Originally Posted by
RoadTrick
I think the story goes both ways - it is not hard to agree that there are quite a few people that drive cars, who will complain about you biking no matter how close you try to ride next to the pavement. For them, anything that is not a car, is an obstacle (and I hate catching a ride from folks who spend educating the biker with their windows rolled up, making me take all of that in), but that is not everyone.
Now, the cyclists, that is a different side to the story. Yes, plenty of risk-taking, red-light ignoring, left-turn-no-signal riders, who can create terrifying situations, causing fear, frustration and anger. I do not support such erratic behavior, and hate being a part of such situation (as a passenger, or a fellow rider passing by). My question is - why would anyone in their sanity choose to creative a potentially life-threatening moment? It won't be the guy with four-wheels that goes down first!
Every person who transports himself on a road that is filled with other drivers and riders should feel respectful towards other people on the road and most importantly, his own life. In the end, it is about riding and enjoying your healthy body in full.
I thought about this as I read the article. Certainly there are cyclists who hate cars (just check out the Advocacy and Safety subforum to see lots of that). The difference is that most cyclists are also motorists, so they have to use even more convoluted and illogical thinking to support their thinking about fellow motorists.
As a psychologist, this article really interested me. Tom Vanderbilt (and others) have written about the "Lake Wobegon* effect in drivers. They all think they themselves are good drivers, but just about everybody else is a bad driver. Obviously they can't all be right!
*Garrison Keillor said of Lake Wobegon, his fictional small town, that "all of the children are above average." This is statistically impossible, just like it's impossible for everybody to be a better than average driver.