2011-02-25 - Riders Down, Critical Mass, Porto Alegre, Brasil

I did search so apologies again for the double post

I didnt know what this was about before I saw the video on another thread. just expecting it to be a corraling of riders by the police maybe with some argy bargy. did not expect that. horrific. thoughts go out to all the riders that were hurt and had to witness this.

Happily my friend has updated her facebook to say all injured are out of hospital, so none too serious.

The articles seem to suggest it was an accident, in reality my friend reports an angry driver accelerating thru the mass as they set-off, they'd only been riding a few hundred metres.

Undeterred, they're gonna reclaim the streets again on Monday.

RHB, would your friend be up to talking to a bike-friendly journo about this? If they're doing another ride tomorrow that's a bold and brave move.

Give us some warning please. That was not something I want to be surprised to see if it can be helped.

Terrible news
Some coverage here too: http://road.cc/content/news/31464-driver-ploughs-brazilian-critical-mass-ride-video-warning-disturbing-content

"scum, subhuman scum!"

I really wonder what was going through the driver's mind when he made the decision to accelerate. Was he a genuine psychopath who was late for his tea (unlikely). Did he want to teach the cyclists a lesson and if so what? Perhaps 'don't dare get in my way or hold me up'? Was it something else and if so what? I wonder if he's seen the clip now on Youtube, if he feels any remorse for what he's done. Don't get me wrong I'm not empathising with the driver I just find it really hard to imagine what was going through his mind at the time, was it simply blind rage with no real thought?

If as a poster above says the car was ditched and plates removed what is the likelihood of the driver being caught? In a country where the police seem pretty preoccupied with things like ongoing shoot outs with drug barons how high up their list of priorities will an incident like this be? That and the fact that corruption is rife in the Brazilian police force, bribery and so on, it doesn't bode well. Let's just hope that he is caught and justice is served.

Just horrific, those poor people.

Thoughts with those riders and here is hoping they make a full recovery.

appalling behaviour and attitude by the driver.. prayers and thoughts to all those injured or traumatised by this tragic event

al

An update from a Brazilian friend says that the police are looking for the driver, who has been identified, and the incident is being treated as multiple attempted homicides, not as an accident.

As well it should, nothing accidental about that. Clear to see it was intentional, absolutely horrific.

Sadly intimidation of cyclists happens far to often in Brasil. While i was living in Curitiba there was a spate of incidents of people being knocked off their bikes by kids using car floor mats to hit cyclists.
It is a sad case of affairs as the viewpoint of many people is that the car is the way forward, Curitiba has roughly 2million people, a great public transport system and near constant gridlock by people using cars far too much. But to many people the bike is seen as the mode of transport used by the poor, and as soon as people are old enough to drive they give up their bikes.However there are many people trying to change this viewpoint in every major city in Brasil, the sad fact of intimidation by car is a daily fact of their lives....

Strange thing to hear from Curitiba, the city that pretty much pioneered environmental planning in Brazil.

It did, but a vast influx of people has led to gridlock on the major routes during rush hours....that coupled with inconsiderate drivers and high accident rates!!

Yeah, can't really expect one mayor's vision to hold for more than 30 years when the population radically changes.

it is still a great system and works well, would work even better if there were less cars!!But i still love the city!

I'd love to visit. What are the buses called?

depends which ones....the big red double bendy busses? Bi-articulardos. The silver limited stop rapid buses....killing machines! To be honest i am not sure what their nicknames are....i will ask!

the silver ones. it translated to "speedy" or something like that. it's been 12 years since I heard the name and I didn't really speak Spanish then so wouldn't have been able to translate from P to S.

Christ that's horrible. Glad to see the cops taking it seriously. Crossing my fingers for the victims...

@jayloo......ligeirinho=fast is the name![SIZE=1]

[/SIZE]

pretty fucking horrific if you ask me,

Sorry, i'll rephrase my warnings next time

Accepted, and you should rephrase them. I read that and thought you were joking about something mundane. Anything, a create frame, a naked bike ride, anything might be called "pretty fucking horrific".

You click something that says "Pretty fucking horrific" and want more warning? Sounds like warning enough to me.

the guy is:

Motorista: RICARDO JOSÉ NEIS:

Nascimento: 19-Julho-1963. CPF: 467.901.440-72

Endereço: JOão Pessoa 1065 - Apto 418 - Cidade Baixa, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
...
CEP 900.400-00. (não sabemos se ainda mora nesse endereço)

ATIVIDADE: Funcionário do Banco Central. Email: