Saturday, April 07, 2007

SF woman complains of bicycle attack

California news:
It was supposed to be a birthday night out for the kids in San Francisco, but instead turned into a Critical Mass horror show -- complete with a pummeled car, a smashed rear window and little children screaming in terror.

The spontaneous Critical Mass bike rides, in which thousands of free-spirited cyclists roam the city, have been a fixture on the last Friday night of the month since the early 1990s. ...

Susan Ferrando, her husband, their two children and three preteens had come to San Francisco from Redwood City to celebrate the birthday of Ferrando's 11-year-old daughter. ...

Confusion, however, quickly turned to terror, she said, when the swarming cyclists began wildly circling around and then running into the sides of her Toyota van.

Filled with panic, Ferrando said, she started inching forward until coming to a stop at Post and Gough streets, where she was surrounded by bikers on all sides.

A biker in front blocked her as another biker began pounding on the windshield. Another was pounding on her window. Another pounded the other side.

"It seemed like they were using their bikes as weapons", Ferrando said.
The trouble with Ferrando's story is that there are dozens of witnesses who say that she was a hit-and-run driver. Being from out-of-town and not expecting crowds of bicyclists does not give her the right to hit them with her van.

George writes:
What gives those bicyclists the right to decide that their bike ride is more important than car traffic? The Critical Mass bikers don't ride in single file, run traffic lights, and cause traffic jams.
And why is Ferrando's birthday celebration more important that the bike ride? The police could take measures to slow down the bikers, but that would just cause worse traffic jams.

Under Idaho law, a bicyclist may treat a stop sign like a yield sign, and a red stop light like a stop sign.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wasn't aware San Francisco is in Idaho.

Roger said...

San Francisco is not in Idaho. It is in California.