"Our problem is when they are in such massive numbers, they tend to take over the roadway which makes it dangers for everyone on the road."

What a ridiculous statement. It's ok for cars to take over the road, cause traffic, and kill people everyday in LA. But as soon as a group of bikes takes over a whole lane, it's a danger for EVERYONE?

Riders DO have a right to take over the whole road when they're in such large numbers. If auto drivers don't understand why, they should consider the fact that they take over the whole road EVERY DAY.

What's the worst that could happen, bike traffic? Oh no, who would ever be able live in a city where traffic sometimes moves at 15 mph, that's unthinkable.

Um....roads are designed for the use of cars and buses, not huge packs of bikes (they're not even designed that well for small numbers of bikes, but that's another issue). Whether or not you think it should be so doesn't change the fact that it is.
As a disclaimer, I hate HATE cars. I don't even own one. But to claim that a huge group of bicycle riders has some kind of a legal right to completely take over the road and create a traffic hazard is simply untrue and really pretty self centered. What about those who ride buses and are simply trying to get to work or other appointments? Come on.

^^^^
Instead why don't these people work with LADOT and Metro, etc. to create more bike-friendly streets, and give a priority to creating more bike paths.

This just seems like an ineffective way of contronting the problem that alienates potential allies and costs taz payers money which could be better used to...make more bike lanes!!

In Santa Monica the city council etc. is pretty receptive to things like this that will make the city more "green", have less traffic, etc. Making some poor bud-rider (or car driver for that matter) late for work or school is counter-productive.

Wow, the commenters on this article are woefully undereducated about biking and the law.

Bikers do have the right to take the lane if there is no bike path.

Bikers have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists on the road.

Bikers are not a separate breed impeding traffic, they are human beings getting from one place to another on the road. Just like a person in a car. But taking up less space (meaning LESS congested car traffic, because we're going into smaller spaces in the road cars can't go) and emitting no fumes (meaning BETTER conditions for homeowners in the area) and, by the way, enjoying themselves why they do it (meaning FUN).

Bikes are traffic. We're just better traffic. Try it sometime. Critical Mass is tonight.

... Also, Hindinwood, your assumption that there has been no recourse through planning and legal channels is false. Posting that we should just go through the glacially-paced city government (which we are doing) to gain awareness NOW about biking in LA is absurd and insulting.

GET A BIKE, Hindinwood!

The only time I've ever felt safe riding a bike in Santa Monica is with Santa Monica Critical Mass. The laws favor automobile usage, and make it extremely dangerous to ride a bicycle alone in this city with a population density as high as many parts of San Francisco where bike riding is more accepted. Santa Monica Critical Mass is a reaction to the lonliness, despair, and alienation of LA's car dominated culture. We ride together, we share together, we help each other out along the way. We don't toot horns at each other, we don't pollute the city, yell profanities at each other, we come in peace, we ride in peace.

Hindinwood- Why are you so bent out of shape because of Critical Mass? It happens merely once a month, and it is inevitably going to happen. Some people come to have fun and some people come to protest against the city of Santa Monica. Get over it.

THE BOTTOM LINE HERE:

SMPD is wasting money & effort by trying to make the participants of Critical Mass behave legally. By issuing tickets and forcing the group to obey traffic signals, it actually takes LONGER for the mass to move throughout the city- making the protest even more pronounced. If the SMPD would stop wasting time / money / effort, the protest would actually be out of your way sooner. Instead the SMPD is forcing the group to stop at stop lights and stop signs, which actually slows you down even more in your silly bus.

If you are in a bus or car, it might or might not affect you 12 days out of the year for 10-15 minutes or so on each occasion. If that is really that big of a deal to you, you should help with the argument against the SMPD for starters.

Once again- you cannot stop Critical Mass, no matter how much you like to bitch about it.

I can't say I'm against Critical Mass, but I'm confused by the logic in the pro positions being offered here (admittedly from three different commentators.)

livyatan and katiepoche insist that bikes have the same [legal] rights as cars in that they can take over lanes and use them just as cars do.

But then jonnyboy blames the SMPD for wasting tax payer money by "forcing" Critical Mass to obey traffic laws when they ride, just like they do with cars?

Kinda seems to me as if you can't have your cake and eat it too. Fighting for equal rights on the road by disobeying the traffic laws that get car drivers fined or thrown in jail seems to undermine the effort.

As katiepoche points out: "Bikers have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists on the road." Why should SMPD allow Critical Mass to ignore traffic laws that all bicyclists, motorists and motorcyclists agree to obey in order to use the road? I admit the SMPD seem to be huge aggressive dicks about it, but *come on*.

