Being Stupid

There's an article in the Seattle PI about an incident between bicyclists, part of Critical Mass, and a driver of a automobile in a parking spot during the monthly ride to protest laws governing bicycles, see news story. It's hard to decide who's at fault and I doubt we'll really know as each side has their view of it, kinda' like a 100:1 ratio against the driver.

I'm not against bicycle or bicyclists, I've ridden bikes for decades and currently own and ride an older Bridgstone mountain bike, and I give cyclist (pedal motor) plenty of room when passing, even enough if traffic allows they could fall over I won't hit them. This is because I watched my future wife once fall over and almost get run over by a car in Sacramento. Cyclists have my respect as a member of the road and traffic.

But that said, what happens when 100-300 bicyclist decide to take over the road and literally prevent any car from moving? Is it protest or terrorism? And when does a accident give anyone, especially a lot of cyclists, the right to overwhelm and damage a car, and then attack the driver, no matter what the driver did with his car or personally?

I have to say I feel for the driver, who was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, and just wanted to drive away while avoiding the cyclists. That was impossible. But did the cyclists share the road respectfully and give the car the space to leave and drive away? Obviously not. So who's at fault, the cyclists for being stupid or the driver for pushing the situation?

While I applaud cyclists for protesting the treatment they get at the hands of drivers. I've been there done that, but I don't applaud their decisions and actions to become road terrorists in return. They don't have the right to take the law of the road into their own hands and deny law abiding drivers the right to share the road.

In the end, to me, no matter your mode of transportation, you share the road with respect and obey the law. Anything less, even for cyclists, is being stupid and deserve any tickets and penalities they earn for their stupidity.