- Nick Zallar
- Bicyclists quivering in fear at the RTA.
Just like bikes are real vehicles, it’s important to remember that RTA cops are real cops. And they can give you real tickets.
Cleveland’s burgeoning Critical Mass ride—that “organized coincidence” that brings cyclists together at Public Square the last Friday of every month to show that they’re traffic too—reached what must be record size last week with estimates from 200 to 250 riders taking part. That’s definitely “critical mass”—enough riders that the pack can pedal down the street without worrying that passing cars won’t see them or will crowd them off the road.
But if your critical mass group hopes to make the point that bikes are traffic, too, you’ve got to obey the laws. Even if the law wears an RTA patch on its sleeve.
“We did run a red light,” said Daniel Lake, proprietor of Simple Yard Care—a very quiet, Tremont-based lawn service that uses push mowers delivered by bicycle. “It was an RTA cop that was apparently frustrated with the group. He did a u-turn and separated the pack. We both got tickets for running a red light and riding in the bus lane.”
What really seemed to up the ante, though, was when he questioned whether RTA police can write real tickets. He recalls the policeman telling him “Now you’re definitely getting a ticket. I’m sick of this group. You want to go to jail?”
It’s not likely to cost him time, but RTA confirms that their police force does have real ticketing authority along bus routes and in transit facilities. RTA spokesperson Mary McCahon says when RTA police write tickets, the money goes to the city. — Michael Gill
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2010.
The crazy thing that the entire group of 200+ people ALL ran the red light. Apparently Dan and Alison were just being made examples of.
Yes, bicyclists should obey traffic laws, but this is a special event. Critical Mass momentarily blocks crossing traffic so that the group can stay together. The event wouldn’t work any other way. There’s nothing unsafe about it. And considering the lack of traffic crossing Euclid on Friday evening, it’s only inconveniencing a few drivers, most of whom are getting a kick out of seeing hundreds of bikes pass by. The group also moves out of the way for buses.
Also it should be noted that the Cleveland police were contacted about this event before it took place.
I was a Bike messenger for a few years downtown(a real one, trying to make a living, not a guy who just “dressed like one” ) and the RTA cops were always pretty cool to us. ive even seen them pull someone over after that person got real close to me with their car, on purpose, as if trying to threaten me. For some reason, “Bike People” think that being obnoxious is ok. like everyone in a car is an evil bad person. I NEVER impeded the flow of traffic. i kept it fast, got in and out before most drivers knew what was up. i didnt ride around carelessly, messing with my headphones, and try to just be in the way, to instigate a confrontation from people. But then again, as i already said, i was there to make a living, not to live out some slacker/cool guy bullshit fantasy, with my overpriced bike that my trust fund paid for. Real person. Real bills to pay. Real life.
As someone who drives a car and a bicycle plus works nearly full-time on bicycle advocacy, I see this from lots of angles. The Critical Mass ride is great for a once-a-month event so long as cyclists “cork” intersections in a friendly and non-threatening manner to keep everyone safe: cyclists as well as pedestrians and motorists.
The other 29 days of the month, cyclists need to do a much better job of self-policing. A tiny minority of motorists give us a hard time, but a much larger percentage of urban cyclists ignore traffic laws. Running red lights, blowing through stop signs, not having lights on your bike at night, wearing earbuds, diagonally crossing intersections and other reckless behavior is unsafe and it also antagonizes motorists. If we want access to all roads and bridges, we must do a better job of obeying the traffic laws on those roads and bridges. If we want respect from other road users, we have to give respect.
They’ve been doing this in San Fran for years. The last Friday of the month, the cyclists take over the streets.
If the light turns red, yes they should stop. So, you’ll have a couple of groups of 100 each instead of one of 250.
Eventually, like it is in San Francisco, even w/ the groups broken up, there’ll be a dozen or so groups of 100 each riding down the diff streets at the same time.
They also dress up for Halloween, so looking forward to that happening here.
– @yllw
Maybe if the officer’s actions had been those of a man who was in control of the situation, calm, and realized that there really was no threat or endangerment occuring – a more obliging group of cyclists there would be. Instead his body language was that man full of rage and hatred, failing his arms and lunging towards some cyclists who did nothing more than put themselves in harms way, not impeding any motorist or pedestrian. It is hard to say why he was so very very angry at the group. He did ask for a permit – to which was replied ‘We didn’t know we needed a permit to ride a bike”. Also of note, back-up was called ( one motorcycle CPD and three transit cars) on the cool-headed cyclists who did not try to flee and cooperated with the transit cop.
plastertaste is incorrect. At that particular light, only the two bicyclists that were ticketed ran the red light in front of the RTA officer. 200+ others did not also blow the light. This is evident in photos posted to the Cleveland Critical Mass Facebook page and clevelandcriticalmass.com.
Of course the legally informed response to cyclists getting tickets for running red lights in front of police—even if they be RTA police–is to say that bicycles have to obey the same traffic laws as cars. If cyclists want to be treated equally, they need to follow the same laws.
But that is nothing like the way it really goes. Cyclists blow lights all the time. It’s because we don’t want to give up our momentum. The force of our continuing motion is like gas in the tank, an asset we have built through physical effort. We guard it like diamonds. So when we come to an intersection and see that there is no crossing traffic, a whole lot of us blow right on through. All those people in cars have their gas pedals hooked up to fire breathing internal combustion engines. We’ve got our legs and lungs, and we blow lights. Mostly the police ignore us.