(my last comment was for Johnny Black)

In response to the comments about, well why not talk to Metro, go to City Council meetings, why ride in mass as a public statement? Well the truth is a lot of cyclists, my self included now, have been writing letters, going to council meetings, and seeing time and time again officials nod and smile but not actually do anything. If talking to our city officials was all it took to get things done, a lot more would be getting done.

I'll admit though I am cyclist who has participated in numerous mass rides of different varieties and parts of L.A., sometimes I have mixed feelings about their effectiveness sometimes. But the fact of the matter is asking nicely has not produced results, so many feel a need for there to be a call to action.

As far Critical Mass rides go, SMCM is probably one of the most peaceful there is. And regardless of one's emotional feelings about critical mass, how do you rationally justify bogus traffic violations being handed out like candy. Yes some of them are real violations, but most of the ones I witnessed and photographed were not. This is blatant selective enforcement. The SMPD lines up for the chance to ticket SMCM, meanwhile everyday cyclists who are blatantly disregarding all laws, safety and common sense get off scott free. Lets ticket the critical mass rider for no lights even though he has 4 of them because he looked at us funny, but ignore the dudes who ride the wrong way against traffic after hopping off the sidewalks and through red lights with no lights on at night. I see that kind of thing all the time, but cops have no problem with those people, because they keep their mouths shut.

I wouldn't be so defensive of SMCM if it weren't for the fact that as a group they curbed their behavior to comply with police, by stopping at reds, and doing stop signs in small waves to allow cross traffic through, and even handing out lights to encourage riders to comply with night riding regulation, and yet continued to get tickets whether a real violation existed or not.

Don't get your biker shorts in a little ball - someone could just throw a bunch of thumb tacks by the pier and have a critically flat mass of tires. Solution critically solved.

Ive commuted by bike for several years now, both in LA and elsewhere. Critical Mass rides may heighten awareness and spark heated debates as the one above and that may well be the intended result.

In my experience, the only thing that will stop this (global) bickering between car drivers and cyclists is if both parties start obeying the rules of the road. Sadly, as with anything, someone somewhere will flagrantly ignore specific traffic laws to make their life easier, whether on a bike or car, horse, gocart, motorbike (its a BIKE lane, not MOTORbike Lane). As soon as one party is seen breaking the law, the holier than thou argument is out of the window. Its human nature, I personally wish for more traffic cameras.

In the end just remember we're all human beings, not vehicular entities. When you do something dumb on the road you put a life at risk, not just your insurance premium.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I am not from California, but would you not need a permit to organize a demonstration?

"so...what does CM do when there is a fire truck or ambulance that needs to get through the traffic tie up?"

I hear this one a lot and I have to laugh. Cyclists are able to quickly and efficiently in mass get onto a sidewalk in the event of an emergency. Cars on the other hand are extremely limited in their mobility. I frequently see emergency vehicles stuck because car traffic, which you know exists whether bikes are present or not, is all sitting there at loss for what to do with their jaws hanging open while peoples lives at stake. Don't give me cyclists will obstruct emergency vehicles bull shit.

Midnight Ridazz is not one entity, it's a public forum. The people who organize rides through it are very diverse, and even a well intentioned ride planner cannot account for everyone who shows up and how they behave, but the try the best the can. Internal discussions of ethics are frequent, and I agree anyone holding up traffic in front of an ER is way out of line, and should have been called out immediately for it. Because a couple ass holes show up to a ride of 300 people is not a reflection of the diversity of a group. This same Midnight Ridazz also produced a team of riders who cycled from SF to LA for AIDS LifeCycle and raised $56,000 for charity in the process. Broad generalizations of a large group of people because of a particular incident or ass hole rider is an over simplification.

^^^^^

Tone down the rhetoric!! You sound ridiculous and are embarassing decent, normal, everyday cyclists.

What a great SMCM, there were many cases in which the SMPD was telling bicyclists over the loud speaker to actually disobey the laws stated in CVC 21202.

Perfect execution and excellent turnout. Unlike most other SMCM's, the group was able to stay together in full force until the end.

There were some tickets issued, but I highly doubt that it will amount to anything considering how many cops they had out there. Also, I have heard that some of the tickets issued were for bogus reasons (no surprise here, it has happened many times before).

This was truly a protest ride (not the party on wheels type at all), and a successful protest at that. The past few months it seemed that SMCM had taken a loss to the police presence, but new forms of execution were able to lead Santa Monica Critical Mass participants to a big win this month.

Hopefully the Santa Monica Police Department continues to waste a lot of their resources trying to control Santa Monica Critical Mass. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that with the new style of execution, Santa Monica Critical Mass could keep the entire police force busy well into the night with harmless styles of protesting. Maybe after they waste enough time and effort, they will give up (or at least back off) and realize that we only mean well.

We are bicyclists- not murderers or rapists. Shouldn't the police actually be trying to keep SM crime free on a Friday night? That is up to you, city of Santa Monica.