Bike To Nowhere Day

Bike To Nowhere Day

Group Plans Wiggle Shutdown In Protest of Planned Police Crackdown on Cyclists

Grab the popcorn—this is going to be good. A group calling itself The Wigg Party has announced plans for a “wiggle stop-in” to take place during rush hour on Wednesday, July 29th. What does that mean, you ask? From the event page (emphasis added):

We think it’s ludicrous that SFPD Park Station is diverting precious resources towards trying to make sure every cyclist comes to a full and complete stop at every stop sign.

Not only should those resources be directed toward curbing behavior that is actually dangerous (like people driving 2,000 lb cars rolling every single stop sign or speeding on every single street), but the law requiring cyclists stop at stop signs is simply lazy, misguided, and not at all reflective of behavior required to operate a bicycle safely (we of course endorse the Idaho Stop law which allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and requires them to stop when others have the right of way).

In fact, if cyclists came to a full and complete stop at every stop sign, it would have disastrous effects to traffic patterns and precious “Level of Service.” And that’s what we intend to show.

On Wednesday July 29th from 5:30-6:30 pm, please join us for our first Wiggle Stop-In event. We want to gather 50-100 cyclists to ride around the Wiggle/Lower Haight and stop at every stop sign in single file order. We want to make the point that, in fact, requiring cyclists to come to full stops at every stop sign is a really terrible idea for everyone on the road. […]

Let’s show Capt. John Sanford of Park Station that his choice to crack down on cyclists who aren’t following the letter of the law not only doesn’t make anyone safer but actually would create terrible conditions on our roads.

The “stop-in” is in protest of a recently announced plan from SFPD Park Station Captain John Sanford to increase ticketing of cyclists and pedestrians in areas like the Panhandle and The Wiggle.

[Photo: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition]