In San Francisco, the Wiggle is a route from Market Street to Golden Gate Park. In response to a comment by a SFPD captain vowing a crackdown on cyclists running stop signs, cyclists plan to protest.
The bike coalition opposes the crackdown because it wants police to follow the city’s Vision Zero guidelines of prioritizing enforcement of the five behaviors most likely to cause traffic collisions in San Francisco, all of which involve cars and drivers: failure to yield to pedestrians, speeding, running red lights, ignoring stop signs and violating turn restrictions.
How will they protest?
At 5:30 p.m., scores of bike riders plan to gather at Waller and Steiner streets and pedal the Wiggle, coming to a full and complete stop — bike stopped, at least one foot on the pavement — at every stop sign and red light. Protest organizers are predicting gridlock.
Update: The results:
While traffic elsewhere along the Wiggle seemed to be flowing freely, Steiner Street between Waller and Duboce came to a virtual standstill.
Frustrated drivers tried to dodge the backup by driving in the wrong lane and had loud boos rained down upon them from the gaggle of cyclists.
at one point, a police cruiser rolled past the slow-moving protest, saying over the loud speaker “Thank you for obeying the law,” eliciting loud cheers from the crowd.
At least 100 cyclists lined up single file along The Wiggle now. pic.twitter.com/6S2eDjni5B
— Kale Williams (@sfkale) July 30, 2015
I've personally envisioned something similar to protest motorists who don't stop at unsignalized pedestrian crossings: get a group of 20-30 to lead a (legal) continuous stream back and forth across 14th via Corcoran on a Friday evening at ~9pm. For an hour or so. With cameras rolling.
Posted by: Rob | July 30, 2015 at 12:54 AM
This is a protest? Then I'm practically Gandhi and MLK combined, every day.
Posted by: Crickey7 | July 30, 2015 at 09:08 AM
Famously gruff-but-lovable Crikey as Ghandi. That's the best thing I've read so far today.
Posted by: DE | July 30, 2015 at 09:40 AM
It is funny how impatient some motorists can be when cyclists actually fully obey the law with a complete, foot-down stop. But then, driving downtown isn't really driving, and they get frustrated easily because of that.
I think a track-stand sort of stop or hesitation is fine for stop signs, but many motorists don't understand that you're actually stopping, so I often have to give them a kindly wave-through. I'm only going to unclip at a light that is going to be longer than, say, 30 seconds.
Posted by: DE | July 30, 2015 at 09:41 AM
Crickey,
You put your foot down at every stop sign?
Posted by: UrbanEngineer | July 30, 2015 at 09:51 AM
Well, maybe not every stop sign.
Posted by: Crickey7 | July 30, 2015 at 11:05 AM
Love the update. Look at all those law-abiding cyclist-citizens!
Posted by: DE | July 30, 2015 at 11:21 AM
I'm thinking of Crickey as Ghandi, and agreeing that a dhoti would be very comfortable right now, but wondering whether it would get tangled in the wheels and chain.
Posted by: SJE | July 30, 2015 at 11:42 AM
Did the "frustrated drivers" receive citations for driving on the wrong side of the road?
Posted by: Kolo Jezdec | July 30, 2015 at 04:11 PM
@Rob you mean like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHT_ufv2iY8
Posted by: JJJJ | July 30, 2015 at 05:22 PM
Oh poor drivers: they had to wait about as much as a pedestrian would wait for a walk signal
Posted by: SJE | July 31, 2015 at 10:50 AM
Morgan Fitzgibbons, a good friend of mine and the organizer of this protest, was on a radio show this morning discussing this issue. I thought it was a worthwhile listen: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201507310930
Posted by: UrbanEngineer | July 31, 2015 at 04:14 PM