Originally Posted by Helmet Head
For some reason, an apparently quite accurate litmus test for determining whether someone is a vehicular cyclist is whether they perceive a significant difference in driver behavior and attitudes between various areas.
Vehicular cyclists tend to respond like JoeJack... motorists are for the most part very cooperative everywhere... and everywhere there are rare exceptions.
Hate to burst your bubble, but even drivers perceive differences in other drivers in different areas... if a "vehicular cyclist" does not perceive a difference in motorists while in different areas, then frankly that cyclist is not very perceptive.
And I am speaking of simple subtle differences.
This was recently brought home to me while driving (much more on the cycling aspects in a future thread) on 2 lane freeways in Oregon and California. In Oregon the motorists tend to stay to the right, except to pass. In California the motorists tended to drive where they wanted to and did not move from their lane... period. The latter made for aggressive motorist actions like tailgating to get a motorist to change lanes... thus making the stress levels on the freeways higher in CA. The real interesting part was that this activity occurs shortly after crossing the state line.
I have also noticed very significant differences in the treatment cyclists get while in the US and while in Baja... Night and Day.