[Cycloid]

A couple of other threads on the Forum are talking about road rage incidents. I am asking the fundamental question – Why Road Rage?

A popular psychology book from the local library gives some insights.

Outgroups – an outgroup is a group of people to which you do not belong. People tend to make generalisations which they then apply to the group as a whole, for example, (All) Muslims are terrorists, wfe beaters, etc (Not True). Cyclists are reckless, law breakers and they ride through red lights. Vegetarians are an outgroup (Thanks Ian Walker) but nobody really hates them, though they are a pain when they come round for dinner. So there must be other factors.

Free Riders – Altruistic punishment – This is probably best explained by an example. You go to watch a cricket match. The match has just started, it’s a lovely sunny day and you are sitting down with a pack of sandwiches and a can of beer when a guy climbs over the fence and sits next to you. It should not be a problem, he’s done nothing to detract from your experience, but many people would get a steward to eject the wrongdoer. This is altruistsic punishment, in order to get your version of justice done you have missed a bit of the match.

Cyclists don’t pay Road Tax (OK it’s VED), have no training, don’t have to take a test or hold a license. They have no insurance. They don’t have to buy expensive highly taxed (79% tax) fuel. They don’t pay for parking but they cause congestion.

Cyclists Ignore the Highway Code, Redlights, Oneway streets, Footpaths, Etc… They are inconsiderate, Ride in the middle of the road, two abreast, cause delays. They jump queues, are inconsiderate and aggressive.

However, Cyclists are Fitter, Healthier and place Fewer demands on the NHS. They Don’t pollute, Use fewer resources .They take up less road space, and Don’t damage the roads. More reasons to hate them. They are a load of Smug, Sanctimonious bastards.

Every group or society has it’s laws, rules, traditions and manners and people who do not conform are punished.

From (some) motorists viewpoint – Cyclists don’t pay or contribute to use the infrastructure, they abuse the privilege and break the laws – They should be punished for the good of society.

 

 

Topic

[Bungle_52]

The reason is simple. Most

The reason is simple. Most motorists hate being cut up by other drivers. If they leave a gap someone will move into it and get to the next blockage before them. If they have to wait for a cyclist they leave a gap. To them not leaving a gap is the most important thing. They are willing to burn more fuel, increase tyre and brake wear and put others at risk to achieve it. In reality their journey may be extended by minutes but more usually it’s seconds. They can’t see this. It’s not just cyclists who experience road rage, considerate patient drivers experience it too because they let other drivers in. The difference between them and cyclists is the outcome of any confrontation with a vulnerable road user is potentially a lot more serious.

[Gary's bike channel]

yes!yes this! if there were

yes!yes this! if there were no cars coming the other way they would pass easily! the bicycle has nothing to do with it!

[Gary's bike channel]

i told a police officer much

i told a police officer much the same thing after i got into a fist fight with a driver over me not using a shared path at 30 mph. She didnt have a clue what i was on about and said” but hes paid tax for his car and got a licence so he does have a right to use the road”………

[Gary's bike channel]

i figured this out years back

i figured this out years back. 

The roads are too busy with too many cars being used. Cars are used to move around as bus services and cycling is too slow/ dangerous/ expensive or impractical for most people. 

Cars take up too much space and cannot out manouvere each other. Once you get past a certain number of cars on a road, they slow eachother to a stop. You cant overtake a line of cars in front of you whilst also being in a car, so you just have to sit there, not moving, or barely moving above walking pace. When you passed your test there were less cars around and you could get up to a decent speed most of the time. As time goes on, your speed becomes lower and lower. Driving becomes slower every year. Everyone gets frustrated with traffic.

Come in the common bicycle.  Extremely effecient vehicle, can get past any traffic jam imaginable. 

Car driver, already over stressed by traffic, comes up behind bicycle, car they now own is too big to fit past bicycle, especially with the extra cars coming the other direction. They must now wait and try to overtake quickly/ dangerously, or let their aggression out. The cyclist hasnt got any protection like a car in front does, you can actually see the person causing you to slow. Easy target.

