Minivan's rude introduction to Critical Smash

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I've had the extreme displeasure of getting stuck behind one of Critical Asses downtown cluster-fucks
before (Boston). They were (are), without a doubt a bunch of the most selfish, arrogant assholes I've ever encountered.

Minivan's rude introduction to Critical Smash

It was supposed to be a birthday night out for the kids in San Francisco, but instead turned into a Critical Mass horror show -- complete with a pummeled car, a smashed rear window and little children screaming in terror.

The spontaneous Critical Mass bike rides, in which thousands of free-spirited cyclists roam the city, have been a fixture on the last Friday night of the month since the early 1990s. But even bike-weary cops, who have seen their share of traffic disturbances and minor skirmishes, weren't prepared for what happened during the latest exercise of pedal power.

Here's the story:

Susan Ferrando, her husband, their two children and three preteens had come to San Francisco from Redwood City to celebrate the birthday of Ferrando's 11-year-old daughter. They went to Japantown, where they enjoyed shopping and taking in the blooming cherry blossoms.

Things took a turn for the worse at about 9 p.m., when the family was leaving Japantown -- just as the party of about 3,000 bikers was winding down its monthly red-lights-be-damned ride through the city.

Suddenly, Ferrando said, her car was surrounded by hundreds of cyclists.

Not being from San Francisco, Ferrando thought she might have inadvertently crossed paths with a bicycle race and couldn't figure out why the police, who she had just passed, hadn't warned her.

Confusion, however, quickly turned to terror, she said, when the swarming cyclists began wildly circling around and then running into the sides of her Toyota van.

Filled with panic, Ferrando said, she started inching forward until coming to a stop at Post and Gough streets, where she was surrounded by bikers on all sides.

A biker in front blocked her as another biker began pounding on the windshield. Another was pounding on her window. Another pounded the other side

Full article

[MissB]

1. We see Critical Mass riders in Portland too

I've never heard of them doing something like this before. I've only known them to be peaceful peeps.

[jilln]

2. Without commenting on the situation in the article,

the roads belong to everyone, not just you smoke-belching car drivers. As a cyclist myself, I am every day subjected to cars swerving into my lane to pass me, nearly running into me. Cars make right turns in front of me from left lanes. Cars run red lights and almost kill me. Passengers in cars yell as they go by me in attempts to scare me. Cars splash me with mud and rain water whenever they get the chance. Don't tell ME who's arrogant and selfish. Not only are cars the WORST citizens on the road, they're also the most polluting.

Oh, and by the way, for every "cluster fuck" caused by critical mass, I bet there are 1000 traffic jams caused by who? Oh that's right... cars.

[brentspeak]

4. Why not comment on the situation in the article?

[jilln]

8. I was commenting on the original poster's comments

That is allowed.

What happened in the article is obviously bad. And it has nothing to do with getting stuck behind bikes in a traffic jam. Comparing apples and oranges.

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

5. Cyclists are arrogant and selfish . . .

There, I've told you.

[hobbit709]

6. So because a lot of car drivers act like jerks

it's OK then for bicyclists to act like jerks also? I try to give bikes the room and space they need but they have no more right to break the traffic laws than I do. I have seen idiots on bikes on limited access highways, going the wrong way on one-way streets and with total disregard to red lights. I have been cussed out and flipped off for honking at a FOOL running a light in front of me.

[jilln]

9. I was not commenting on the article, as I said.

I was only addressing the original poster's comments.

[napi21]

7. I agree with you that many drivers are ignorant or downright mean to bicyclists

AND motorcyclists as well! But as angry as I've gotten with dome drivers, there's still no excuse for attempting to terrorize a family in their car just because there's a large group of you!

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12. My gripe isn't about cyclists...

It's about a bunch of boneheads who think they're making some sort of political statement by deliberately impeding the flow of traffic, running red lights and stop signs and make a spectacle of themselves (as if towing a tattered, dog hair matted, bong water stained sofa behind a chopped up Schwinn while wearing a jester hat is making a "statement" about bicyclists rights to be on the roadways).

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. After a few of those crazy bastards get killed it will all stop.

But, I'm afraid that's the only way to put an end to shit like that.

[madrchsod]

10. there are assholes in every crowd

since there is no accountability in this group these assholes can do what ever they please with out fear of arrest.

[Blue Diadem]

11. Those poor kids had to be terrified

I've never heard of a critical mass bike ride..I can only imagine what it must have been like for that family.

[originalpckelly]

15. Nor have I, I had to go look it up in Wikipedia.

:scared:

I hope we don't have any of those nuts here in CO. Bikes are cool, but these people aren't.

[Sapere aude]

13. Man we know where this is going to end up. Bike riders vs everyone else.

I've got nothing against bike riders. I ride myself from time to time. The majority of bike riders are decent respectable reasonable people. Now the rest of this thread will reveal that they are not all like that I'm sure.

So you small percent of ass hole riders speak your piece here.

[originalpckelly]

14. That's when you just step on the gas, and keep on driving.

These bastards need to learn to treat people better, one fucking tap on a bike tire and this is the shit that goes down? Seriously, this behavior cannot be tolerated any longer.

[northzax]

16. what an awful situation

but from reading the whole article it seems to be the exception to the rule of Critical Mass rides, not the rule itself. shame that a couple of jackasses felt the need to get violent and ruin a perfectly good exercise of civil disobediance by turning it into a mob scene.

And yes, running red lights and generally clogging streets is perfectly acceptable civil disobediance folks, the use of violence is not.