Mass arrests 'Critical Mass' cycle ride during Olympics opening

[Pat "5mph"]

cycling. As in what have you done to help?

I have just pumped up 3 bikes for the neighbourhood's kids, fixed a front brake, straighned a squinty handlebar, raised a a saddle.
Less controversy, more action by example, the next generation will be riding their bikes no bother

 

[MissTillyFlop]

cycling. As in what have you done to help?

I'll get the popcorn....

What have CM been proven to do to improve the way cyclists are perceived and / or cycling infrastructure, which can be directly attributed to them alone?

I flash me tits at angry drivers once in while - that tends to improve driver/cyclist relations.

 

[ComedyPilot]

What have CM been proven to do to improve the way cyclists are perceived and / or cycling infrastructure, which can be directly attributed to them alone?

I flash me tits at angry drivers once in while - that tends to improve driver/cyclist relations.

I guarantee if you flash them at me, it will improve our cyclist/cyclist relation

 

[Hector]

cycling. As in what have you done to help?

I'll get the popcorn....

The man rides a bike - enough said.

Trying to put out some spin on 'reclaiming the streets' is utter bullshit.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

When people talk about reclaiming the streets, I assume there's been an alien invasion like Day of the Trifids or something.

What are we reclaiming them from, cause I hate to break it to you, but I've been successfully staking my claim to the streets for about 33.89 years now.

I've done some walking in them, skipping, dancing shopping, hopping, cycling, skating, piggybacking, some (very bad) driving and pogosticking and none has ever tried to deny me my right to do so.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I have just pumped up 3 bikes for the neighbourhood's kids, fixed a front brake, straighned a squinty handlebar, raised a a saddle.
Less controversy, more action by example, the next generation will be riding their bikes no bother

not all the while our streets are dominated by fast moving motor vehicles they won't.

 

[dellzeqq]

What have CM been proven to do to improve the way cyclists are perceived and / or cycling infrastructure, which can be directly attributed to them alone?

I flash me tits at angry drivers once in while - that tends to improve driver/cyclist relations.

I'm repeating myself here, but....
at a time, fifteen years ago, before the boom,. when cycling was really marginalised in London they gave cyclists the idea that, if there were enough of us, we could hold our own in city streets, and that we were a source of variety and joy. CM had a vision that's been realised on CS7 (and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere in London) but that vision was theirs and theirs alone - just as it was in San Francisco when cyclists assembled in Berkeley once a month to ride the Bay Bridge to the city.

Now......it's annoying, it's uncomely, it's bewildering and it's not intelligent, but the finger-pointing from people who've never been on a CM, but who have certainly reaped the benefit from both the group confidence that made a good number of the cycle campaigners who did put together a reasoned and articulate case for cycling and the individual confidence that thousands, or even tens of thousands of CM graduates took away with them is itself uncomely and unintelligent. My tip is....take it for what it's done, take it for what it is and say thankyou.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

not all the while our streets are dominated by fast moving motor vehicles they won't.

We need to be realistic: some people/ most businesses, need their car.
If I had a family and if I could afford the expense, I probably would have one.
Does not mean I would use it exclusively, but of course it would make life much easier.
Fast moving vehicles deliver your Amazon purchase, your Tesco delivery, I dare say your office supplies.
I would go for more cycling facilities. Actually here in Glasgow it's not so bad, there is always a way to avoid heavy traffic when on a bike.
BTW, after the Olympics, what will become of the Olympic traffic lanes? Will they maybe stay as cycling lanes?

 

[dellzeqq]

The man rides a bike - enough said.
.

we all do that....

 

[MissTillyFlop]

I'm repeating myself here, but....
at a time, fifteen years ago, before the boom,. when cycling was really marginalised in London they gave cyclists the idea that, if there were enough of us, we could hold our own in city streets, and that we were a source of variety and joy. CM had a vision that's been realised on CS7 (and, to a lesser degree, elsewhere in London) but that vision was theirs and theirs alone - just as it was in San Francisco when cyclists assembled in Berkeley once a month to ride the Bay Bridge to the city.

Now......it's annoying, it's uncomely, it's bewildering and it's not intelligent, but the finger-pointing from people who've never been on a CM, but who have certainly reaped the benefit from both the group confidence that made a good number of the cycle campaigners who did put together a reasoned and articulate case for cycling and the individual confidence that thousands, or even tens of thousands of CM graduates took away with them is itself uncomely and unintelligent. My tip is....take it for what it's done, take it for what it is and say thankyou.

I'm not thanking anyone who uses violence as a way to make themselves heard. At that point they have lost the argument in my opinion. This is why my family left Ireland.

I am greatful to LCC and BC etc and to the peaceful people who were there are that start of CM but the people in that video were nothing but a shower of c**** who I would happily pay to be taken OFF the streets.

