Critical Mass London, May 2010

For a brief period once a month cyclists cause congestion, unlike cars that do it all the time. Last night was no exception and hundreds of cyclists certainly made their presence felt in Central London. There was much hooting from impatient drivers who seem to think they have more right to the road than cyclists. One taxi driver held his horn on constantly for many minutes during a traffic hold-up. Is that legal?

The riders, and skateboarders too, were greeted with cheers from pedestrians and some even did high-fives with the passing cyclists. A group of children high-five me and I was left with a sticky hand. Ugh! In Piccadilly Circus the ride was met by cheers from many tourists.

One downer though was when a rider was arrested by an enraged cop. Apparently being on the wrong side of the road is now an offence for cyclists but not for cars though. The rider was charged with obstruction and handcuffed for refusing to move while being stationary on the right hand side of the road, along with many others, caused by traffic hold ups at the front and pressure from drivers at the rear.

I managed to video three rammings of cyclists by drivers. The first her rear wheel was trapped by the number plate of the impatient taxi driver who deliberately rammed her. The second was a scooter rider who is seen deliberately making contact with a cyclist's front wheel and the third a motorist who is seen deliberately ramming a cyclist. If I alone saw three there must have been several more in this large Critical Mass.

Towards the end the ride visited the Democracy Village in Parliament Square where it was again cheered and many bikes were held high in response.

http://www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk/index.html

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Critical Mass
• Bicyclists
• rammings
• cheering
• high-fives

[jagwag]

Its not on Christmas Eve it is on 31st, the last Friday of the onth.

[BestTits]

@ThePiticchio I ride my bike often, I ride legally though. 

[ThePiticchio]

@BestTits and u should get a bike!

[Sincrol]

@zivkovicable the roads, yes... but the legislation NO.

is those who break the laws and pay for that who afford the legislation over the roads.

So, if a Biker cross a RED light, he should get a FINE as much as the driver does. If a biker runs on a walk road, he should be ticked as well..

Oh! yeha, and bikes should have license plates too, then it whould help to indentify them... since bikers do too comite crimes, like for example punching someone else car... or stoping the trafic...

[BestTits]

Critical mass is illegal all who participate should be arrested for mob action, along with getting multiple traffic tickets.

[moltenmetal]

I'm all for people riding their cycles places etc. Fantastic for saving the planet and everything. And as a motorcyclist I understand the danger of being on 2 wheels, but these protests may be going a bit far? I think people need to obey by the laws of the road. Which include riding two abreast. Also, it appears that people are intentionally trying to provoke car drivers, by deliberately stopping when there is nothing in front of them? By all means protest, but maybe try to get a police escort?

[zivkovicable]

@Fallent You are wrong.Roads are paid for out of central taxation. Cars are taxed on emissions, meaning low emission pay no tax just like bikes. There is no such thing as road tax.Nearly all the roads in London were there before the invention of the car. I was held up by a black cab demo the other week. The whole of central London was gridlocked. Unlike these cyclists they were stationary for a couple of hours, engines running, causing even more pollution & congestion than they normally do.

[uncleSam5127]

Hello from Kuala Lumpur ,Malaysia :)

[leapoffaith20]

@Fallent Roads are paid for out of council tax. The funds from so called "road tax" the VED, go into a general taxation pool.

I drive for a living, that doesn't mean I'm an arsehole towards cyclists.

[alienofwar]

You don't deliver a good message by making people angry on the roads. Forcing ideology on others will never work. You just make a bad name for yourselves.