[*BCM*] Courteous Mass?

[Rebecca Albrecht]

In 2008 my son, the guy that rides the high bike with the air horn and I 
organized  the courteous mass rides. They were to be held the second 
Friday of the month. For the first ride we had a fair number of people 
though it poured midway through the ride. By the time of the second ride 
Brendan had gone off to college, and just a few people showed up. I 
didn't continue after that. I and I know a significant number of people 
would like to do a more "courteous ride". It would be nice if critical 
mass could become more courteous.

Here are some very basic guidelines of how it could be
1. When CM  comes to a red light/yellow light, or to cars waiting at the 
light CM stops behind the cars giving all the cyclists a chance to mass 
up. Weaving through cars waiting for the light to change just makes a 
big mess of things, understandably annoys car drivers and separates the 
cyclists. Personally I do not like to weave between cars to get to the 
front. I prefer to claim a lane which I feel entitled to be in when the 
light changes.
2. Once CM has started through the intersection & then the light changes 
they should just keep going (well, maybe not in Cambridge!) so that 
everyone stays together which will result in less of a log (bicycle?) 
jam for the cars/pedestrians. I think "corking is fine because it serves 
the purpose of keeping CM together.
3. Do not travel in the on-coming lane of traffic.
4. Be aware that the riders stay together by adjusting the pace.

Although complaints are continually made that CM is a protest ride, I & 
it seems most people like to do the CM rides because it can be fun and 
feels safe to ride amongst a crowd of cyclists once a month. 
Occasionally there are the anti-car chants which I wish could be changed 
to be more pro-cycling instead. In CM it is the "leader" of the ride who 
determines whether CM waits for red lights etc. And that is a big 
obstacle. The leader can be continually changing and it is difficult to 
get that person to follow a few commonsense guidelines. For the whole 
month I ride in a very focused manner so I find that the relaxed nature 
of CM rides can be fun. Maybe we could change the rides to be Courteous 
Mass rides -same place/same time but with balloons for everyone (so we 
can identify one another) who just wants a fun ride and wants to follow 
some very basic guidelines.