c r i t i c a l m a s s h a m i l t o n c r i t i c a l m a s s h a m i l t o nc r i t i c a l m a s s h a m i l t o n MASS MISSION: MAY 2003
Southbound James Street North is filled with cars moving slowly during "rush hour" on Friday.
A cyclist is straddling his racing bike on James Street, paused on the northbound lane.
Idling in the opposite lane, a white SUV-sized stretch-limo.
The juxtaposition of machine and man is telling: the massive, expensive, gas guzzling, brute ostentation of such a vehicle, versus the simple almost delicate lines that form a bicycle frame and a man’s figure.
The cyclist glances over his shoulder, waiting for a few cyclists separated by a red traffic light to catch up with the main body of the ride.
It’s 6:00 p.m. Friday May 30. It is the last Friday of the month. It’s Critical Mass.
The 30 or so cyclists who coasted out of Hess Village at 5:45 p.m. are headed in a different direction than most people on the roads this afternoon: they are making their way under their own physical power toward a liveable future.
Like the bicycles, the majority of vehicles contain only one person, the driver.
Yet the ecological implications of moving people by car rather than bike or transit is clearly destructive: cars are a primary source of smog which contribute to the premature death of hundreds within the city, and thousands in the province. We’re talking bad air which drags 300 or so Hamiltonians and 1,900 Ontarians to an early grave each year.
One bus could swallow 40 cars and clear the street in more ways than one. Bike lanes, bike paths, bike parking, and various traffic calming measures slowing automobiles would help make alternatives to cars safer and more accessible options.
This Critical Mass ride is an anniversary ride, five-years of taking it to the streets each month in Hamilton. Reflecting on those five years reveals that in terms of action, very little has changed with regard to improved cycling and transit infrastructure.
Blame car-centric city council for that. They raised bus fares and toyed with the possibility of crippling service cuts. They haven’t made implementation of their own "Shifting Gears Cycling Plan" anywhere near a priority. In fact they’ve buried it in pursuit of costly road- building projects like the proposed Red Hill Valley Expressway. And they cling to the belief that cycling is nothing more than a weekend pastime.
A promising new link on the city web site titled "Cycling" deals, disappointingly but predictably, only with the upcoming race events.
Back on the streets with the Mass, the monthly ritual of testosterone-fueled aggression will be played out: a driver who cannot bear the fact that cyclists have the audacity to impede, even momentarily, his way.
At times like these the motor vehicle under his command can easily become a blunt weapon.
On King Street by the Art Gallery, the white male driver does a severe lane change, aiming the front end of his vehicle menacingly at the massed cyclists before pressing his foot to the accelerator, swerving, and speeding off.
Blame North America's overwhelming addiction to the car for that. The thoughtless acceptance of a mode of transportation that dominates nature, our cities and our lives. The car addiction bureaucracy that works, at great cost, to accommodate an unsustainable way of getting around, an addiction that gets off on speed and synchronized traffic lights.Between the years 1995 and 2000 Ontario spent $6.5 billion on its provincial highways habit, yet even with such enormous expenditures car fatalities still claim well over 800 human lives a year in the province By its very design, the private automobile is isolating people from the world, from each other, and finally, from themselves.
Could the Greek historian Plutarch have predicted Road Rage when he commented "No beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage."
The Mass ride continues.
All the responses are not negative or threatening. Supportive honks pepper the ride, as do thumbs up and friendly waves from car occupants and pedestrians alike. A big guy on a Harley pulls up alongside the ride at a red light.
"What’s the ride about?" he queries.
Some riders have attached signs to their bikes, even taped signs to their bodies. Simple slogans like "one less car" adorn some bikes or helmets. "Divorce your car" is neatly printed on a posterboard sign on the back of one bike, a small, mobile billboard inviting change.
He gets various verbal responses: "Clean Air" "Cyclists’ rights." "Cycling community."
As the city prepares to receive elite racing cyclists here to entertain with world calibre competition - and in the process make a whack of money - the same city has turned its back on their own cycling citizens. The annual $300,000 earmarked for cycling improvements was cut from this year’s city budget.
Sure, some recreation trails have been added, but this is in keeping with Hamilton’s view of cycling as sport or recreational activity. Nothing of substance has changed for cyclists who use their bikes for getting to work, to go shopping, to visit family or friends. Utilitarian cyclists are not being accommodated, yet these are the cyclists we need to encourage.
Critical Mass rides alone won’t accomplish needed changes. What they do is create a physical presence to remind Hamiltonians that cyclists exist and belong on the streets, not just riding along park trails on weekends.
With a November municipal election on the horizon, it’s worth noting the presence of Ward One hopeful Brian McHattie at the ride. He’s not here trying to steal the show, he’s been to previous rides. Imagine, a councillor at City Hall who has attended a Critical Mass ride! A councillor who looks good on a bike? A councillor who might even use it to get to and from a job at city hall? A councillor who will push for sustainable transportation improvements in Hamilton? Unheard of!
The next Critical Mass is Friday June 27, 5:30 p.m. at Victoria Park (corner of King and Locke) and will end with a picnic party. You are invited to bring food, friends, frisbees.
The change in location is due to the fact that the usual meeting ground at Hess and George is being shut down for the Canadian Cycling Championship race.
Local cyclists locked out by a cycling race.
Typical Hamilton move.
rk
take me to the Transportation for Liveable Communities home page