Never mind that if you even do overtake the cyclist, theyre likely to overtake you back again seconds or minutes later, due to the average speed differences. In that case, yes the cyclist slows the car driver down, but actually, its the cars coming the other way AND the same way that slow the driver to a stop altogether. Slowing to a stop altogether delays the journey, not time spent behind a cyclist who has a higher average speed.[ many drivers cant comtemplate this].

Come the agression. Government thinks cycle lanes should be implemented to get more people to cycle, away from the angry car drivers. Gives councils money, who then spend it doing a shit job of simply painting pictures of bikes on pavements. 

Some people use these for a slower more local commute, but most adult cyclists dont, because theyre not maintained, dont go the right way, mix you with slow pedestrians etc. Unusuable.

Now you’ve got idiot angry motorists sharing the road with cyclists, who refuse to use the cycle lane[ a pavement is not a cycle lane, but in their mind it is].

Come the BEEP! and close passes, rage etc.

Get in the cycle lane! you havent paid any tax to be on the same road as me! ive paid all this money to use the road and youre slowing me down! you cant even afford a car! why else would you be on a bicycle unless youre poor?

Then because of the agression, we got sick and tired of it, so we bought cameras. 

We started showing the bad drivers we will make them famous. Cycle gaz and traffic droid really helped this, especially going to tv.

Drivers became ever more angry with traffic levels, especially in london. Never mind that a lot of the traffic was single occupants in 5 person passenger vehicles, or internet delivery vans, the slow vehicle is the cyclist. The angry driver cant contemplate the difference between following a 20 mph bicycle and sitting behind a line of stationary cats at 0mph. They dont ever need to try to work out to get past the cars slowing them down, but the bicycle? they simply NEED to be in front of it.

Ride two abreast to make it easier for cars to overtake?

BEEEP! SINGLE FILE!

[MASSIVE hypocrisy considering cyclists and bikers get inconvenienced daily by long lines of two and three abreast CARS slowing them down].

Bit like when i got told by hg09foj to use the cycle lane, when i was doing 30 mph in a 40. She didnt see the traffic queue ahead of us that would slow her to a stop, she simply saw me riding where she felt i shouldnt be. 

I saw her driving a 5 person passenger vehicle where she was a single ocupant, causing congestion, so i told her to stop causing it.

You cant tell someone going 30 mph to be somewhere else where you yourself are driving at ZERO mph on the same road and expect to be let off.

Theres a video of the bbc outside royal bmth hospital back when they worked on the spur road. It shows how drivers were getting STUCK in the hospital car park, because castle lane was full up with cars, who were avoiding the road works over a mile away. 

One man who commented said he just wanted to get home and it was very frustrating he was sitting in a jam.

The irony there, was you could see bicycle commuters exiting the car park instantly without a problem.

Youll never get drivers to stop hating what they want to hate. You can educate them and prosecute, but dumb people will remain that way. A cyclist will be in their mind as IN THE WAY, every time they drive. Youll never convince them otherwise or even get it through to them that they are actually the slower vehicle, point to point. 

I actually think people who hate cyclists are thicker than people who cycle, or who dont mind cyclists and drive. People who beep agressively at cyclists are retarded. Funnier to picture them just sitting in the chair without a car around it, with dummy in mouth, hitting a horn button. Basically the same as what theyre doing, cos most of them are clueless as to what even powering that chair along for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRM-STYuQ2k

[Captain Badger]

David9694 wrote:

This came up on my Twitter feed. There’s a lot of vagina jokes like it’s 1991 or something, but you do wonder what the conversation and thought process is to buying the SUV car on offer.  Watch the salesman’s face as he practises the art of turning whatever drivel the customer serves up into an opportunity.