But I know from my daily commute that there are a whole lot more of us now than there were in 2003. I know because I see them as I pedal from Lakewood to the Warehouse district every day. And hat’s great news, even if it’s anecdotal. More people getting more exercise, worrying less about parking, and all that. But it means our situational perspective on traffic law is a bigger deal, too.
Along with more commuters, there are more people riding with critical mass. At one point Cleveland Critical Mass was half a dozen guys meeting at Speak In Tongues. In 2003 a mas of about 40 riders was pulled over, and some of them got tickets for things like not having bike licenses. Estimates of this year’s mass were anywhere from 200 to 250 riders. They’ve dealt with their growth by notifying Cleveland Police of their ride. Which was a good idea. And the Cleveland Police gave them no trouble. But they didn’t think to notify the RTA police.
We make exceptions to deal with large processions of traffic every time there’s a funeral. Dozens—often scores of cars, led by a guy in a long black one—blow through intersections one after the next. It’s the most efficient way to handle the temporary rush of traffic. Doesn’t it make sense that Critical Mass should have the same kind of support?
Cities around the region –and even moreso RTA–have been at long last, and after copious bitching, begun to enable cyclists with bike racks around town, painting bike lanes, marking lanes with “sharrow” stencils, and posting share the road signs. With the Euclid Corridor bike lane, racks on the fronts of busses, and allowing cyclists to take their bikes with them on rapid transit cars, and most recently a bunch of bike shelters, RTA, it could be said, has even led the way.
So when it comes to a couple hundred cyclists riding around downtown in a pack once a month, can’t you guys all just get along? Can’t the police assist critical mass by helping at intersections? And RTA police, too? Isn’t this a huge opportunity for good PR?
Michael you are right on. For all we knew as we approached the fateful intersection, the cop was holding the intersection (as had been done on last month’s ride by CPD). He had pulled around in the intersection with his lights and siren on as we approached it before the light was blown- who knows what he was up to. If it weren’t for the angry outburst of flailing arms and firey eyes, I would have thought ‘he was just doing his job’ when he cut the group up with his vehicle. Instead it is my opinion that badge 125 had a power trip. Was the light red, yes. But really, officer? Really? Did you have to act like a child?
Hey retards…. STOP RUNNING RED LIGHTS IN FRONT OF COPS….or at least be fast enough to out run them.
IN FRONT OF COPS . . . Yeah, I think they generally view bikes as toys, and trivial, but when you blow a light right in front of them they feel slighted. And they tend to leap into action. I’ve had this happen: Stopped at 117th on Detroit, waiting for the light, saw the crossing light change, saw the oncoming traffic start to move, reflexively looked away from the light and started to pedal . . . without realizing that oncoming traffic had a left turn arrow, and it wasn’t yet my turn. So the policeman next to me–also waiting for the light–flipped on lights and sirens and wrote me a ticket. Cost me $80. But of course that’s the maximum Lakewood would charge you for a bicycle offense. If I’d run the light in a car, it would have been much more expensive.
you can’t outrun a radio
If your father was in the car having a heart attack and Critical Mass was holding you up from getting over to the hospital, even though you had a green light, you would be pretty upset, even though you are normally yourself a bike commuter, you would be yelling at the folks who were holding you hostage there, as time was ticking away, and you had no idea how many more bikes were going to go through. Where does your right to break the law come into play with my responsibility for my father’s well-being? No wonder the police officer was unhappy. Does selfish behavior exercised in a group make it ok, even cool? I can’t support you after this. Dad’s ok, though. Thanks for asking.
not one of the hive — have you ever encountered critical mass? you could move forward slowly notifying nearby bikers out the window of the emergency. they would let you through. the mass rides very slowly. you could also turn around and go down a different street if you really had to…
What if you were escorting your dying dad and got to an intersection where there was a street festival, a parade, a funeral procession or road construction? how is this any different than that?
also, bicycler, i was just ahead of daniel and allison and can attest that several people went through that intersection before the cop stopped them. but maybe the light had just changed when the cop appeared? i don’t remember. at any rate, this clearly wasn’t about the actions of just those two. The cop was angry at the group. My guess is because he felt that it was out of his control, and therefore had to be stopped. It is silly because the people who take part in Critical Mass really don’t want any trouble and have tried to cooperate with authorities. I don’t understand what was so threatening to this cop about a bunch of people on bicycles. At the same time, the group has encountered many cops in the past and all have been cordial. This is the first time there’s any such problem, so I think and hope that this was an isolated incident.
Also, I completely agree with Michael Gill’s comment. Critical Mass is a really cool civic event, it’s fun to watch, fun to participate in and creates an awesome sense of community. Those who talk negatively about it have obviously never seen Critical Mass in Cleveland before. I encourage you all to come downtown on the last Friday of the month and interact with the awesome people from all walks of life who take part in this event. It’s easy to write off the group as a bunch of arrogant bike snobs. But this is Cleveland, not San Fransisco. Here we are a humble bunch who really do participate for a lot of different reasons. Some are avid cyclists, some are casual commuters, and others just ride for occasional excercise. The group is extremely friendly and welcoming and is really not trying to piss anyone off. So please learn more about it before you cast broad judgments.
Red lights are for wussies. If you can’t stand the pain, don’t ride the same. That saying was salient in 1993 and it still is today.