Why SOME Motorists seem to hate ALL Cyclists

[biscuitwull]

No doubt I'll get disgruntled motorists commenting on Youtube who don't actually listen to the video content - grateful if any peeps on here take a look and hopefully add to my thoughts in the comments

https://youtu.be/xwv3pMePnaI

[ElyDave]

Quite, came across one of those yesterday, an enforced 500m on an A-road, with a right turn off it. I held traffic up for about 30s, but still had someone yelling abuse

[biscuitwull]

Quite, came across one of those yesterday, an enforced 500m on an A-road, with a right turn off it. I held traffic up for about 30s, but still had someone yelling abuse

It's so irrational 30 seconds is no big deal, and if it had been a traffic jam of cars he would probably have just accepted the same delay and probably more after the right turn

[TheLurker]

Why?  Hmmm.... envy or jealousy as well as the dawning realisation of culpable gullibility and stupidity. 

On the envy side of the coin, you're in the fresh air having fun while he's stuck in an overheated tin box going nowhere while you are making steady progress relatively unhindered by such trivia as road works.  Not only that you are almost certainly fitter and better looking* than him (it's nearly always a him). 

On the stupidity side, he has (probably only sub-consciously) realised that he's been suckered by the automotive industry's advertising into shelling out thousands of pounds he can ill afford on a toy that he can't use and instead of raging against himself for being a brainless half-wit he has a go at someone else, because nothing "bad" that happens to him can possibly be his fault. 

To summarise, he's a mindless fuckwit and nothing short of a brain implant will help.



*All cyclists are better looking than motorists, even gargoyles like me. Trufax.

[biscuitwull]

Why?  Hmmm.... envy or jealousy as well as the dawning realisation of culpable gullibility and stupidity. 

On the envy side of the coin, you're in the fresh air having fun while he's stuck in an overheated tin box going nowhere while you are making steady progress relatively unhindered by such trivia as road works.  Not only that you are almost certainly fitter and better looking* than him (it's nearly always a him). 

On the stupidity side, he has (probably only sub-consciously) realised that he's been suckered by the automotive industry's advertising into shelling out thousands of pounds he can ill afford on a toy that he can't use and instead of raging against himself for being a brainless half-wit he has a go at someone else, because nothing "bad" that happens to him can possibly be his fault. 

To summarise, he's a mindless fuckwit and nothing short of a brain implant will help.



*All cyclists are better looking than motorists, even gargoyles like me. Trufax.

Loved the "Trufax " !

[cycleman]

I suspect that they reason for driver behaviour like this is that drivers are taught that they must make progress. I don't think any other form of transport has that as part of training 🤔

[L CC]

I think it's part of the current resentment that other people are somehow getting away with something.
Clearly, cyclists are having fun and it SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

[Wowbagger]

I think it's part of the current resentment that other people are somehow getting away with something.
Clearly, cyclists are having fun and it SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

What is more, they are HAVING FUN AT MY EXPENSE BECAUSE I PAY ROAD TAX!

[biscuitwull]

I think it's part of the current resentment that other people are somehow getting away with something.
Clearly, cyclists are having fun and it SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

What is more, they are HAVING FUN AT MY EXPENSE BECAUSE I PAY ROAD TAX!

Yep ! And as I say in the video, so do most cyclists as they are also drivers, not that "road tax" exists of course - it's just irrational hatred with some of them

[biscuitwull]

I think it's part of the current resentment that other people are somehow getting away with something.
Clearly, cyclists are having fun and it SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED.

Absolutely. i was on a great segregated cycle path in France with the road 10 yards away completely blocked with traffic. In that scenario I bet they don't shout "bloody cars shouldn't be on the road"  - if there had been a bike on the road though it would have been their fault for sure

[Basil]

I once had to ask a motorist to explain how the congestion in front of us was being caused by me back here.

[The French Tandem]

Some motorists hate all cyclists because they are different. For the same reason, some cyclists hate all motorists, some white people hate all black people, some black people hate all whites, etc., etc. Then you might ask why some people hate others who are different? Unfortunately I have no answer to that question, other than invoking basic human stupidity.

A

[yoav]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/30/why-do-some-people-hate-cyclists-so-much?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Article in today’s Guardian about this very subject. Whilst clearly some people’s experiences are quite harrowing, the plural of anecdote is not data. I am rarely subject to abuse by car drivers, I can’t actually remember the last time it happened. Maybe I just ignore it and cycle on. My view is if you can’t travel through a built-up area faster on a bike then in a motor vehicle then you might as well be on the bus.

[Peat]

Some motorists hate all cyclists because they are different.

A

...yet, somehow they are one homogenous group.

My neighbor, a retired policeman, engaged me once upon returning home with "Nice ride?" before unleashing a diatribe about what he'd seen some cyclists do earlier that day, as if it were something to do with me....
He drives an Audi. I put it to him that perhaps I should let him know everytime I see an Audi driver transgress in some way as he must be mutually culpable. Thankfully, he's a good egg and admitted I made a very good point.

[ian]

Haters gonna hate, the same people get irrationally angry at all kinds of other things too. Women, the gays, Europe, you name it, they're gonna hate it. There's always something and someone they have been angry about, through some perceived yet nonsensical mechanism.

