I don't know if this has been posted previously (I searched and didn't see it- if it has, my apologies). I found it disturbingly funny:

Disturbingly funny is right.

Didn't the guy who isn't a cyclist, give the other guy 'the finger'?

I will think of the guy who isn't a cyclist, saying 'I hate to slow down', every time a motorist crowds me.....lol

I think most motorists hate being forced out of their stupor more than they hate slowing down, but since they hate so many things it is useless to rank them.

Just put that on my Facebook page.

I hate... these videos.

The lack of logical reasoning presented there is RIGHT ON THE MONEY.

"I hate to slow down" seems to be a mantra; a few years ago, taking my daughter to the bus stop (a 150-foot stroll from my driveway), we were buzzed by some ass doing about 50 in a 30 zone. I yelled at him, and he SLAMMED ON HIS BRAKES, lowered his window, and cussed me out for having the audacity to try and tell him what to do. (Funny, though, he never drove down my street again...)

Last spring, I was cussed out at some distance by a pedestrian because the city put in a couple bike lanes; all I could make out was the end of his stupid rant, once I was within 50 feet -- he was staring daggers at me, saying, "...bunch o' SH**!" Couldn't figure that one out, since I didn't lobby for the bike lanes, put them in, or any of it, AND, we were 2 miles away from them at the time!

While the motorist does "hate to slow down" the cyclist too expresses the same sentiment. We all seem to be graced with "entitlement."

Of course for the cyclist, there is considerably more physical effort involved in slowing and combing back to speed.

Maybe it's high time we all realize that public space is for all of us.

I love the logic in the dialogue. Thx.

Then...don't watch them.

Because cyclists go slower than the typical flow of traffic, and it can suck to get caught behind one.

How does that logic apply when the cyclists is moving at the speed of other traffic... and the JAM still insists on trying to pass you? (even racing you to a red light?)

This is often true on many of my distance rides and recreational rides but I rarely do those rides on busy roads where I would be holding up the "typical flow of traffic". On my commutes I am moving at the rate of traffic, and often faster. In most of those circumstances cars are basically racing me between traffic lights and while they may pass me momentarily we catch up at the next intersection.

So, I don't understand this complaint.

FYI average traffic speeds in major cities:


London drivers clock an average speed of 11.8 miles per hour (19 kph). That's far slower than Berlin, at 15.0 mph (24.2 kph), and Warsaw, at 16.1 mph (26 kph), which came in second and third, respectively.

In Boston, even on Storrow Drive, a road prohibited to cyclists that is the higher speed by-pass to the downtown streets, the average speed is only 28 mph.- and averaging 28 mph on Storrow is pretty good I ride alongside that road on the bike path and during peak hours easily out pace the "traffic flow".

Here in NYC the average traffic flow: In a 12-month period, weekday traffic in the district moved at an average of 9.5 miles per hour — about the speed of a farmyard chicken at full gallop.

Thursday, Nov. 13 was the slowest weekday of the year studied, with an average speed of 7.5 m.p.h. — about the speed of the typical jogger in Central Park. Excluding federal holidays, the fastest weekday: Monday, Sept. 28, at a speed of 11.7 m.p.h.


I would say that drivers need to suck it up about bicyclists since they spend so much time being slowed down by other drivers.

Most motorists don't seemingly have the awareness to consider that their average speed may not really be less (or, at least, not much less) than the average speed of the cyclist they want to pass. Instead, most motorists focus on peak speeds, most significantly their speed AT THE MOMENT. Even though it gains them nothing at all as far as average speeds, most motorists would prefer to race to the next red light or traffic backup, hitting the highest peak speed that they can in between intersections. It makes things "feel faster" to them, even though they really aren't when you look at the average over the whole trip. And it's not just cyclists that make them feel this way: next time you see a red light up ahead when you're driving in a car on a multilane road, just let off the gas and coast, and watch the other motorists frantically try to pass you. So what we're dealing with is an irrational human psychology concerning speed rather than something that can be countered by rational arguments and data like you've presented.

