3 ms·

I hadn't heard of Slow Roll. They might be better at handling traffic than the one Critical Mass ride I saw. They had several thousand riders going through a ro

I hadn't heard of Slow Roll. They might be better at handling traffic than the one Critical Mass ride I saw. They had several thousand riders going through a roundabout. It looked spontaneous as they had no detours posted, and a few cars were stuck in the loop for about an hour. They ride at the same time each (week? month?) so I just remember to not drive through that part of downtown on Fridays in the summer. Really, though, I've looked into similar things, and can't understand how they're able to do it next to a police precinct without posting detours and without being fined or traffic controlled. But, it's Detroit. There are probably 10 cops covering downtown at any time, and they might not have the resources to police traffic on a Friday evening. That said, I'm actually interested in this. Did you guys have to go through city hall and set up the detour routes and get permission from the affected businesses to lay down your route? The city I tried to set something up in would have allowed it, but there was a lot of paperwork and it was smaller than an organized ride.

jmccree 12y ago
In Atlanta, critical mass got up to 300+ riders before the city/police finally got tired of the illegal blocking of intersections. (They call it "corking") Atlanta police had 10-20 motorcycle cops follow the ride and pull over anyone who broke the law (running red lights, etc.) for a couple of weeks and the popularity quickly dropped off when people realized they had to still follow traffic laws. It still goes on every month, but it's more like 50 riders now. There are also of course plenty of legal rides/events that get permits, police escorts(sometimes free), etc. We have something called "Atlanta Streets Alive" that shuts down several miles of large streets every few months to only pedestrian and bike traffic, allowing people to walk and play in the streets with no cars. Permits are required, off-duty police have to be hired to direct traffic at intersections etc.
brohoolio 12y ago
I dunno if anything is officially organized, but remember the city pays its cops $14 an hour and they have to transport dead bodies in their cars. That's from my friend who is a cop. The cops seem friendly and supportive. The city doesn't have the luxury of shutting down something that is positive.

jmccree 12y ago

In Atlanta, critical mass got up to 300+ riders before the city/police finally got tired of the illegal blocking of intersections. (They call it "corking") Atlanta police had 10-20 motorcycle cops follow the ride and pull over anyone who broke the law (running red lights, etc.) for a couple of weeks and the popularity quickly dropped off when people realized they had to still follow traffic laws. It still goes on every month, but it's more like 50 riders now. There are also of course plenty of legal rides/events that get permits, police escorts(sometimes free), etc. We have something called "Atlanta Streets Alive" that shuts down several miles of large streets every few months to only pedestrian and bike traffic, allowing people to walk and play in the streets with no cars. Permits are required, off-duty police have to be hired to direct traffic at intersections etc.

brohoolio 12y ago

I dunno if anything is officially organized, but remember the city pays its cops $14 an hour and they have to transport dead bodies in their cars. That's from my friend who is a cop. The cops seem friendly and supportive. The city doesn't have the luxury of shutting down something that is positive.