Critical Masturbation

The long-running pro-bike protest known as Critical Mass is a form of ritual self-abuse that hurts the cause of city cycling

A A A Comments By Matt Smith Wednesday, May 14 2003

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Bike lanes, midlane stencils, and other bicycle-friendly measures should, and probably would, be an easy sell here, but for Critical Mass-generated animosity.

The Board of Supervisors is led by a bike-friendly Green; Supervisor Sophie Maxwell is herself a long-distance bicyclist. The mayor has been heard saying he sees bicyclist protections as a civil rights issue. Fifty percent of San Franciscans own bicycles, according to a recent poll. And there's a history of success: Valencia Street merchants actually appreciate the wide bike lanes that were painted there a few years ago; the lanes have calmed traffic and made the street friendlier for shopping.

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Yet in San Francisco people who ride their bicycles to work and in so doing reduce automobile congestion on the streets are seen as a bunch of irresponsible, arrogant outlaws -- thanks, in large part, to Critical Mass.

Someday I'd like to look back on this Bike to Work Week as the moment when San Francisco's bicycle movement grew up and abandoned Critical Mass. It would make for a pleasant memory.

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