Critical Mass Brazil
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- BusterBoy0
hey pizza you dickwad...calm down a bit.
monNom's point was, these Critical Mass rides with hundreds of cyclists riding en masse through busy city streets do clog up roads and create enormous tension between cyclists and car drivers. Their overall premise may have some substance but their tactics are bloody atrocious and do the cycling cause more harm than good.
- nothing personal meant towards monNom, of course.pizzafire
- true, its a bad approach to the whole subjectjimzy
- na, not at all... it gets less experienced cyclists on the road, and shows them that safe cycling is more than wearing a helmet.kingsteven
- pizzafire0
^ so, shitmobil cars don't clog up roads? even when they aren't, they cause enough problems. most of the time, drivers are way too careless/thoughtless concerning anyone nearby.
no, sorry, I won't calm down. fuck em'!
- Projectile0
God so many people just get the completely wrong idea about critical mass!!!
It's not a bunch of cyclists intentionally clogging up the road. It's a bunch of cyclists doing it together, making it the only safe time/place to cycle without stressing that someone's gonna run you off the road because they're running late for work.
Just this morning, not 20 minutes ago, a guy pulled out of a parking space in front of me, and then just stopped, blocking the road! I slammed the brakes so hard my back wheel came off the fucking road! If I'd hit him at speed I would have bounced into oncoming traffic and be in hospital or morgue right now.
Critical mass is about reminding these motherfuckers that we exist... that they are meant to SHARE the road with us, that we are not just little rodents scavanging for space, but have as much right as they do not to be bullied off the road every day. Drivers only ever look out for other drivers, and that's the biggest problem for us.
</rant>
- wrong way to do it...their tactics just antagonise drivers,BusterBoy
- and a better alternative is what?
Ask nicely...again?? fuckoffProjectile - not the right way, i'm a cyclist but clogging up the road to make it safe is not going to solve anything.imnotaplumber
- Spot on Projectile, most people (incl. cyclists) really don't understand how dangerous the roads can be.kingsteven
- emphor0
Yeah car drivers are mostly dickheads, you just got to be prepared for the worst at all times. Try not to aggravate the situation and get home in one piece.
- rascuache0
Bit harsh to tar all drivers with the same brush, I think it depends on where you ride. Idiots are definitely in the minority where I live as most drivers are used to the high number of cyclists. You do get the odd impatient wanker in a taxi every now and again though, but that's to be expected anywhere I reckon.
Critical mass events could be organised a bit better though, they should use a defined route (not necessarily the same one every month) so that drivers can plan around it. On Friday most people just want to get the fuck home, so having a planned route for motorists to avoid might remove a lot of the tension that goes with having your journey home held up.
- Projectile0
^ yeah try London.
it's actually not the fact that they wankers... that's pretty exclusive to black cab drivers and white van drivers it's the fact that we don't even factor into their thinking and mirror-checking that makes it so bad for us(ps black cab drivers and white van drivers relates to the car colour for those who don't know)
- Don't forget to Jew bus drivers!orrinward
- haha @ final comment.
excellent.detritus - Hahahah Orin.Hombre_Lobo
- Aye, I'm on LFGSS and the frequency that new threads pop up in the "Rider Down" section is alarming...rascuache
- detritus0
I used to really like going on Critical Masses here in London, but found the shrill middle class venting overwrought and, ultimately, quite self-destructive.
One time we blocked London Bridge, made our point... then kept blocking it. 15-20 minutes we were there... I'd pulled myself to the side of the street after the first few minutes as I thought it was getting stupid. Around 10 minuets in, an Irish tourist walking past asked me what it was all about, by which point I couldn't really give a justifiable answer. He looked at me with the contempt I felt for myself and the whole enterprise.
Still, a great way to spend a summer evening In the city...
- lowimpakt0
cars are the leading cause of injury death among children worldwide 10 – 19 years old (260,000 children die a year, 10 million are injured)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_de…
& the sixth leading preventable cause of death in the United States
- lowimpakt0
sorry, that should be "car crashes"
but that doesn't factor in the deaths from air pollution or other ailments such as asthma etc.
- lowimpakt0
i don't even know why I typed that.
- pillhead0
That is fucked up.
- lobstarr0
You know what pisses me off. That some cyclists think they can change from a pedestrian to a motor vehicle anytime they wish. Like if they have to stop for a red light going one way -- oh! -- the dickhead will use the walkway to skip the red light, or just not follow any road rules at all, choose one fuckers if you want my respect.
- this thread is about some cunt who without regard ploughed through a mass of cyclists, not about running red lightsBluejam
- Doesn't sound like I'd really give a fuck about 'your respect'.detritus
- also lob, would you rather the cyclist crossed at the lights or hold you up when they change?kingsteven
- i mean, on my commute i stop at maybe 20 sets of lights, with a car behind me.kingsteven
- you maybe have a bike in front of you at the lights once every week? so who knows how drivers react? me.kingsteven
- you'll fucking moan if we cross, you'll moan if we hold you up, you'll try and pass us when we're riding in the middle of the roadkingsteven
- all we're trying to say it's not safe to pass here, or i'll get out of this guys way... i'm not going to get killed whilekingsteven
- in some insane trust that obaying the green cross code and wearing a cycle helmet and hi-vis does shit.kingsteven
- detritus0
I'd encourage anti-cyclist drivers labouring age-old whinges about 'jumping red lights and transitioning into pedestrian spaces' to spend a week on a bike commuting.
