Civil Disobedient Bikers Busted

ODB · 05-12-2005, 05:02 PM

I saw this on bike forums, trying to take back the streets:

Civil Disobedient Bikers Busted BY MICHAEL WALL

Late at night April 28, about 20 bicyclists staked out spots at different intersections along Peachtree Street. The group, called Wheels of Fire and made up mostly of bike messengers, carried cans of spray paint and homemade cardboard stencils of a stick-figure bicyclist.

Their mission: to paint fake bike lanes on Atlanta's most famous thoroughfare - and the main artery used by bike messengers serving downtown businesses and government agencies.

Jenna Hyland, 19, and Lindley Davis, 29, wound up at one of Peachtree's busiest sections - the strip in front of the Hard Rock Cafe and Hooters.

"We just all got really sick of being hit by cars on our bicycles, even though we obey every traffic law and it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk," says Hyland, a student at Georgia State University.

Hyland and Davis had enough time to spray-paint the blacktop with a couple of stencils mimicking the symbols that designate bike lanes. They were about to start painting lines for the mock bike lanes when "some douche bag standing around the corner called the cops," Hyland says.

Within minutes, both were arrested. Hyland went quietly. Davis did not. His bike was damaged when the cops tried to stop him.

"If you mess with my bike, you might as well punch my girlfriend," says Davis, a bike messenger.

According to an Atlanta police report, Davis resisted arrest and took more than a couple swings at the arresting officer. He was eventually subdued with a taser.

Hyland was sentenced on a misdemeanor obstruction charge May 6 and ordered to attend 13 courses on behavior modification.

Davis, charged with felony obstruction, is scheduled to appear in Fulton County Superior Court on May 13. "I'm not poster child," he says. "But my bike is my well-being."

May is National Bike Month, and May 20 is National Bike to Work Day. For info on local Bike Month events, visit www.atlantabike.org.

Buk · 05-12-2005, 07:00 PM

I wish the streets were more bike friendly, they are better than most where I live. But it is my experience that most riders do not follow "every traffic law". It seems that there is a negative feedback loop going on between bikers and drivers. Most drivers don't understand or respect the complications in riding a bike, and see them as nothing more than a hazard. It seems that a lot of bikers feel that they are mistreated on the road, so it is ok for them to be civilaly disobedient, even at the expence of drivers. Bikers get lumbed into a groupof bikers, and the same for drivers; "I got cut off one time, 'they' don't respect me on the road." I wish the cities would do more to accomidate both.

FishrCutB8 · 05-13-2005, 11:55 AM

Taking a swing at an officer is disobedient, but not civil. If they want to do this, fine; but, you have to then willingly submit to the punishments meted out by the criminal system. It is the awareness of these inherent inequities that lead to change.

ODB · 05-13-2005, 12:13 PM

I would agree fish. I would like to know what legal means they went through first to get lanes put down. If that didn't work, then they should have made themselves look more natural doing it. Like using some cones and a truck. Of course, once they got caught they should have truly used civil disobedience and gone limp as they were carried off. They would have a lot more sympathy to their cause.