Watch This Angry SF Cyclist Smash A Car Window With His U-Lock

An SF Critical Mass cyclist was caught on video smashing a Zipcar after supposedly being slightly run over.

It’s a video cyclist advocates hate to post and regular road going citizens who commute by car love to share. According to our commuter friends over at Kron 4 news on their post earlier today (Aug. 31, 2015) a critical mass cyclist took his anger out on an errant driver who damaged his bike after slightly nudging it with her car. Critical Mass is a cycling event that happens in cities across America (but most famously in SF and LA) and is held on the last Friday of every month. Dubbed a social movement, the event aims to raise awareness of cyclists as legitimate sharers of the road but is more in lines of a celebration/random spontaneous gathering if anything.

The facts of the entire incident are pretty clear. In the video, a group of critical mass cyclists attempt to cross an intersection well after their right of way has ended and their crossing light has gone off. As traffic comes to a halt to avoid hitting the dozens of other cyclists who are still crossing, one car inches its way forward in an attempt to cross. One cyclist wants nothing of this and proceeds to block the car from moving forward using his body and bike to thwart the car from driving off. The driver of the car (a ZIP car by the way, a car rented using a ride share program) inches her car forward and inadvertently wedges her bumper on the front tire of the cyclist’s bike most likely damaging the wheel of the bike. Several other cyclists block the car from moving. The driver slowly backs off in an attempt to drive away and slowly drives forward while the cyclists block the driver anyway they can. Seeing that the car and driver isn’t going to stop, the main instigator and initial cyclist who started the entire debacle takes his u-lock, oftentimes made from iron or steel, and smashes the driver’s window inwards as well as first pummeling the hood of the car with blows from said lock. You can clearly hear the shattering of the glass as the car drives off.

According to Kron 4, no reports were filed so police aren’t actively looking for the cyclist. As far as we know, if a Zip car is damaged a report should’ve been filed to Zip for repairs.

2015.8.31 U Lock (1) /

2015.8.31 U Lock (3) /

2015.8.31 U Lock (2) /

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As to who was at fault in the video, it’s hard to blame anyone. Both driver and cyclist were at fault in our opinion. San Francisco and cycling have had a long history together that isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. Any resident in San Francisco should at least know that cyclists in many ways do unofficially own the roads although laws are in place to keep both drivers and cyclists in check. All cyclists aren’t going to obey every law and drivers should keep that in mind. We’re not entirely sure what the cyclist aimed to do by initially blocking the driver, but it obviously wasn’t the right way to spread cycling awareness. And the driver of the Zip Car should’ve waited for the entire situation to diffuse. If she felt threatened for her life is a different story and if she were in court, this video evidence could attest to that fact. What there definitely was shown was a lack of respect from both cyclists and driver on varying levels. If this occurrence was in any other country where cars are king, the outcome would’ve been very different. But at the end of the day, let’s let respect rule the day, cyclist or driver.

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