[dc-critmass-list] thinking about what kind of ride we want

[aaron]

this friday is critical mass and as always, i'm looking forward to
seeing everyone!

i've been thinking a lot about critical mass - why i do it and what kind
of message i want to send.

a few months ago i had an incident when i was riding to work and someone
in a car cut me off and nudged me enough to scare the shit out of me. as
has often been the case for me in such situations, i was furious (mostly
as a reaction to fear) and rode up to the window and screamed at the
driver in a very dominating and threatening way. in the middle of my
yelling, i realized just how scared and angry i was making the driver
and remembered that after such incidents in the past i had always felt
even more angry after yelling. recently, i have made a very conscious
effort to communicate with drivers in a more productive way - although i
still do not hesitate to communicate anger when i feel it is
appropriate. i have actually had some good exchanges with drivers that
in the past i would have simply yelled at, and when a driver has been an
asshole and the exchange was just an angry one, i felt better having not
worked myself up to accomplish nothing.

anyway, i guess this story relates to some tense moments that have
occurred on past cm rides and how i am feeling about them now.

i would like to, as a group, give more thought to what message we want
to get across to drivers and how effective we are at it. i also think
that we should ALWAYS be handing out info during the rides.

here are some links to other cm web sites that include some opinions on
how to have a safe ride, i thought that it would be worth checking
out...

http://cyklojizdy.ecn.cz/praha/engl/rules.htm
http://guest.xinet.com/bike/peace/peace_xerocracy.htm
http://guest.xinet.com/bike/newrider/

love & struggle,

aaron