Man those stories are crazy, yeah I get the odd bit of abusse but nowt much. I have never been to the US only to cannada and all of the two lane roads there I thought where really wide so I don't understand people yelling there is not enough room, even if your are drivng and big suv un less you are spatially ********. It's a real shame this attitude exists, but it does and it must be hard to reeducate people.
I love the get tax a licence arguments. That one is common over here as well, people forget that unless a bike was taxed massivly more than a car (proportionally) it would cost the governemnt to collect the tax!