Email from motorist {Humiliation & harraassmemt}
Email from motorist {Humiliation & harraassmemt}
Submitted by thestevenlane on Sat, 2008-08-30 14:04.Report from the August, 2008 Ride:
Hey Bike People, we should not be physically assualting cars and verbally abusing their occupants. Sure, if a motorist drives their car into you, give them hell, but don't just arbitrarily attack cars and taunt people stuck in traffic. Chicago Critical Mass is far more successful than most Critical Mass rides because we keep it fun and non-confrontational; how else could we be clearing the streets of cars and letting thousands of cyclist enjoy a peaceful tour of the city every month for 11 years straight?
This is only my opinion, but I think we should start policing ourselves and stop anyone from physically and verbally abusing motorists. Yes, more often than not, it is us getting attacked by cars, but that doesn't give us the right to get violent and pick on any motorist that crosses our path.
The following is an email that was sent into this website from a woman that claims to be the victim of an unprovocked attack by cyclists participating in last month's CCM:
From: Elisabeth Schreiber
To: "info@chicagocriticalmass.org"
Date: Aug 29, 2008 8:41 PM
Subject: Humiliation & harraassmemt
I was physically assalted by banging on my car and harrassed by the critical mass ride today. I was attempting to sit in my car & was heckled, yelled at and brought to tears by your riders. I worried that the banging would lead to worse and as a free citizen I was assaulted of my rights. I was held captive in my car not allowed an alternate option.
As I understand, you ride for your rights and as a registered nurse in an ER in Chicago, I understand your plight. However, verbally and physically intimidating a fellow citizen should never be tolerated, nor does it further your cause. I own a bike and walk as my own transportation most of the time. The fear your riders inflicted on "one of their own" was shocking. I hope you stand for more than rife and intimidation, but after today I doubt that. Please rein in your threats and ride peacable without verbal and physical intimidation,
Elisabeth Schreiber
-------------------------------------------------
The following is my reply to Elisabeth:
Elisabeth,
Your email went to a few volunteers that created a Chicago Critical Mass website just because we love the experience of cyclists gathering once a month to ride together through the city peacefully, and we have content that urges riders to not act out in anger:
1. If you see drivers becoming agitated, warn riders around and behind you. Also, be sure to stay calm no matter what. You may become angry at a driver, but aggression only leads to more aggression.
2. At the end of the day, keeping the Mass calm and together takes cooperation from everyone. If you think of the Mass as a party rather than a protest, it can help keep things from getting out of control.
http://chicagocriticalmass.org/about/newbies
I have been riding in Critical Mass for 9 years, and I have only seen motorists treated the way you were when they drove into a group of riders, which is a type of assault that does more than hurt feelings; vehicular assault tears skin apart and crushes bones, and in 42,000 cases last year in the U.S. alone, it kills, but as an ER nurse, you know that.
At the end of last night's ride, someone told me that a limo driver yelled out to the cyclists in front of his car, "You think you can block me? I have insurance; I can run over you and call it an accident!"
Elisabeth, you had a really bad experience with a few cyclists, but you have no right to assume they were acting out according to a prescribed agenda that we all buy into. I sense that you were indeed treated unfairly, and I do not lump you in with motorists that shout out threats of murder and use their cars as weapons. Hopefully, you will also understand that the actions of a few individuals do not define the character of a community.
Personally, I would never advocate our allow riders to arbitrarily attack someone in a car stuck in traffic, and I would do something about it if I ever saw it happen. Regrettably, I have heard stories from riders that suggest this is indeed happening. Please keep in mind Critical Mass is an open forum that allows anyone to participate, and it's really easy for a few bad apples to spoil the whole bunch.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will share your letter with members of the cycling community and ask that we all try to police ourselves to bring unprovoked acts of physical and verbal abuse to an end.
I wish you success in your own human powered transportation initiative, and hopefully you might take some time out to consider how to reach out to the driving public about respect, conduct, and safety, which is so rare on our roadways these days. As a nurse, you would make a great advocate!
If you're up for it, you might want to ride your bike to Daley Plaza the last Friday of next month for the 11th Anniversary of Chicago Critical Mass. It would be a good chance to see that their are a lot of great people involved, and you could help us keep the few bad ones in check...?...
Steven Lane
Chicago Critical Mass Participant & Website Volunteer
www.youtube.com/thestevenlane
-------------------------------------------------
Again, this is just my opinion, I am not a leader of Critical Mass, which is a leader-less non-organization, and I cannot possibly speak for everyone, but I can pass along my thoughts and share information, so take this all as food for thought and let's all work to keep CCM fun for everyone. If you have a serious beef with the auto industry and the automatons that still occupy private automobiles, please join the Auto Show Shutdown Festival Crew [autoshowshutdown.org]
~steven
