Critical Mass in Oakland

"Can bikes and motorists coexist without motorist road rage?"

Not if one side of the equation is violating the commonly agreed upon rules of the road. Coexistence should be peaceful, not confrontational, much less exclusionary.

The few motorists that refuse to accept slow moving bikes as traffic (which is legal), and refuse to wait it out or find an alternate route, are in a hurry to their destination. The question is ... why are they in such a rush that they can not tolerate alternate modes of travel that place a different value on travel time that values experience over result? Such as a group of people having fun travelling on bikes during the crazy rush hour? Are you saying that the road is actually nothing but a high speed conveyor belt for the overbooked citizen to rush from one destination to the next?

Once upon a time there were more bikes, trains and pedestrians on the road than autos and they achieved there destination objectives just fine and with few deaths (currently 42,000 people are killed in auto accidents each year in the US). Engines of commerce and technology continue to escalate the speed of social and commodity transactions to grow profits in an ever more crowded planet. Our average Joe and Jane is expected to travel ever farther and farther distances to achieve the simplests of tasks (work, shopping, entertainment, socializing, etc.) that used to be available in their neighborhoods but is now bigboxed to the burbs.

So someone in a car-rush finds a group of bicycle riders, clustered together for safety and fun, blocking the speed of their path and gets frustrated because they cannot meet the time-travel objectives that society places on them? If they would have run into congested car traffic, they would just wait it out or find an alternate route. But, for some reason, because it is a group of vulnerable, slow moving bike riders, the situation is totally different and they go ballistic? Why is this? Maybe because our culture cherishes the the most powerful as the rightful ruling class, and the less "empowered" should just accept their inferior role and step aside?

Oakland CM is not "clustered" and is certainly confrontational. It takes up all lanes of 4 lane roads with just a handful of bikes putting themselves in danger and needlessly aggravating drivers. They deliberately use 1 bike to block cars then film hoping the car will do something stupid.

It could be so much better. Cars suck. CM could be great.

Bikie is grossly exaggerating. Two lanes is more like it and the drivers of Oakland are some of the most raging impatient in all the Bay Area.

In answer to Sandy: People don't like to be told what to do, in general, and they really tend not to enjoy being told to doing things the same way you (the generic you) do them, because you know better than they do...and they're too dumb to make their own decisions...

The slow-moving and in-your-face group Critical Mass tends to be appeals to some, but enrages others who are not only being inconvenienced but mocked by the group of bike riders. This is what I have observed in Berkeley. Critical Mass rarely "converts" bystanders in their direction, but has lost potential riders by poor attitude. Please do a Berkeley Critical Mass search on YouTube.com if you get the chance. Watch the videos and read some of the comments. Berkeley Critical Mass has a bad reputation for provoking reactions from drivers and bystanders, for violating noise regulations, and most recently for riding as a group on I80/580, in the dark, in traffic.

Oakland may not have that reputation yet -- GREAT! -- the group is small enough and new enough that Sandy and others may be able to construct a positive force for change. I would love to be supportive of a group encouraging responsible bike riding as a healthy and economical alternative to driving, and I would cheerfully yield in traffic to a group like that, that didn't treat others with rudeness, obscene gestures and snotty words.

This is exactly why critical masses exist. We aren't telling anyone what to do. Vehicle laws are telling people what to do. We are occupying traffic space legally and the inconvenience of a driver having to find an alternate route (if they are frustrated by the slow pace of a noisy, fun bike party) is just that... an inconvenience. Is an inconvenience illegal or adequate reason to engage in road rage? Bikes are vehicles, and I think if all vehicles and pedestrians could respect the time-space of the other, we wouldn't have road rage. Any negativity I have seen from fellow riders results from the danger presented by a frustrated auto.

If you and others would come on out and join us for the BIKE PARTY that critical mass is and hang-in until we have numbers that automatically create a safe ride (like 50 and above), we could be the safe and fun ride you desire. On big Berkeley rides there is less trouble, in sf there is THE RIDE deluxe party fun because of the 500+ riders.

The only ride allowed by BerkeleySprout's position is a single file procession of bikers in the right lane. I have been in rides like that and it is impossible to talk or socialize and have fun. It's just a solo transit from one place to the next. Critical Mass is a Bike Party that reclaims the public streets for use by the community for the purpose of community, not commerce!

Oh and by the way, I am not a leader nor organize anything. I show up for the rides where all of us figure it out as we go. I do like to speak up about why we want to reclaim our public commons for community enjoyment, and present healthy and fun alternatives to the corporate commerce commodity dominated world, we are allowing to control us.