The cop may have been wrong, but Critical Mass cyclists are nothing but self-indulgent bullies.
Yes, but it’s a bad to meet non-violent protest with violence.
Cop should burn HARD.
Not only did he assault the cyclist, he wrote up a false police report to say the cyclist tried to run him down.
The cyclist was charged with multiple misdemeanors and FELONIES before the tape proved his innocence.
How the NYPD can put him at a desk is beyond comprehension.
You said — “The cop may have been wrong, but Critical Mass cyclists are nothing but self-indulgent bullies.”
I heard about a Critical Mass riding in Portland, OR a number of years ago. They were supposed to be coming down the street right where I was going to be with my bike. They had a police escort (in cars) and they just rode on by and I jumped in there to ride along and be able to say, “I rode in a Critical Mass ride...” LOL...
That’s my one and only time of riding in one of those. In Portland, OR, it was no big deal. Perhaps it is elsewhere, I don’t know...
If course, in Portland, you’ve got bike lanes in the streets and they’ve got all sorts of bike riders around, just normally.
AND..., that reminds me of one time that I got stopped by a Portland Police officer for supposedly running a stop sign... dontcha know. I was riding down a side street that had a stop sign every two blocks (so every other block had one). I saw a police car parked right in the middle of the road and not going anywhere (from about six blocks back). When I got up to him, I saw that he wasn’t going anywhere (as he had not moved in all that time). So, I came up behind him, and passed on the left and turned left at the corner.
As soon as I did that, he turned on his lights and “pulled me over” (on my bike... LOL...). He said I ran the stop sign — but — there was no stop sign there (every two blocks there was one, but that wasn’t the corner for the stop sign, it was a block back). I told him that I didn’t run a stop sign and he said I sure did and went to point to it — and — it wasn’t there... ooops... LOL...
He looked sorta stupid and said something like bike riders had to be careful because they’ll get hit by cars and so on and I just shook my head yes and stuff and then he let me go...
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One of the things that you are told, being a bike rider, though — is when you are riding in the street, that, for safety’s sake, you need to “take the lane” — instead of riding real close to the edge of the curb... That’s because when you ride close to the edge, cars try to pass you that way. But, if you “take the lane”, cars can’t pass you in *that lane* and have to switch lanes to go around you — which is a lot better. Also, I always have a flashing red light in the rear so that I’m even noticed in the daytime, too. And..., I have a flashing white light in front, so that when you cross driveways or go through intersections that someone doesn’t pull out right in front of you. You’ll “lose” with a car.... :-)
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Now it looks right.