Drivers hate cyclists because motorists try to forget the fact automobiles are destroying the environment. Motorists like to go home and put their feet up in front of their five-star air-conditioner and kid themselves they are doing their bit for saving the planet. However, when the memory is fresh of a cyclist who got home without creating any pollution it spoils their moment of self appreciation.

Simple math... they go 40MPH, we go ~20MPH.... People don't even like it when someone drives 5MPH under the speed limit & often times don't like it when someone drives in front of them AT the speed limit.

This. It has very little to do with the "environment" or butt-envy or the other stuff we flatter ourselves with.

Same way we get frustrated at peds with earbuds going 4mph when I want to do 15-20

I think the author made a good point on the fear/rage connection. Women are better at admitting "you scared me" whereas men tend to go directly to full out rage.

For few days I am forced to drive instead of riding bike and using train... I get totally frustrated and notice myself easier to get upset on little things on road. Maybe it is the act of driving that makes them upset not just on cyclist but in general.

x2. This is all it is. I got a big snootfull of it today and I'm getting to the point where I'm disliking it more and more. Everybody's in such a hellfire hurry to get where they're going (usually somewhere super important like Old Navy) that "Jesus, can you believe this bicyclist is in my way! This always happens to me," etc. etc. They over-react, which causes hate.

I hate that argument that bicyclists don't obey the traffic laws. If I make a rolling stop through a stop sign, I'm doing so to try to clear the intersection for big-boy traffic. I'm trying to do the cagers a favor. And state law says I can run red lights if I know I'm not gonna get squished, so it's the same thing, just trying to get out of the intersection so the cars don't have to mess with me.

If you read the Long Beach Press Telegram you will see that drivers of cars really do hate bicyclists! They constantly complain about the new bike lanes implemented in the city. I say the new bike lanes are public and they should get out there on their own bike and utilize this new resource instead of complain about them all the time!

Bike lanes are really for motorists, anyway. They want us out of the way, so the city makes bike lanes, so we're out of the way. Then, they complain that the bike lanes take up too much space on the road that they could be driving in. You just can't please some people.

It just gets me that in the 7000 year history of roads, motorists are the only group that have felt that the roads should be exclusively for them. Yet, somehow cyclists are the ones with the misplaced sense of entitlement.

UUGGGGGGHHHHHH Same old story all the time. I don't even bother to try to explain to people anymore. I just tell them I carry a gun sometimes and for them to guess when. Shuts em up almost everytime. Except of course if I get hit by a semi from behind then it won't matter anyway.

More like simpleton math. The average speed for a car over its lifetime is close to 25 mph. That's part of the reason hybrids have better fuel economy: they don't burn fuel while traveling at 0 mph. If the motorists obeyed the speed limits their average speed wouldn't be any faster than a fit cyclist's normal cruising speed.

Sure, in some settings we slow them down a bit, but I think the real reason they hate us is because we force them to concentrate, if only for a moment. I rarely see a motorist who can stay in his/her lane on the roads I ride on. When they encounter a cyclist they are forced to try to stay in a single lane, which is apparently quite challenging for them.

Agreed. They just don't want to slow down. It's the reason everyone hates traffic; it slows you down.

Pretty much. Getting into a car, you automatically have the expectation that you're going to get where you want to go at a fast pace.

They hate us because of our Freedom.

there is some small percentage of drivers that are constantly right on the edge of a breakdown of rage if their desire to drive like they own the road is thwarted in the least. I'm sure part of the abuse we get as cyclists comes from the fact that it's easier to abuse us without ramifications, but these drivers are dishing it out to other road users too.