But it is irrational, you're unlikely to argue them out of any of their opinions, not unless you're planning to embark them on a thorough course of cognitive behavioural therapy. I don't know why people engage with them, they want the argument, you won't win, you can't impose rationality on irrationality. If your day is ruined to the extent you spend the entire afternoon ranting about being held up 10 seconds to overtake two cyclists in the morning, I think you need to take a good, hard, critical look at your life. They won't, of course, the main benefit of being dim and angry is that you lack the cognitive abilities to realise you're dim and angry.

Of course, this irrational anger does put a significant number of people off cycling, at best it's harassment and shouldn't be normalized, and shouldn't be a cheap and routine diatribe in newspapers and online and a staple of radio talk shows.

[slowfen]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/30/why-do-some-people-hate-cyclists-so-much?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Article in today’s Guardian about this very subject. Whilst clearly some people’s experiences are quite harrowing, the plural of anecdote is not data. I am rarely subject to abuse by car drivers, I can’t actually remember the last time it happened. Maybe I just ignore it and cycle on. My view is if you can’t travel through a built-up area faster on a bike then in a motor vehicle then you might as well be on the bus.

I read that the other day, and wondered if the increase in female cyclists has lead to an increase in misogynistic attacks/comments.

[Kim]

Over the years I've had misogyny, homophobia, body-shaming, disablism, racism and general bloodycyclist abuse shouted at me while cycling, and a handful of physical attacks (thrown objects, spitting, attempts to push me off, etc).  I think it's simply that cyclists are perceived as an outgroup and therefore a legitimate target for the sort of people who are looking for a target, and if the cyclist is perceived to have a marginalised characteristic, that becomes the go-to theme for the abuse.

I've wondered if the sexism was improving since the pandemic, but I think it's just that I've lost weight.  Other women seem to be getting just as much of it.

At least when I ride a recumbent, it becomes about the bike...

[hatler]

Over the years I've had misogyny, homophobia, body-shaming, disablism, racism and general bloodycyclist abuse shouted at me while cycling, and a handful of physical attacks (thrown objects, spitting, attempts to push me off, etc).  I think it's simply that cyclists are perceived as an outgroup and therefore a legitimate target for the sort of people who are looking for a target, and if the cyclist is perceived to have a marginalised characteristic, that becomes the go-to theme for the abuse.

I've wondered if the sexism was improving since the pandemic, but I think it's just that I've lost weight.  Other women seem to be getting just as much of it.

At least when I ride a recumbent, it becomes about the bike...

What a shitty state of affairs. It leaves me feeling quite miserable, and impotent. Heaven only knows how you put up with it day in day out.

[slowfen]

I've wondered if the sexism was improving since the pandemic, but I think it's just that I've lost weight.  Other women seem to be getting just as much of it.

At least when I ride a recumbent, it becomes about the bike...

Hence more riders, more abuse, with women often viewed as an easier target.

I've ridden recumbents for 10+ years, and not had any abuse as such, but things thrown (last lot on camera, with free visit by plod)

[perpetual dan]

I tend to assume that they’re Mail or Scum readers, fearful of catching wokeness. Maybe the sight of my Lycra clad bum, and legs keeping up a rhythm and stamina that they only normally experience from behind the safety glass of a monitor and incognito mode is somehow stirring? Except now it’s they that are named by their registration, and the window is wound down. Suddenly they feel performance anxiety. And they remember the last time someone with their top undone and a pony tail ushered them in front at a quiet country lay-by, and the surprise they got then

It may also explain the other bigotry that’s tied in with their attitude.

ETA: my experience won’t be the same as others. But to the point about othering, last time someone made a glasses wearing jibe at me I was on my bike.

[spindrift1]

Car adverts never show cyclists overtaking drivers. To some drivers this is a greivous affront. A fundamental inversion of all common sense. Nothing seems real after such a terrible and insulting anomaly. If the cyclist is woman the pillars of the earth are shattered.

[L CC]

Car adverts never show cyclists overtaking drivers. To some drivers this is a greivous affront. A fundamental inversion of all common sense. Nothing seems real after such a terrible and insulting anomaly. If the cyclist is woman the pillars of the earth are shattered.

To be fair some male cyclists get that too...

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chicked

[The French Tandem]

Car adverts never show cyclists overtaking drivers. To some drivers this is a greivous affront. A fundamental inversion of all common sense. Nothing seems real after such a terrible and insulting anomaly. If the cyclist is woman the pillars of the earth are shattered.

No need to drive a car for that! For SOME male cyclists who ride fibre reinforced plastic bikes and wear professional teams jerseys, being overtaken by a steel tandem with mudguards, pannier racks, and even a woman on one of the two seats, is also a terribly insulting anomaly.

A

[Jurek]

Car adverts never show cyclists overtaking drivers. To some drivers this is a greivous affront. A fundamental inversion of all common sense. Nothing seems real after such a terrible and insulting anomaly. If the cyclist is woman the pillars of the earth are shattered.

No need to drive a car for that! For SOME male cyclists who ride fibre reinforced plastic bikes and wear professional teams jerseys, being overtaken by a steel tandem with mudguards, pannier racks, and even a woman on one of the two seats, is also a terribly insulting anomaly.

A

Reminds me of the time on one of 'Zilla's Oxford to London night rides where Charlotte and (I think) Kim onna tandem missed the turning for Smalldean Lane.
I nearly burst a lung trying to catch them.

[ian]

I confess that the attitudes encapsulated are why I pretty much stopped cycling. Probably I should man up or something, but it stopped being fun, and more a case of waiting for the inevitable next round of harassment from some pointlessly angry driver. Why was a question I found more difficult to answer. Which is a shame.