We’ve now got a place in my village doing take away coffee and I’m starting to see people carrying coffee cups around like the lady has. 

Oh you naughty man, that has me chortling!

[David9694]

This came up on my Twitter

This came up on my Twitter feed. There’s a lot of vagina jokes like it’s 1991 or something, but you do wonder what the conversation and thought process is to buying the SUV car on offer.  Watch the salesman’s face as he practises the art of turning whatever drivel the customer serves up into an opportunity.

We’ve now got a place in my village doing take away coffee and I’m starting to see people carrying coffee cups around like the lady has. 

[David9694]

Mungecrundle wrote:

Mungecrundle wrote:

The skills required include; observation, anticipation, forward planning, self control and vehicle handling (braking, accelerating, steering, changing gear).
 

Humans have a tendancy to over estimate our own abilities…when a driver finds themselves in a situation that they have failed to deal with properly it has to be the other party at fault. Some of us learn from those experiences and statistically become safer drivers. Some of us are unable to learn…

1. AKA driving, like your instructor taught you all those years ago. 

2. So true.

I think part of this is driven by people whose lives are just one continuing round of “now what?” chaos, as they they lurch from one crisis to the next with no scope to reflect, learn, work out a different strategy.

people have  referred to a modern car being less “engaging” to drive. I wonder if the some of the missing engagement is between driver and the cost of the vehicle and its upkeep. I would have also said fuel, but as the UK is like the most expensive place in the solar system to drive, I assume drivers drive with economy in mind.

my car is an automatic, with a simple cruise control – on a motorway, all I have to do in theory is steer.  Am I more safe (e.g. less fatigued) or less, because I’m more likely to doze off?

[David9694]

Enjoy? 

Enjoy? 

very little car use so far this year, and curtailed last year.  Can’t say I enjoy driving for its own sake or ever have.

[HoarseMann]

I think modern cars are so

I think modern cars are so good at isolating you from the elements, that whilst they’re comfortable, they’re also less engaging to drive.

If I had a classic sports car then it might be a bit different.

[Cycloid]

I think this is part of the

I think this is part of the bigger picture.

According to Cycling UK over 80% of adult cyclists also drive.

This means that to drivers, cyclists are a minority outgroup and open to discrimination. On the other hand most cyclists also drive, so they tend not to lump all motorists together, we have a more balanced view. Generally we recognise that only a small minority of motorists hate cyclists, but becuase we are vulnerable road users we also know there is a lot of bad driving going on.

[David9694]

You are being super-polite

You are being super-polite and deferential to people who don’t give a damn about you and who will give nothing back.

 

[huntswheelers]

I used to enjoy driving on

I used to enjoy driving on open roads of the early 80’s…..since the late 80’s roads are a nightmare….way way too many vehicles on the roads now…. I motorhome now to a destination of choice at my pace then…..cycles off of the rack and explore the open roads from there

[huntswheelers]

I think much of it also

I think much of it also manifests itself as drivists buy into the “Freedom” that the car adverts portray and with the volume of cars and the subsequent congestion,partly due to road design over many decades, when they see a cyclist happily travelling through the traffic….the “hate”…or jealousy that the cyclist is in front of them in their vehicle of status and on what they consider to be their section of road….. 

[zeeridesbikes]

Out of interest do a lot of

Out of interest do a lot of folks here drive? I love cycling but I also enjoy driving when the roads are quiet. 
 

[David9694]

Bullying, AKA “because I can”

Bullying, AKA “because I can” is the no 1 reason why it manefests itself.  It comes down to who will win a fisticuffs, which is why being in a peloton of 6 or so riders is a good idea. 
The “road tax” argument and anything else like it is straight out of the animal kingdom, like a cat arching its back at a dog and hissing, make yourself seem bigger than your foe.  
The comments Cycling Mikey gets often point it all up – a combination of my school playground  and an old episode of The Sweeney (roughly the same sort of era), with their grasses and snitches. 
 

[Author]

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