Two bikers behaving well in D.C. Photo by Joe Flood.
A cyclist participating in a recent D.C. Bike Party event ran a red light and was hit by a Toyota Prius taxi. The gut-turning and head-smackingly dumb moment was caught on camera by a fellow cyclist.
The full 15-minute video, first posted on Reddit then picked up by In the Capital, shows a small number of cyclists running red lights, nearly hitting pedestrians, and weaving through other bikers to get ahead.
Even though these cyclists were riding with D.C. Bike Party, its founder Lia Seremetis wrote in an email that a few bad apples shouldn’t turn anyone against the whole bunch.
“First I want to say how unfortunate it is and how sorry I am that this occurred during D.C. Bike Party,” Seremetis wrote. “I hope the rider is all right.”
“I’d like to draw attention to the fact that throughout the video you’ll notice the majority of the group stopped at lights, enjoying the music and adhering to the D.C. Bike Party motto: ‘don’t be a jerk,'” Seremetis said. “Meanwhile, the person taking the video is hopping curbs, zooming by D.C. Bike Party riders and even worse, nearly clipping vulnerable pedestrians. When the rider was struck, their small faction of riders was far ahead of the D.C. Bike Party mass after ignoring the requests of route marshals to stay in the right lane and stop at lights.
“The way this small group was riding was unsafe, absolutely unacceptable and not representative of the 600-plus other D.C. Bike Party participants last week who followed the rules and got home safely at the end of the night,” she added.
Indeed, on its website, D.C. Bike Party has six rules for participants:
1. Stay in the right lane NEVER ride the sidewalk. NEVER ride against oncoming traffic.
2. Stop at Red Lights and crosswalks. Cars can hurt you, and you can hurt pedestrians. Neither are acceptable.
3. Ride Straight, Ride Predictably
4. Leave no rider behind.
5. Ride SMART! It’s illegal and dangerous to ride a bicycle inebriated. Be smart, riders.
6. Communicate with your fellow riders!
A blog post about the June 12 event also contains the plea, “CHILL. This IS NOT Critical Mass. This IS NOT an alleycat race, this IS NOT meant to be anything but fun for EVERYONE.”
As for the cyclist who was hit, it’s unclear what became of him. After being hit, he’s seen limping to a nearby bus stop then sitting. He did not appear to have any visible wounds. The taxi did stop, but it’s unknown what company it’s from. Request for comment from the video’s uploader has not been returned.
Update: The video’s uploader says he’s been in touch with the biker, who sustained a twisted ankle and lots of road rash, but is fine.
Watch the video below and then never do anything you’ve seen in it.
