.critical mass in 'no win' situations
North America this month provides a couple of Critical Mass horror stories, in which I think it's fair to say that very few people come out with much credit on either side of the transport divide (that here at cc with think critical mass does little to close, but that's a debate we've held in these pages many times before).

The first story to reach us came from Seattle and is perhaps the one which embodies most that feeling of 'it takes two to tango'. Seattle CM adopts the practice of 'corking', whereby it blocks junctions, crossroads, lights and so on so that the mass can move through these points in the road as one, keeping it all together and making sure there are no stragglers.

In July's CM this was being done as usual and a car was stopped from turning which contained a couple who, it transpires, were being made late for a dinner date. Now whatever we might think about the practice of corking, and it's disassociation with that spirit of enjoying bikes rather than controlling the surroundings, what happened next is pretty shocking, and sounds like it comes from a movie.

The driver simply flipped. He appears to have driven at a couple of cyclists, running one over the leg and trashing his bike (fortunately for him his leg wasn't broken), before aiming at another cyclist who ended up clinging to the bonnet as the car tore off.

Some other cyclists chased after the car, and when it got stopped by a red light at the next intersection they slashed his tyres, the bonneted cyclist put his knee through the windscreen and a D-Lock was used to smash the read screen. It is also alleged that the driver received a D-Lock to the head and was bleeding when the police arrived on the scene.

We could say that two wrongs don't make a right, or that violence begets violence. We don't want, in any way, to excuse the actions of the driver, who with a couple of tonnes under his control is someone wielding a dangerous weapon when he reacted like that.

By the same token the situation would not have escalated had the initial blocking actions not been undertaken, and with the car immobilised the further damage and assault smacks of retribution rather than the true application of justice (and if anything is likely to hurt the case against the driver if and when he comes to court).

The second story came hot on the heels from New York, where CM and the NYPD have long had a rather fractuous relationship, with many attempts at effectively closing down CM having been taken. Again, while we have our differences with this 'celebration' of cycling, we're not too keen on the authorities trying to limit that free expression, and people on bikes simply socialising.

For Patrick Pogan, an NYPD cop on duty at the last CM in New York, he could have made a very serious error of judgement. With every move being recorded on camera, unbeknownst to Pogan, he is seen moving from the centre of the road, seemingly picking out a cyclist coming towards him, and as he is passed he slams the cyclist to the ground. Claims have since come out that the cyclist had been involved in an earlier incident, and that the cyclist had tried to run over Pogan. The video certainly begs to differ on the second point.

And even if we are to accept the first point, Pogan doesn't seem to make any effort to indicate to the cyclist that he has to stop. Perhaps it's a deliberate tactic to avoid him taking evasive action, but for the time being Pogan has been suspended to desk duty, after only a number of weeks on the force.

But while in this case it seems to be the police who should come out of this with reputations harmed, the focus will, as we all know, be on the fact that this took place at a cycling event, and one with the majority of the general public will have a problem with. You only need to see some of the comments on the link above to see that some people believe he had it coming, simply because he's a cyclist.