Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
The cycling behavior that irritates motorists on a daily basis is a schizophrenic mix between "Hey, that cyclist is making me slow down!" and "Hey, that cyclist is getting ahead of me by breaking the law!"
So if a cyclist behaves himself/herself, motorists get aggravated, and if the cyclist breaks the law to stay "out of the way", motorists get aggravated. It is a no-win situation from the start. THIS is what fuels the anti-cycling crowd 99% of the time. A handful of d-bags ripping through a congested city for an hour every month have very little effect IMO..
My take on it is most folks don't think about cyclist any different than other road user regardless of mode. Others are simply a momentary inconvenience until they're forced to deal with glaring example of stupidity, or disruption.
Like George Carlin said, everyone else is either a jerk, or idiot....the thing is we remember those who are both. Cyclists and motorist are both people who form their opinions through experience. Everyone could stand to be a better road user.