critical manners

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...0%20d=rss.news

A bunch of bike riders pedaled through San Francisco on Friday night,
and nobody got mad at anybody.

The cyclists were polite. The motorists were respectful. The pedestrians
were happy. The cops were incredulous.

And it all comes, said ride organizer Reama Dagasan, from stopping at
red lights, which is not at all a bad thing to do.

"We're making a statement tonight," she said. "We believe in sharing
and being nice."

Dagasan is the founder of Critical Manners, which is her response to
the controversial Critical Mass ride that features hundreds of cyclists
riding as a pack through San Francisco on the last Friday night of the
month. At the last Critical Mass, there were several confrontations with
motorists, including one that ended with someone smashing the back window
of a minivan.

There was none of that for the Critical Manners ride. That's because
Dagasan put her foot down. She put her foot down at Grove, McAllister,
Turk, Sutter, Bush and California streets, and that was just during the
first half mile. A law-abiding bike rider puts her foot down a lot.

The ride departed at 6 p.m. from Civic Center, after a brief refresher
course.

"Let's review our signals!" Dagasan hollered to the group. "Right turn,
arm up! Left turn, arm straight out! Now put your helmets on! And be
polite!"

Sgt. Ed Callejas, one of four cops assigned to escort the chivalrous
cyclists, double-checked with Dagasan about the good-manners angle.
Like any good cop, he was just a bit skeptical of human nature.

"You're really going to follow all the rules?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she replied. "You've never seen a bigger bunch of nerds in
your life."

There were exactly 16 cyclists on the ride, which is a lot less than the
500 or so that Critical Mass usually gets. On the other hand, Dagasan
said cheerily, it's a lot more than the four riders she got last time.

The pack rode single file in the Polk Street bike lane, stopping at
every light and stop sign. It made for a slow trip, and it took about
20 minutes to get to Fisherman's Wharf. On the other hand, it was faster
than a Muni bus, which trailed the procession and never did catch up.

"Nothing wrong with stopping for red lights," Laura Mendoza said. "Not
if you like staying alive."

Greg Rodgers said he was riding to "reduce the level of antagonism between
bicycles and cars." Geoff Schneider said he was riding because he was
"sick of all the yelling" during Critical Mass. And Toni Truong said she
was "trying to let motorists know that not all cyclists are belligerent."

At Beach Street, everyone stuck his or her left hand skyward before
turning right, to the amazement of one Yellow cabdriver who yelled
"Way to go!" out his window.

After cruising through the Wharf and along the Embarcadero, the pack
crossed Justin Herman Plaza -- after dismounting and walking among the
pedestrians. Callejas was there, too, and he made a command decision.

"I don't think you need us," he said, and he radioed to his lieutenant
that he was calling off the escort. Even after the cops went away, the
cyclists kept stopping at the red lights. Market Street being Market
Street, there was no shortage of red lights to stop at.

"I like red lights," said Gred Anlandtbom. "Gives you a chance to stop
and talk and look around. You know, there's nothing really wrong with
red lights."

E-mail Steve Rubenstein at .

Great effort they are making, however I have just recently come back
from 2 weeks in San Francisco and all I can say is that not every bike
rider shares their thoughts, in fact they are HIGHLY in the minority.

I maybe saw 1 out of 10 cyclists stop at red lights, in fact almost
became the victim of one myself and I was crossing on Green man as
well. Gave him a good dose of Aussie slang.

Having said that while I was over there without exception especially
from my walkings around the city, Cars gave the bike riders lots of
ROOM and seem to be very aware they should be looking out for cyclists
and giving them lots of room.

The Embarcardero I would liken to a REALLY long Bourke Street Mall, be
a great road to ride on, however unless you are prepared to run a red
light you would be stopping every 2 minutes along the entire thing and
it also runs down through the Fishermans Wharf area, Geesh! Tourists,
roller bladers, runners, walkers, Cyclists of all level including the
Bike Hire cyclists all smattered together in a very small area. It was
like Chaos theory let loose especially on the nice weekend days. But
everyone was looking out for other people.

Truely awesome city, huge single/fixed speed culture as well, some of
you guys would be in heaven over there.


--
MikeyOz

MikeyOz Wrote:
Great effort they are making, however I have just recently come back
from 2 weeks in San Francisco and all I can say is that not every bike
rider shares their thoughts, in fact they are HIGHLY in the minority.

I maybe saw 1 out of 10 cyclists stop at red lights, in fact almost
became the victim of one myself and I was crossing on Green man as
well. Gave him a good dose of Aussie slang.

Having said that while I was over there without exception especially
from my walkings around the city, Cars gave the bike riders lots of
ROOM and seem to be very aware they should be looking out for cyclists
and giving them lots of room.

The Embarcardero I would liken to a REALLY long Bourke Street Mall, be
a great road to ride on, however unless you are prepared to run a red
light you would be stopping every 2 minutes along the entire thing and
it also runs down through the Fishermans Wharf area, Geesh! Tourists,
roller bladers, runners, walkers, Cyclists of all level including the
Bike Hire cyclists all smattered together in a very small area. It was
like Chaos theory let loose especially on the nice weekend days. But
everyone was looking out for other people.

Truely awesome city, huge single/fixed speed culture as well, some of
you guys would be in heaven over there.Ah, the city of hills...it does rock and its not alone.

Athens, Georgia runs a "Courteous Mass" every month, it is their
approach to CM and it works well.

