Bikes and Movies: We are Traffic
The group Bikes and Murder is presenting a free showing of the movie We Are Traffic which “chronicles the history and development of the Critical Mass bicycle movement – one of the most spirited and dynamic social/political movements of the apathetic 90s.”
The movie is showing tonight, Saturday April 2nd at 7pm in the Boll Family YMCA in Downtown Detroit, 1401 Broadway.
We will be forwarding this information to Rob Morosi, a spokesperson for MDOT.
In a recent Metromode article about an MDOT road project in Rochester Hill, Morosi gave the following quotes:
“When we’re developing a Complete Street project we’re required to meet with the local community to take into account non-motorized uses and facilities. The idea is to make it a more walkable community,” says MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi.
“Even before the Complete Street legislation we would meet with local communities to see if there’s something we can include that the local community has always wanted but has been prohibited to do because of the way the road is constructed,” he says.
This M-59-Crooks project is “a great example of what we’re doing to address that,” he says. “So now people riding their bikes or walking won’t be in conflict with traffic…People can ride, their bikes, Rollerblade, walk safely.”
First, from what we’ve learned, this project is not a Complete Street. MDOT is simply adding sidewalks. In fact, the bridge itself will be less bikeable when this project is completed because it will no longer have a wide curb lane. It will not have bike lanes.
Second, we aren’t in “conflict with traffic.” We are traffic.
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Tags: Bikes and Murder, complete streets, critical mass, MDOT, movie, Rob Morosi, We Are Traffic
April 2nd, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Critical Mass has some sweet history regarding early bicycle advocacy/awareness raising, but having known people that have been assaulted, injured, and in one case by cars while on bikes, and especially in light of legislation and legal findings regarding things like:
-the recent brentwood case: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/california-doctor-gets-five-years-in-prison-for-assaulting-bicyclists
-matts law in illinois: http://mattslaw.blogspot.com/
-this licensed driver in nyc: http://gothamist.com/2008/07/21/murder_charge_for_driver_who_intent.php
doesn’t “Bikes and Murder” seem slightly…awkwardly named as a presenter? Specifically, that one of those two is a death penalty offense in many states, and the other is something that makes the world a safer place?
April 4th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Hi Joe,
Bikes and Murder perhaps connotes negativity for some and is also perhaps not the most inviting as well. Maybe that is your point.
However, “murder” is not really related to real life in this case. http://www.bikesandmurder.com/about
I can also say that, “we are traffic” would be nice if it were completely true, but we are still second fiddle, as per a vague Michigan ordinance that speaks about impeding traffic, that a cop stopped me on.
257.676b Interference with normal flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic prohibited; exception; violation as civil infraction.
Sec. 676b.
(1) A person, without authority, shall not block, obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with the normal flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic upon a public street or highway in this state, by means of a barricade, object, or device, or with his or her person. This section shall not apply to persons maintaining, rearranging, or constructing public utility facilities in or adjacent to a street or highway.
(2) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction.
April 4th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Dave,
If you were riding your bike legally, you weren’t impeding traffic. The law is vague but it’s been more clearly defined through the courts. Unfortunately many police and others don’t know that. It’s a topic worth discussing more in a future article.
April 6th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Dave, that’s just the thing I’m talking about.
It’s not about changing the connotation of murder. Enough of that happens around here that you’re just not going to do that by emblazoning a bike and a heart next to a gun on a shirt.
It’s about “bikes and murder” as a…brand? (whatever it is) attempting to the connotation of “bike” from something that is richly powerful for young and old alike on any city street or trail, to something that is only separated by a mere three letters from something ultra heinous that is actually a real world issue and not one faced merely in video games.
Until I see Ja Rule on the site, I can only think of it as “Bikes and Video Games” or at best “Bikes and Simulated Murder,” after reading the about.
And who knows, maybe it’s just a big joke and I’m taking it too seriously. Except that people get actual murdered all the time and I don’t want that, nor do I want to equate that with my desire for people getting actual bikes all the time, nor do I even want to imply to the casual observer that I am interested in getting actual murdered on actual bikes.