This was a Critical Mass event, which is why the bicyclists are taking up all of the street as a way to reclaim the streets and protest the lack of safety for riders under usual conditions. It’s not legal, but protests are never useful if they’re fully legal now, are they.

  • snooggums
    link
    fedilink
    English
    27
    edit-2
    12 days ago

    While she is clearly a dumbass for not just parking and waiting, why is the bike ride taking up all of the lanes in both directions? Was the street blocked off and this lady ignored it?

    Why was there an oncoming car in her lane?

    This really needs context.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      4612 days ago

      The OP has some context but Lemmy is bad about showing the text included with a media post so it’s easy to miss. The OP states it’s a “critical mass” protest where large numbers of cyclists reclaim the street to demand better bicycle infrastructure

      • @[email protected]OP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1312 days ago

        I figured that was happening, which is why I updated the title to explicitly state it’s a Critical Mass event

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11
      edit-2
      12 days ago

      I have no official context. If I had to guess this was some kind of organized night bike event. There were multiple cars on the road so likely not a closed course thing, probably organized only on social media. The car on the wrong side of the road was probably trying to go around the cyclists. The cyclist were likely in the wrong, but as a driver she definitely should have turned off of that street and gone around.

      • snooggums
        link
        fedilink
        English
        8
        edit-2
        12 days ago

        Not sure how she could turn off and go around when she has no idea why there is a massive amount of bikes, where they are coming from, or where they are going. Going around requires more information than someone surprised by a massive number of surprise bikes would have.

        I’m not opposed to the idea, and I do think just stopping and waiting it out is the best option. She was wrong to just drive forward through the crowd of bikes, but maybe she hoped she would get past the mass of bikes faster?

        But expecting someone to ‘just go around’ is pretty dismissive of someone’s confusion when completely surrounded in a situation they don’t understand. Like what if she just needed to turn left and go two blocks?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1412 days ago

          Pretty easy to just turn the keys and wait… What they did is risking injuring someone. And if you want to take the selfish route, she’s putting herself at risk of a large group of now angry people. Turn off the multi ton vehicle and wait. It’s not that hard.

          • snooggums
            link
            fedilink
            English
            7
            edit-2
            12 days ago

            Yes, stopping and waiting it out is what I said she should have done. Someone else said she should have ‘just gone around’.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          211 days ago

          The cyclists should pull out guns and shoot the driver in this situation. After all, how can you expect them to do any differently? They suddenly see a driver driving through their parade route, scaring and confusing all of them, endangering all their lives? Sure, they could go around, but we can’t judge them harshly if they just kill the driver or set the vehicle on fire.

      • snooggums
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        11 days ago

        You do ride a bike directly into it though!

        The video originally had a vague title and zero context, which is why I asked for some.

      • snooggums
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -111 days ago

        If a bunch of cars did the same thing would you call that a parade?

          • snooggums
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -110 days ago

            So if a bunch of street racers drove in all the lanes you would be fine with it and call it a parade?

            • @[email protected]
              shield
              M
              link
              fedilink
              English
              310 days ago

              Street racing is not a political protest.

              Please keep in mind that arguments made in bad faith are uncivil and thus subject to removal under rule 1.

              • snooggums
                link
                fedilink
                English
                010 days ago

                Per the person I was responding to:

                It’s called a parade.

                They are not engaging with it as a protest, but as a parade, and I am trying to meet them on their terms.