Posted by Les Faber in I believe in the concept of Critical Mass Rides.
In a recent (July 25, 2008) Critical Mass Ride in New York City, A cyclist was assaulted by a New York City Police Officer. The twist is that the cyclist was charged with assault! We’ll see how this all turns out.
This video clearly depicts who assaulted who.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__dFgPjRd34
This has nothing to do with whether the concept of the rides is right or wrong.
The Critical Mass Website states:
Critical Mass is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists’ right to the road. The idea started in San Francisco in September 1992 and quickly spread to cities all over the world. This site attempts to be the most complete guide to all Critical Mass rides around the globe.
Critical Mass has a different flavor from city to city — there’s a big variety in size, respect of traffic laws (or lack thereof), interaction with motorists, and intervention by police. So if you want to know more about Critical Mass, you’ll really need to find out what your local ride is like. For those who must know more right now, here’s a link to Chicago CM, which I suppose is a “typical” CM ride, if there is such a thing.
Critical Mass has no leaders, and no central organization licenses rides. In every city that has a CM ride, some locals simply picked a date, time, and location for the ride and publicized it, and thus the ride was born.
CM is an idea and an event, not an organization. You can’t write to “Critical Mass” — certainly not by writing to me.
CM is intended to be a celebration, not an opportunity to cause trouble. Those who want to try to tie up traffic as much as possible and be confrontational with motorists are missing the point. We can assert our right to the road without being rude about it. Focus on the ride, not on the cars that also happen to be on the road.
I wonder when the next Critical Mass Ride will take place in Ottawa?
