I wish Seattle would get in the news for *good* things, every now and then

[rivendellrose]

For crying out loud, Seattle. Do you suppose I could perhaps not hear this kind of insane shit about my city? By which I mean that I don't want it to happen at all! Please?

And for the local take on it... Apparently the driver thinks "I panicked" is a good excuse for ramming into a bunch of bicyclists. Um, no. That's a good reason you should not be driving. I'm not saying that some of the bicyclists weren't asshats as well - they attacked the car, for god's sake. But if one person is in a car and a bunch of other people are on bikes, the person in the car should not be the one who can they felt "threatened."

I particularly like this part - "Behind the wheel of a Subaru station wagon, the driver struck several bicyclists as he attempted to flee from protesters."

...Fleeing. In a car. From bikes. I'm sure.

Here's the original article from the Seattle P.I. Oh, and local folks - if anybody has more and/or different details on this thing, I'd love to hear them. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's up with all of this, and having found it first on fricking OTF_Wank... yeah. That makes it a bit tough to get the facts straight. Oh, and trying to turn this into either an issue of gay rights or eco-terrorism, as someone linked on OTF_Wank was trying to do? Is just completely ludicrous from what I've seen so far. It's not. As near as I can tell, it's about a whole bunch of people being stupid in numerous ways, and the person in the car being the biggest idiot of all.

Clarification: I'm not at all trying to say that the bicyclists aren't also being asshats here - it looks to me like everybody involved was a complete idiot and ought to have be restricted from the streets for the safety of the rest of us. But I think the overall flow of opinion seems to be going light on the car, which somewhat annoys me. Under no normal circumstance is it okay to smash somebody's windows, certainly. But... it's also not okay for someone in a car to ram people on bikes. Both groups were really stupid, reckless, and violent here.

Comments

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

I read about that this morning on OTF_W too, and it left me kind of... O_O

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much where I was at. Bleh. I love my city, but sometimes....

[tavern-wench1.livejournal.com]

The bicyclists with Critical Mass are highly aggressive, not to mention breaking the law by blocking traffic. The fact that they claim it's a 'peaceful protest' is bull. I would be terrified to be surrounded by their group...

[arcane.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. Critical Mass has a reputation for being very aggressive not only to cars but to also to walking pedestrians. Just two months ago I was trying to navagate a sidewalk that they had taken over and the general energy of the mob made me feel threatened.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Faaaabulous. If I've come into contact with them I haven't been aware of it, but... sidewalks are not for bikes. Not in the city - biking in the city goes on the streets or the bike-lanes, and that's just the end of the conversation as far as I'm concerned.

And in case it wasn't clear from my first post, I'm not at all saying they aren't at fault here, too - in no circumstance is attacking somebody's car the answer to a problem. The whole thing sounds like a complete clusterfuck of idiocy, to me.

[nightsinger.livejournal.com]

I dunno, the whole windshield and rear window breakage, being punched through the broken window, plus tire slashing, etc... That would make ME feel pretty goddamn threatened.

I don't think that hitting people with the car was remotely the right course of action, but seriously... I would try to flee from those cyclists, too.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely - but if I'm understanding the article correctly, the driver is trying to say that he felt threatened before that. Unless I got something really confused, I think the smashing and all happened after he rammed into a bunch of the bikers. At which point attempting to flee becomes a hit-and-run, as far as I'm concerned...

The whole thing is stupid, in that it's pretty obvious both groups were being asshats, but... for god's sake, even if you're nervous of being surrounded by bikes, ramming them is not the answer.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

I saw this in [Unknown site tag] before it even hit any of the journalfen comms. I'm not touching the above links--I hurt too much to laugh/get mad right now--but if you need links, stupid_free link for you.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

The whole thing is just so stupid. Stupid bicyclists, and stupid driver.

[caeline.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, there's some humour!

I don't know, Critical Mass seems like a waste of time to me. If they want rights, they need to form a group and petition. I can't think of a time where people gained rights by being an aimless mob.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Protests are all well and good, but... legislation accomplishes things so much more neatly, and, y'know... does it without making them look like asshats. They probably think they'd just be OMG OPPRESSED!!! though, judging by what I've seen of them so far in links...

And that link is fabulous. XD

[niwatorimegami.livejournal.com]

...I read an article recently about a Seattle Postman that's designed a plan for optional kilts instead of pants to go with the uniform! I thought that was kind of a positive and pleasant news article from Seattle. Those sorts of things just don't end up getting talked about though.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Kilts for post-people! That's fantastic!

It's true... the good stuff never gets passed around nearly as far or as quickly as the bad stuff. Thank you for sharing that!

[niwatorimegami.livejournal.com]

Gah! Your icon is too cute!! *hugs the Dalek* *is exterminated*

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Exterminates with love*

[otterknit.livejournal.com]

Just to confuse things more:

([] are optional. {|} are pick one.)

The best I can figure from what I've read (which has come from many sources, half who probably were guessing and half who were probably lying to protect themselves): the driver tried to pull onto the street the bikes were on; a few bikes stopped to block him, at first saying it was just going to be a few minute; he started getting angry, saying he had a reservation; they started getting angry back; people started yelling; he tried to {turn around | backup} and [hit a bike who had gone behind him]; at which point the mob started getting even more unruly and [smashed his windshield]; at this point, he panicked and ran through the bikes, hitting {two | four | several}; finally, he was chased down a block later where they [smashed his windshield], {hit him through his window | hit him after he got out of his car | both} and slashed his tires with a knife.

My personal guess is that he was upset, they all started yelling, he tried to find an alternate way out and hit one by accident, they got upset and started hitting his car, he plowed through them, then they slashed his tires, broke his windows, and hit him after he got out to fight. But, everyone is lying to protect themselves, so we'll never know the real story. The police are obviously on the side of the guy either because he was a better actor or because they're just as tired of CM breaking the law as everyone else.