Auto Violence Mitigated at Critical Mass

The difference this month was the police. A wave of fear and anticipation was almost tangible at Justin Herman plaza where cyclists meet up every last Friday of the month. People discussed the inevitability of confrontation, the promise by the police department to send extra police to the ride and, of course, the infamous Martier and Ross piece in the SF Chronicle that allowed a shaken minivan driver to tell the story of being confronted by indignant cyclists, ending with her back window being smashed, but neglected to mention that she had, moments before, rammed into the bike ride, knocking a cyclist off his bike. Not a smart move anywhere, let alone at a bike rally. A subsequent column referred to the hit and run incident as a cyclist being “tapped.” A cyclist being tapped by a minivan is sort of like a canoe being tapped by a battleship.

“If the police can’t protect us from these a–,” read one blog posting, “its time for us to come to Critical Mass with baseball bats and protect our women and children.”

Police tactics change from ride to ride. This winter, a group of police mounted on motorcycles added to the chaos and confusion by apprehending ticketing a surprised cyclist for running a red light–along with the police and the rest of the 1,000 - plus cyclists. On that Friday, as the ride progressed to north beach, the police repeatedly drove their motorcycles into the middle of the throng of cyclists and then out again, horns blaring, breaking the ride into fragments.

But, to cyclists' surprise, although police did arrive in record numbers, bolstered, for the first time, by cycle mounted Department of Parking and Traffic officers, their tactics had changed. For one, they assisted in a practice known among critical mass riders as “corking.” When a particularly aggressive motorists starts moving into the intersection, a few riders will park their bikes right in front of the vehicle, to make sure the vehicle stays out of the throng of cyclists. This often leads to the worst, usually verbal, confrontations.

“Look, just be patient, the ride will pass by in a few minutes,” said one cyclist to the driver of an SUV at the intersection of Fell and Baker. The driver leaned on his horn and tried to talk the cyclist out of corking him. “I support what you’re doing downtown at Market street, but not here in the Richmond where I live,” countered the driver. “Why are you people here?”

This Friday’s ride wasn’t different from every other month in this regard, but what did change the ride was that police often arrived on bicycles themselves and told drivers to back off.

“Why are you defending these a–,” shouted one indignant driver to a cycle cop. “You should lock these mother– up!”

Saturday’s SF Chronicle headline read “Critical Mass pedals politely through S.F...After last month's heated confrontation between bicyclists and a driver, participants were determined to make this month's event a more pleasant experience”

So while the network news media, seemingly unaware that its intense reporting of its own firestorm had actually changed the event, not a sudden wave of kindness on the behalf of motorists and cyclists, confused riders are treated to headlines suggesting that Critical Mass has suddenly renounced violence and embraced pleasantness.