Originally Posted by
Tulex
You have experienced bicyclist that wear ipods, or no helmet, or run lights/stop signs, speed, hog the road, etc. How are they any different than the idiots that ride on the wrong side of the road? They all give roadies a bad name. So when the rest that do make an effort to do the right thing go out there, the attitude is already set because of others. Add that to the fact that most people that don't ride a bike just don't even think about it from our point of view.
We can piss and moan all we want about how bad we are treated. Too many of us want it both ways though. Until people start following the laws and rules of the road, we will all be paying for others behavior.
If this were true, motorists would be going apoplectic every time they saw another driver broke the law. After all, motorists have volume going for them in terms of lack of obedience to the laws. Speeding isn't even seen as a crime by most! Cyclist behavior is NOT the reason for abuse by motorists, who are inconvenienced and endangered to a considerably greater extent by other drivers than they are by motorists. "Law-breaking cyclists" is a convenient excuse for what amounts to motorists wishing to remind an inferior class of road users (people on bikes) just who is in charge, here. Given the speed and size advantage that cars have over bikes, it's no wonder that we make such an easy target. So, no, this isn't about bad apples making everyone hate cyclists. When individual riders piss off a driver, we all know who has the power to get revenge. Most people aren't crazy enough to do this to other motorists. This is a political issue, not a behavioral one.