 

[dellzeqq]

I am not leaving. But Tiberius Baltar has raised some very, very good questions which seriously need an answer. Make that good answers. The same has those 182 arrests. But most important of all: Mother Nature has raised a very important question about the use of cars and all other gas guzzling devices. We can debate until we get orange, green and blue in our faces. But we need to do something now. I have, as you are fed up to hear about, written and released an online book (please note; no woodpecker was displaced in this process) set to year 2035('ish). I don't think that year will be a good year for us all due to things happens now. Those of us making it to 2035, may have good reasons to envy those who for different reasons passed away in 2012. Sorry to be so frank and brutal on a Sunday afternoon, but I see plenty of evidence to back up this view.

Hence; I want the likes of CM to succeed and to become a big movement. This is about environment and our planet. This is about sustainable transport in cities. The only sustainable personal transports in cities and towns is the bike. We need bike lanes and we need respect for us bike riders. It is not about being arrested and bashing some police officers for the hell of it or because of some loony political ideas.

There is serious questions to be answered. See Tiberius Baltar's questions, quoted by me above.

they're not questions - they're evasion. But......to clear one thing up. CM isn't organised. It just happens. That's a weakness and a considerable strength. So, to be clear, when somebody picks up on a website, that website is just one person. Everybody turns up with their own idea. So when people say 'they can't agree amongst themselves' that's perfectly true. There's no intention to agree.

Now.......politics in this country is supposed to be about programmes and justifications and articulation. I say supposed to be because actually it's usually about chasing tomorrow's headlines, but CM has no ambition in the programme, justification and articulation department. It's pure theatre. That, of course, is dissatisfying to the armchair theorist who wants to pass an opinion that comes ready-wrapped. To be honest, it's not for me either, but, like it or not, theatre has its place in cities. Cities are moved by theatre in ways that articulation can't manage. That's why we have a zoo, that's why there are monuments, that's why it matters to some people that they go and see the road race in person..

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm not thanking anyone who uses violence as a way to make themselves heard. At that point they have lost the argument in my opinion. This is why my family left Ireland.

I am greatful to LCC and BC etc and to the peaceful people who were there are that start of CM but the people in that video were nothing but a shower of c**** who I would happily pay to be taken OFF the streets.

I've been on dozens of CMs and not seen one violent incident. Actually I have seen one violent incident, when a cab driver knocked a cyclist off and the police jumped all over him. The difference between the Stratford CM and the rest is that the police were always going to make a point. It would have been a lot smarter to hand out sweeties.

By a strange co-incidence I led a ride last week that was trailed by the police. One of the things CM taught me is to make the first move to defuse a situation. I went to the back of the ride, hailed down the police car, and said 'since you're too polite to ask, this is who we are and this is what we're doing'. The cops, half my age, didn't have much option but to smile about it. In my time at CM we talked to the cops all the time, and they talked to us, and it's fair to say that there was a deal of affection. I'd challenge the younger ones to sprints. My strong suspicion is that the cops at Stratford hadn't seen a CM before and got over-anxious. Combine that with a bunch of kids out for high jinks and..........

 

[GrumpyGregry]

We need to be realistic: some people/ most businesses, need their car.
If I had a family and if I could afford the expense, I probably would have one.
Does not mean I would use it exclusively, but of course it would make life much easier.
Fast moving vehicles deliver your Amazon purchase, your Tesco delivery, I dare say your office supplies.
I would go for more cycling facilities. Actually here in Glasgow it's not so bad, there is always a way to avoid heavy traffic when on a bike.

I've got all the cycling facilities I need; they are called roads. The roads are fine, it's the traffic on them, and the volume and speed thereof, along with the abysmal driving standards, that are the problem.

Why do I assert this so strongly? Because a commute to work at 05:00 is a joy but at 08:00 it is a trial; on the same roads. Because a ride from London to Brighton (or Southend, or Whitstable, or Bognor) that leaves London at midnight is a pleasure whilst the same ride starting at 12 midday on the same roads requires a resolve in the face of insurmountable odds that a latter day Henry V would be proud of.

I have no problem, generally, with commercial or delivery vehicles . We get our shopping delivered so we don't have to use the lovely Helen's car. That said, the home delivery drivers from Tesco and Sainsbury are a scourge on my rural commute; close passes, no indicators, left hooks and I'm not alone around here in feeling this is so. I expect it is time pressure on the drivers.

I live in a small but thriving market town. On a bike a number of the alternatives to mixing it with either fast moving or heavy traffic are illegal or equally risky or unpleasant. So I mix it. But hundreds of other potential cyclists won't get on their bikes as a result.

Private cars? Need vs want. People, generally, are convinced their want is a need and that, generally, they have no choice but to own and operate a private car. Generally, I think we know different.

 

[toroddf]

So 182 arrests, violence and theatre is supposed to give us safer cycle lanes and more tolerance from the car drivers ?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

So 182 arrests, violence and theatre is supposed to give us safer cycle lanes and more tolerance from the car drivers ?

How many people have been charged with an actual offence?