Want motorists to stop cutting you off, harassing you, not sharing the road? Well, obeying traffic laws goes both ways. The infamous Blue Moose group found this out the hard way when several of them recently received tickets in Prairie Village for blowing through stop signs – a behavior that pisses off motorists and gives all cyclists a bad name. It’s especially important to know that this group has been warned several times that their behavior is dangerous and reflects poorly on other cyclists.
Over the last few years the bicycle community and groups like the Share the Road Safety Task Force has worked hard to get police to start enforcing traffic laws. Several local law enforcement agencies have stepped up to enforce the law for everyone: motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians all get ticketed for breaking the law. As cyclists we can’t expect motorists to respect the laws that protect us if we don’t respect ourselves enough to obey the same laws.
KCTV-5: Cops write 17 tickets to bicycle group (with video and JCBC President Maggi Hacker)
KC Star’s Mike Hendricks: Cyclists get a bit of needed discipline
Localcycling.com: Expensive Non-Stop
KC Bike Commuting – Ambivalent, not apathetic
After reading this, I noticed that you have “Critical Mass” under your upcoming events. If you stand against cyclists breaking traffic laws, then you should not be supporting or advertising a bicycle ride that practically bases itself off enraging drivers and blocking intersections.
Critical Mass in KC is pretty tame. I’ve rarely seen a serious “enragement” of motorists on our CM. And there is quite a difference between a friendly ride trying to stay together and a group of racers deliberately running lights and flaunting the law.
Yeah there is a big difference. The Blue Moose crew is a bunch of jerks. They are awful ambassadors for cycling. If they want to train without stopping, then why the hell don’t they go out in the country away from stop signs and traffic signals?
Critical Mass might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but at least has a good purpose. And it is almost never contentious like Brian asserts.
I’ll start obeying the traffic laws when the bicycle cops in downtown KC start riding in the street instead of on the sidewalk.
Are we talking about the same Critical Mass, guys? I have been on numerous CM rides, and at EVERY ride, they run red lights, block the intersection, and many of the riders ride without any caution or respect to other cyclists and motorists. And I can think of several instances when motorists have become very angry and hostile over these actions. These are instances that I have seen with my own eyes. John called out the Blue Moose crew for running a train without stopping, when Critical Mass does this every time, in much larger numbers.
And I’m with 66. Get off the sidewalks, fatties. You too, plaza patrol.
catch me if you can
Idaho stop.
My self-preservation and avoidance of large groups of cars will always trump stopping at every light for the satisfaction of drivers.
Critical Mass is a mess these days. Hip kids without helmets taunting cars. No thanks. Makes me look worse than I make myself look. That’s impressive.
I don’t think the point of Critical Mass ride is to piss of drivers. It is a celebration of bikes on the road, much like a parade. Most drivers, pedestrians, etc smile and wave and love seeing all the cyclists having a good time. There are always going to be a few hostile drivers around. There are pissed off drivers when streets are blocked for walkathons, marathons, the Tour of Missouri, etc. So, beyond parade type celebrations, running red lights and random reckless cycling is generally not a good idea.
This establishes an interesting precedent for application of the law. Apparently, the following week, the same cops were watching the same intersection, but instead of the normal rendezvous with Blue Moose, they caught a couple old guys out for an easy ride that just happened to slowly roll through a sign. Poor old guys, I felt quite bad for them. The point here is that an enormous number of everyday, neighborhood cyclists go for a stroll and almost certainly slowly roll through stop signs if the traffic conditions warrent. Do these folks get ticketed? In principle, cops should apply the law uniformly, not just for groups of cyclists.
So you’re comparing a couple old dudes on a cruise that got tickets to the Tour De Moose asses? From what I’ve heard these people had been warned numerous times by both the police and other cyclist of their reckless riding. Not the same thing. Too bad for the old dudes to be punished due to these aholes lack of concern.
I thought the whole point of Critical Mass (originally at least) was law-abiding. In other words, by forcing drivers to accommodate large groups of cyclists, they raise awareness of their plight on the roads where the circumstances are almost always reversed. So theoretically, the reason CM-ers don’t get ticketed is because they aren’t breaking any laws, they are just taking over the streets, albeit in a very annoying way for drivers. Sounds like things may have changed though.
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