January 28, 2006
Chaos at Critical Mass
Oh no! Two cops were injured at Critical Mass ride last night, and seventeen cyclists were arrested. The problems started when a line of cops on scooters attempted to stop the ride, and two of the cops collided with each other. The Village Voice's Power Plays blog has a comprehensive report:
Less than 10 minutes after leaving Union Square, a pack of about 100 bikers was moving south on Third Avenue when a line of 14 scooter cops patrolling alongside abruptly veered left to cut off the ride.One scooter cop slammed into another scooter, throwing the cop several feet from his scooter. He landed hard on the pavement, hitting his shoulder and head, as the scooter cop in back toppled over. A cyclist who identified himself an EMT stopped to assist the scooter cops, who were sprawled out on the street, before ambulances came to take them away on stretchers.
...Cops on the scene were clearly pissed. "He landed straight on his head," said one scooter cop who asked not to be identified. "It's not fun and games any more."
Clearly, things have gotten way out of hand. Why can't the Bloomberg administration provide the necessary support for a safe, organized bicycle ride once per month, as the city governments in dozens of cities already do? Criminalizing the monthly ride produces a chaotic situation of cat-and-mouse, and encourages reckless behavior on the part of both the cops and the cyclists. This has to stop before someone gets killed. [Related: BikeBlog has some followup.]
Question: what impact will this have on today's Idiotarod, which begins at 2pm at Kent and Metropolitan in Williamsburg? UPDATE: Probably in order to fake out the cops, the meeting is now at 2pm, at the monument in Fort Greene Park, which is between Myrtle and DeKalb Avenues, at St. Edwards or Washington Park. We're going to be on the scene, but we'd appreciate any mobile pictures you take- send them to photos(At)gothamist[d0t]com.
Image by Fred Askew.
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oh Jeez, are they still doing this cat and mouse waste of taxpayers money crap?
And what did the cop mean by "it's not fun and games anymore". Was it "fun and games" before?
Hope the injured Cops are ok.
Bet Mayor Bloomberg Blames the CM ride prior to knowing the Facts. If the NYPD wanted to stop the ride, why not do it prior to starting???
(sarcasm)Thank Goodness Mayor Mike is battling the Bike Menace!(/sarcasm)
Nuts.
violence is violent. CM has momentum, and it's destructive and violent to challenge that. Bloomberg should realize that alot of problems would be solved by reducing traffic...
Adding more efficient street level bus service.
-- Reducing truck cargo and increasing shipping to ports that encircle the city -- Encouraging safe bike routes to alleviate MTA rushhour stress...
change is good
why is critical mass illegal? You don't have a right to congregrate in groups? Why? cause groups tend to get ideas that the government sucks and are oppressive
As has been demonstrated beforer, NYC cops don't know follow basic traffic rules and are unsafe in/on any motorized vehicle. The injured officer should be cited for 1) improper lane change, 2) failing to signal, and 3) impeding traffic flow, just as they would have if the accident could have in any way been blamed on a cyclist.
Apparently, it was "fun and games" for cops to harass cyclists before. They'd better not try to pin this on the cyclists. Nobody forced the cop to swerve. If a cyclist had somehow caused the crash, that's one thing, but its apparently not the case. He took a stupid chance with a stupid move and learned the consequences. Why suddenly veer? You're on a motor scooter, officer. You can easily outrace the cyclists and then slow them down from ahead. But you just wanted to play "chicken" as the big man on the street, probably hoping to cause a nice pileup of bicycles. Answer me this: If that pileup had happened and cyclists badly injured, who here thinks the cops' attitude would have been, "Heh. SOBs had it coming to them"? Goddamn blue wall at work.
I hate to say this, but it may have to get to the point where their stupid, reckless enforcement does get a cyclist killed and the ensuing wrongful death lawsuit costs the city a few million dollars and a lot of PR grief before they figure out it's not worth it.
Honestly, Bloomberg couldn't give a rat's ass about cyclists. That stunt he pulled with buying a bike before his first transit strike threat meant nothing. Yeah, sure, save gas. Had the strike happened, he might have ridden one day for a couple of miles, surrounded by a motorcade every inch of the way.
CM is a pain in the ass, especially to Pedestrians. They can ride around all they want, but why can't they obey the street lights/signs? If they wan't to be recognized as traffic, should they not obey the laws? What if 500 cars drove aroudn like pricks the last friday of every month.
hey e,
i'm here to clue you in -- 1 million cars pull that shit everyday, with basically zero consequences.
i stop at red lights while riding my bike, and yet the cops arrested me.
More than 500 drivers act like pricks on every day of every month. Why don't you whine about them? You want to talk about a pain in the rear? How about the various parades on Fifth or Sixth Avenue at least once a month? At least Critical Mass is out of your way within a few minutes, not a few hours.
the roads are meant for cars & trucks. the sidewalks are meant for pedestrians. get over it already and stop living in some silly idealistic world that will never exist. live in the now!
hr - that's right. we should accept things as they are and never try to improve things for the better. remember that the next time you drink clean water. those pesky health activists!
and, for your comment about roads being meant for cars and trucks -- you really should read some history.
If you say so.
drama queens on bikes.
It irks me to no end that Bloomberg and the NYPD actively intimidate bicyclists. He should be kissing our asses for using a form of transportation that causes no pollution, and requires little to no investment in infrastructure (fiscal conservatives should be beating off right now). If traffic cops were as vigilant ticketing cars in bicycle lanes as they are alternate parking scofflaws, Bloomie would be sitting on a huge pile of cash, and maybe the roads would be a little safer. I dunno.