this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2025
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Fuck Cars

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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.

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[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 151 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (11 children)

This is how cyclists feel when they are surrounded by cars on busy roads because the cycling infrastructure is shit.

Except, cyclists can't kill people in cars with their bike.

So, lady, imagine our frustration.

Edit: spelling 🤦‍♂️

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 25 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This gives me an idea. How about every bike gets retrofitted with a large titanium hook. The idea is that if you hit my bike, your car is pretty much totaled. Not just that but if you really hit me, the hook passes thru the radiator, thru the firewall and into the drivers asshole.

Put a little LED light on it as a warning beacon.

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 127 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Car brains are incapable of realizing that they're the deadly threat.

[–] philthi@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I said it elsewhere but it's worth repeating here that fighting drivers is fighting the wrong fight. Fight the government.

Even if you convince the drivers that you're right, nothing changes.

[–] healthetank@lemmy.ca 41 points 1 month ago

NGL, you're fighting the drivers for this, just in a different medium. You think the government is just doing shit for kicks and giggles? Nah, they don't put in bike lanes because too many residents complain when they lose their parking lanes to bike lanes, or the road gets widened solely to add a bike lane.

Sure there are some cases where the govt is making a bad decision, but don't think that you don't need to argue with those same people, just in a Public Information Session instead of on the road.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you don't change driver attitudes, fighting the government is pointless. We're getting bike lanes TORN OUT right now, because it's popular politics.

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[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The drivers are the ones pushing the government to not expand bike infrastructure. There are massive complaints anytime bike Lanes or other protection is installed in major cities and anytime it's put up to a vote it's the car drivers out there voting no

[–] Crankenstein@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Seriously, like has that dude never heard of a NIMBY?

Drivers fight tooth and nail to prevent anything from being implemented if it means they incur even the most mild of inconvenience.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Those cyclists? Many are drivers. This is a community event that builds solidarity and changes driver attitudes by mobilizing them against the vehicular violence we are all currently subject to. A critical mass ride has hundreds or even thousands of participants. It changes the way THEY think about cars, bikes, traffic, and public safety.

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[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 85 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Idk about the usa but here in europe its EXPLICITLY written into the drivers code that even if someone is driving illegaly if its in your power to stop an accident you have to. So if a person steps in front of you randomly and you have half a second to react thats usually not your fault BUT if you for example saw that there was a school bus dropping kids off and then you hit a child running across the road theres a large chance that theyre gonna charge you. Of course in europe you have to put like 30 hours into theory and then a lot of driving lessons to get a license while in the usa you basically get a drivers license instantly and nobody gives a fuck so thats why people dont know the rules...

[–] Kickforce@lemmy.wtf 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To add, in the Netherlands, known for it's stellar bike infrastructure it's exactly with actions like this that they reclaimed their cities from being purely car oriented.

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[–] django@discuss.tchncs.de 70 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"Everyone except me is crazy."

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[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 66 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Whenever I've been on a Critical Mass ride, we've always had designated "corkers", people whose job it was to block traffic with blockading/dancing/whatever while the others continued onward. Without people doing that, you run the risk of this sort of carbrained nonsense.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

Something else that happened on mine was that as soon as we hear sirens, we drop the mass protest and prioritize making a path for emergency vehicles to get through.

[–] BossDj@lemm.ee 58 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Confused Portlander here. Why are these bikers fully clothed?

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

After last years was cancelled, I wasn't sure if was happening this year. Apparently, a split in the org means there will be two this year.

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[–] BigBenis@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

"Dangerous to drivers"

Because you're going to give yourself an aneurysm over a minor inconvenience? You're in a giant suit of armor. You could hit every single one of those cyclists without sustaining even a scratch.

If the cyclists were actually dangerous to drivers, do you think the diver would be accelerating aggressively towards them?

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 44 points 1 month ago (39 children)

She definitely should have either stopped or gone a different route, but it is incredibly dangerous to cycle head onto incoming motor traffic. Not really a great look for the cyclists.

Better off staying in the correct lane but hogging it so vehicles had no choice but to stay behind.

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[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 39 points 1 month ago

lots of people in this thread that don't understand how protests work.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (17 children)

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.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

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[–] noname_yet2077@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Idiots in cars, idiots on bikes. Hell yeah I'm pro bikes but setting a wheel on incoming lane? Yeaah.. no thanks, I'm fine

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[–] philthi@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I agree that more bike lanes are needed and also cyclists need to be treated with the respect any life demands.

But flipping off a driver or generally blaming people who drive is fighting the wrong fight. I drive a car, I also cycle, being in a car doesn't make me anti-bike.

Fight the government - flip off the government - that is refusing to put in safe infrastructure for the bikes (with protests like this, of course. But don't flip off the driver, at best it does nothing, at worst it widens the gap between both groups and makes it easier to dehumanize and villianize the cyclists).

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 month ago

This isn't about flipping off a driver. This is flipping off a bad driver who doesn't understand that what they're doing is unsafe. They're flipping off bad behaviour.

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[–] Monstrosity@lemm.ee 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

ITT: confounded folks who live in areas where Critical Mass events don't take place.

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[–] CBYX@feddit.org 21 points 1 month ago

And recording while driving...

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It doesn't matter if a protest is legal. The word you're looking for is "non violent"

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