Blocking The Bridge Ramp

City transport officials decided to open a bridge lane that had been reserved for bicycles and pedestrians to car traffic during the evening rush hour. At about 4 p.m. one October afternoon, six members of a group promoting cycling and other non-vehicle transport blocked a roadway entrance to the bridge. When police ordered them to move, they refused and were arrested without resisting. They were charged with disorderly conduct for obstructing traffic and refusing to disperse, and the facts of the blockade were stipulated. The protesters raised a necessity defence: the lane change would increase air pollution and endanger cyclists and pedestrians, legal avenues had been exhausted, and their brief blockade was the lesser harm. They called a specialist in environmental medicine and a former city transportation commissioner as expert witnesses.