Most cyclists I see are cautious, respectful road-users who are forced to use 'astandard' means merely to get to work without being knocked around the roads by hurtling masses of 1t+ lumps of metal.
A minor point too - drivers tend to forget that cyclist provide their own power, meaning that starting off from red-lights and such isn't as easy as taking a foot off the brake, dropping another onto an accelorator - if you want to keep 'your' roads moving, you should cut us some slack.
- i_monk0
Motorists cry like babies when cyclists don't obey the rules of the road, but then get pissy when cyclists act like regular traffic. If he'd driven through a bunch of people on motorcycles nobody would say the bikers were in the wrong. If he was in a huge truck and ploughed through a bunch of small cars, nobody would say the drivers of those cars deserved it.
No, I'm not a cyclist.
- lobstarr0
A fuck about my respect? Having drivers and cyclists on the road is all about fucking respect. Having a little dipshit do whatever he wants just makes me shake my head when they do irresponsible shit like that. Where I agree with you on your post is that there's always going to be a bad apple, on both sides who show a lack of respect.
- Projectile0
lobstarr... first of all,
secondly, I've never simply shot through a red light... and only couriers actually do. but we do sometimes go through them very carefully, when it's completely safe to do so.
The fact is, we are not cars and we are not pedestrians.
We don't have the ability to just charge into the middle lane of a busy double lane road, slow down stopping all traffic so that we can wait for a gap in the oncoming traffic. Be honest... do you really think you'd sit patiently behind me without hooting or coming 2cm behind me and revving like mad?? That's just one of thousands of examples I can thing of where we get bullied off the road. Nor do we have the ability to climb stairs or use sidewalks etc. like a pedestrian.
We are in the middle, a little bit of both. Soft and squishy like a pedestrian, and relatively speedy like a car. Fuck what the law says, until I get the same actual rights as a vehicle, I'll cycle half pedestrian, half vehicle.
Try it, just once, I dare you. And no I don't mean piss along to your boyfriend's house round the suburban corner on a bmx. I mean real commuter cycling. Then come back and get all high and mighty
- Just out of interest dude, have you ever had cycle training?rascuache
- Option A, the cyclist should be infront of the car turning left. Same for option B.Jimbo82
- If waiting at lights obviouslyJimbo82
- Jimbo, assuming there are ASLs at every junction? Not always the case. You don't always need to be at the front, either...rascuache
- Safest place though, even if there isn't an ASL, rather than being in the blind spot like the diagram.Jimbo82
- It's all about being seen as a cyclist, get up to the front so you know he knows your thereJimbo82
- it might be the safest place if the layout of the junction is sympathetic, though technically once you've crossed the white line you've jumped the lights...rascuache
- ...line, you've jumped the lights. My point was that you don't need to be at the front.rascuache
- yes it's safer than the blind spot, but not necessarily safer than being in the middle of the lane a few cars backrascuache
- where traffic is slower, you have more time to move away from the lights, then you can move to the left to allow traffic to pass
rascuache - if there is and asl I use it, but 99% of the time, it's filled with cars/scootersProjectile
- I've cycled to work/school since age 8.... what other training is there, a course?Projectile
- http://www.cycletrai…
Just teaches road positioning and ting. Lot of people in london seem to go for it.rascuache
- Jimbo820
Golf driver was a f*cking nutter, no doubt.
It's like everything, there are no absolutes, there are plenty of careful drivers and some bad apples, same goes for cyclists. It's the militants who are the pricks.
Luckily I've never been hit by a car on foot or a bike (touch wood) but I have however been hit by two cyclists, one who went through a red light and one who was on the pavement.
I used to cycle, now I drive and am cautious of cyclists because of my own experience. I think it would be a good idea if part of the driving test was some form of cycling test. It would teach how to cycle carefully and give a sense as to how vulnerable you are when on a bike so that when you are in a car you can relate.
- microkorg0
PROJECTILE:
How can you say "Fuck what the law says" when it comes to your attitude towards cycling laws?
Surely that's probably the same as what the driver of the VW was thinking. "Fuck the law that says i'm not allowed to speed, hit and kill in my car".
- If the law told you to jump off a bridge, would you?i_monk
- LOL at imonks commentJimbo82
- no. that guy's saying "fuck morals, human life, everything"Projectile
- bull shit korg, get on a bike and you'll see.kingsteven
- epic_rim0
"It's not a bunch of cyclists intentionally clogging up the road. It's a bunch of cyclists doing it together..."
In San Francisco, It's a bunch of cyclists intentionally clogging up the road.
ON the other hand, it's quite hilarious and fun to witness.
- it is hilarious but at the same time a mob mentality can be pretty annoying as wellmoldero
- moldero0
if some one kills my kid like this, the guy better pray I kill him before he gets arrested or else he will watch his family get slaughtered from behind bars.