Personally, I think one of the main issues is that motorists have gotten too used to driving vehicles that are WAY overpowered for what their actual needs are, most of the time. If you think about it, there's really no need for a commuter car to have the power to accelerate so quickly that motorists CAN engage in this alternating "floor it, hit the brakes" behavior block after block. Our legs can put out MAYBE 500-750 watts of power (actually, I'm not sure about what would be considered "normal" power output for a cyclist, so don't quote me on that), while a 200 HP car can put out 150 KW. We just don't need such powerful cars for most city driving (towing or hauling heavy loads might be a different matter), but we have them anyway in part because car companies market their products based on this psychology of "peak speed", or a feeling of "power". That's part of the issue, in my opinion: the car is sold on the premise that we can drive as fast as we want on open roads, but in reality most cars sit in congested traffic most of the time.

Force of habit. It's like when you call a girl who recently gave you her number, and then ask if she's home when you call her, even though land lines went the way of the dodo ten years ago.

Even worse is when somebody insists on passing you when they're making a right turn in 1/5 block. To pull off a right turn, Seattle people stop their vehicle, contemplate the meaning of life for a few minutes, then start their turn ... so passing a cyclist doesn't really get them anything. And yet they all do it.

What tiny world do you live in?

Have you noticed some motorist tend to gun their engines when passing even if you're completely off their path off to the side? My theory is that they're subconsciously envious of people that can move under their own power.

I assume the whole revving thing has to do with the size of the motorist's ... um, seat tube.

Yup, they're 'overcompensating'.

I can't help but laugh at the clowns who speed past me to the red light; invariably, I mumble, "You feel better beating me to the red, Chuckles?"

I WILL cop to the idea that I don't care much for slowing down; generally, though, if I have room to get by, I don't care. (It's like the shoppers at my job -- if I'm hauling a load past them, and they just look at me and KEEP WADDLING, I get a little incensed. If they show even SLIGHT courtesy, I'm pleased.) Not a problem when I'm on the road, unless it's some cell phone fool texting when the light turns green (happens less than 1x/season.) On the MUP, people who waddle 3-4 across so they can flap their lips at each other, look at me, and mentally relegate me to the Twilight Zone, WILL get barked at.

I don't think it's hypocritical for a cyclist to resist slowing down in the same way as a motorist because of the whole momentum thing on the bike. Any body in motion wants to stay in motion and any body at rest wants to stay at rest. It takes energy to get moving and it takes energy to slow down. Automobiles burn that energy as well but the human operator only pays for it at the gas pump they don't feel it in their body the way a cyclist does.

Also because an automobile is a 4 wheeled vehicle it tracks more linearly than a 2 wheeled vehicle, which has a shorter turning radius and is more maneuverable in traffic. Sometimes it just makes sense to slalom around obstacles on a bike than to stop and go.

Great post.

One legitimate reason people have to hate cyclists is that some of us are self-righteous clods who post lame videos like this.
It's true. I'm actually even a little angry at myself right now for sitting through that entire pixelturd.

Yup. A&S itself is a good reason to hate cyclists. But hey, I understand the desire to just lump all motorists into the "JAM" category and then use videos like the above to reinforce your opinions. It's easier than thinking.

I was sort of forced into a situation of this type, today. I was on my way to an appointment, 'taking the lane' at 5mph along with everyone else. Traffic was backed up for several miles because of an accident where one car had a side-impact collision with another car. I was so glad I checked my tires before I left. Because there were pieces of glass and metal all over the southbound lanes at the intersection.

I did weave through traffic a little bit(stupid I know). But, The thought of something like what happens to Sgt. Harris in the first Police Academy movie. Where Sgt. Harris gets tired of the traffic delays, so he starts weaving through traffic. When someone opens their car door, causing Sgt. Harris to fly off the dirt bike and end up head first in the backside of a horse.

+1

Yes.