I was traveling with a few director level guys at my company last and we got on the subject of hobbies. They were both in to guns, I brought up bikes. One of the guys said "mountain bikes?" I said, "No, mostly road bikes." He went on to tell me about the packs of riders in his town that aggressively take over the roads, cause all kinds of traffic congestion, mayhem, and heart burn in general. He asked if it was absolutely necessary for cyclists to ride on the roads. After some explanation of why the roads are the safest, and really the only place for road cyclists to ride; I told him I really just boils down to common respect. Bicycles need to respect drivers, and that respect needs to be reciprocated. If everyone keep their heads on straight it works.

Don't know if I shifted his thinking at all. Probably not.