they discuss infrastructure. Unfortunately, you have to be squeaky wheel in order to get the grease.
Yeah, people are trying to get home etc. But it’s a minor inconvenience compared to cycling on bad infrastructure.
Funny how it’s a problem when cyclists start acting like drivers
Funny how no one would be on the side of a driver driving into oncoming traffic. They’re not acting like drivers unless you want to lump them in with absolute moron dangerous drivers.
Hold up traffic by staying in the proper lane and following road rules and I’ll be on their side.
That’s literally what happens during every parade. They don’t close down half a street and let regular traffic proceed down half a parade route. That’s dangerous. You close the entire street and send the parade down both sides of the street.
Have you really never been to a parade before?
You close the entire street
Right. You close the entire street, with barricades/detours and such. I don’t know what parade you’re going to but the ones I’ve been to don’t parade down both sides of the street while giving cars the option to drive down them.
That’s common in the US, but elsewhere theres often parades and demonstrations that se the entire road without blocking them off. Drivers can either wait or backout or be stuck there while everyone goes around them.
This looks like Miami. If it is… critical mass usually has a police force in the loop they do usually to stop people driving right through the crowd. The loop is posted online about a week before and there is always police presence
Probably LA? Looks similar but police less likely to beat the shit out of white people on bicycles
This is a CM?
I have never been to a CM with oncoming lane blocked (or in this case - not really blocked).
Also where are the corkers?
This is how cyclists feel when they are surrounded by cars on busy roads because the cycling infrastructure is shit.
Except, cyclists can’t kill people in cars with their bike.
So, lady, imagine our frustration.
Edit: spelling 🤦♂️
They feel like cars are coming from both sides of the road through red lights?
Where do you bike?
Yes.
I’ve witnessed cars driving in the wrong lanes (headed towards me) as they recklessly pass drivers.
I’ve seen drivers turning onto dedicated bike paths.
I’ve seen drivers jumping curbs. In the city, they’ve even managed to hop TALL, concrete barriers protecting bike lanes.
I’ve seen numerous cars flying through stop signs and red lights. At least a few times per week. And even more “stopping” on crosswalks.
I’ve witnessed a teen getting hit by a car while she used a crosswalk in front of her school. I’ve nearly been hit several times crossing at intersections, too. I saw an elderly man who was almost run over by a car turning right without slowing down (the driver then yelled at the old man).
If you think these are rare occurrences, you likely don’t live anywhere near cars. This shit happens all the time, everywhere.
And I won’t even bring up aggressive drivers who are hostile towards cyclists and use their cars as weapons.
I’ve had two close calls with roundabouts. One where someone didn’t look before entering and another where some tried to pass me inside the circle when they wanted to exit and I didn’t.
This gives me an idea. How about every bike gets retrofitted with a large titanium hook. The idea is that if you hit my bike, your car is pretty much totaled. Not just that but if you really hit me, the hook passes thru the radiator, thru the firewall and into the drivers asshole.
Put a little LED light on it as a warning beacon.
Maybe they could make the trucks bigger and more armored to compensate?
The all new 2026 Ford fackarator 350! With pedestrian slicer adapter and bicyclist impaler adapter! Slicer and impaler sold separately with $5000 memorial day discount!
A tactical pool noodle with a very abrasive end should do the trick.
“Dangerous to drivers”
Because you’re going to give yourself an aneurysm over a minor inconvenience? You’re in a giant suit of armor. You could hit every single one of those cyclists without sustaining even a scratch.
If the cyclists were actually dangerous to drivers, do you think the diver would be accelerating aggressively towards them?
Whenever I’ve been on a Critical Mass ride, we’ve always had designated “corkers”, people whose job it was to block traffic with blockading/dancing/whatever while the others continued onward. Without people doing that, you run the risk of this sort of carbrained nonsense.
Something else that happened on mine was that as soon as we hear sirens, we drop the mass protest and prioritize making a path for emergency vehicles to get through.