Athens GA, apart from being the home of REM , the Bean Team of Jittery
Joes and some good bars is a country bike town and a college town
(Univesrity of Georgia) and their CM makes the right impression to the
right people and some, even in the heart of Peach land and the deep
South.

A lot to be said for courtesy and common sense with a modicum of
irreverence


--
rooman

rooman wrote:

MikeyOz Wrote:
Great effort they are making, however I have just recently come back
from 2 weeks in San Francisco and all I can say is that not every bike
rider shares their thoughts, in fact they are HIGHLY in the minority.



Athens, Georgia runs a "Courteous Mass" every month, it is their
approach to CM and it works well.

Athens GA, apart from being the home of REM , the Bean Team of Jittery
Joes and some good bars is a country bike town and a college town
(Univesrity of Georgia) and their CM makes the right impression to the
right people and some, even in the heart of Peach land and the deep
South.

A lot to be said for courtesy and common sense with a modicum of
irreverence

I saw a doco on youtube called We Are Traffic about Critical Mass and
how it started in San Francisco. I haven't had anything to do with CM
but it looks like they have the right idea. Get the cyclists through the
intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you had 200 riders
waiting on the side of the road for the next 300 held back by a red
light, there would be just as much outrage as happens now.

Some people will never accept the right of cyclists to be on the road no
matter how we behave. You will always be doing something to annoy
them... riding too slow for the traffic... too fast to be safe ....
darting in and out of parked cars .... out in the traffic lane, and so
on.

P

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:24:40 +1000
Peter wrote:
but it looks like they have the right idea. Get the cyclists through the
intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you had 200 riders
waiting on the side of the road for the next 300 held back by a red
light, there would be just as much outrage as happens now.

Where were you when people were complaining about the Hell Ride
running lights?

Zebee

On Apr 18, 7:24 am, (Peter) wrote:
rooman wrote:
MikeyOz Wrote:
Great effort they are making, however I have just recently come back
from 2 weeks in San Francisco and all I can say is that not every bike
rider shares their thoughts, in fact they are HIGHLY in the minority.

Athens, Georgia runs a "Courteous Mass" every month, it is their
approach to CM and it works well.

Athens GA, apart from being the home of REM , the Bean Team of Jittery
Joes and some good bars is a country bike town and a college town
(Univesrity of Georgia) and their CM makes the right impression to the
right people and some, even in the heart of Peach land and the deep
South.

A lot to be said for courtesy and common sense with a modicum of
irreverence

I saw a doco on youtube called We Are Traffic about Critical Mass and
how it started in San Francisco. I haven't had anything to do with CM
but it looks like they have the right idea. Get the cyclists through the
intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you had 200 riders
waiting on the side of the road for the next 300 held back by a red
light, there would be just as much outrage as happens now.

And all those car drivers, held up by red lights, why don't they just
do the same thing too?

In aus.bicycle on 17 Apr 2007 15:40:26 -0700
Bleve wrote:
On Apr 18, 7:24 am, (Peter) wrote:
rooman wrote:
waiting on the side of the road for the next 300 held back by a red
light, there would be just as much outrage as happens now.

And all those car drivers, held up by red lights, why don't they just
do the same thing too?

Because they are traffic and traffic isn't people who all want to be
together in large numbers, but instead individual units who obey road
rules?

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone Wrote:
In aus.bicycle on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 07:24:40 +1000
Peter wrote:
but it looks like they have the right idea. Get the cyclists through
the
intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you had 200 riders
waiting on the side of the road for the next 300 held back by a red
light, there would be just as much outrage as happens now.

Where were you when people were complaining about the Hell Ride
running lights?

ZebeeDo you want to concentrate on the letter of the law or safety?

There is a slight difference in speeds between the Hell Ride and CM.
About 35 km/h I suspect.

SCotty


--
scotty72

scotty72 wrote:
Zebee Johnstone Wrote:
Peter wrote:

Get the cyclists
through the intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you
had 200 riders waiting on the side of the road for the next 300
held back by a red light, there would be just as much outrage as
happens now.

Where were you when people were complaining about the Hell Ride
running lights?

Do you want to concentrate on the letter of the law or safety?
There is a slight difference in speeds between the Hell Ride and CM.
About 35 km/h I suspect.

So it's OK to run red lights slowly?

Theo

Theo Bekkers Wrote:
scotty72 wrote:
Zebee Johnstone Wrote:
Peter wrote:

Get the cyclists
through the intersections as quickly as possible. I reckon if you
had 200 riders waiting on the side of the road for the next 300
held back by a red light, there would be just as much outrage as
happens now.

Where were you when people were complaining about the Hell Ride
running lights?

Do you want to concentrate on the letter of the law or safety?
There is a slight difference in speeds between the Hell Ride and CM.
About 35 km/h I suspect.

So it's OK to run red lights slowly?

TheoWhy is it that you go around speciously putting words into others
mouths? In fact, you don't even have the guts to do that, instead you
can only come up with snide, specious questions that reflect only upon
your grubbiness.

I did not say, imply or think that it is ok to run red lights slowly. I
was repling to Zebee's direct comparision of Hell Riders and Critical
Mass. To THE LETTER OF THE LAW (as I wrote - if you could be bothered
to read) it is wrong. From a safety aspect - as the post to which Zebbe
was referring - a pack travelling at 50 km/h is far more dangerous
(lethal) than CM who av about 8 km/h (annoying - bruises at worst) when
someone gets hit.

When you're not trying to be a smart-arse, you know that.

Scotty


--
scotty72