Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bicyclists Are Cockroaches? Bicyclists are Sub Human?

https://www.inverse.com/article/54442-cycling-psychological-roots-of-road-rage

Drivers View Cyclists as "Less Than Human" for One Messed-Up Reason
EMMA BETUEL
MARCH 28, 2019
Despite the health-boosting and air-cleansing benefits of bike riding, cyclists have a reputation. Drivers just don’t like them. Maybe it comes down to the Oakley sunglasses or the lycra, but research published this month has another explanation: drivers and cyclists just can’t share the road for deep-seated behavioral reasons that may drive far more hostile human tendencies.

One paper, published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior suggests that tension between drivers and cyclists actually runs so deep that they don’t see each other as members of the same species.

Their research, conducted on 442 Australians, showed that people who don’t ride bikes tend to rate cyclists as “less than human.” What they viewed those bicycle-riding fellow humans as is slightly terrifying.

Motorists actually saw them as cockroach-like, according to a highlight useful pictorial scale developed by Alexa Delbosc, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University.


In the paper, the authors propose that one of the major reasons cyclists are seen as less than human is because they look and act differently than we expect them to. In other words, they don’t seem human, so we don’t treat them as such:

“They [cyclists] look and act differently to typical ‘humans’, they move in a mechanical way, and their faces are not often seen by motorists, blocking empathic responses that might humanize them,” the authors write. “If dehumanization of cyclists is occurring, this could be contributing to the hostility and aggression experienced by cyclists on the road.”

The idea that cyclists and drivers don’t get along isn’t just anecdotal, There’s data backing up the idea that cyclists really annoy drivers. Analysis 1692 online diaries from UK cyclists in 2015 study found that UK cyclists reported harassment on a monthly basis. Another in 2011 found that 16.6 percent of cyclists report having had objects thrown at them while on the road.

In Delbosc’s sample, she found that 40 percent hadn’t ridden a bike in the past year, which put them in the “non-cyclist category,” the remainder reported different levels of bike activity (a once a month versus weekly riding, for instance) but overall were grouped in the cycling category.

From there her team developed “blatant dehumanization slider” a pictorial scale that ranged from a cockroach, to an actual human being on a sliding scale, and asked people in each category to rate how “human” they believed cyclist was on that scale. Bicyclists came out as part human and part cockroach.

'.... people who don’t ride bikes tend to rate cyclists as “less than human.” What they viewed those bicycle-riding fellow humans as is slightly terrifying....'

I can see that.............

....... and predict this will run 18 pages!

I used to ride the roads in rural coastal MS very regularly. The roads are low traffic density 35-40MPH roads. I generally got treated pretty well with few exceptions. I bought this American flag T-shirt and wore it on a 50 mile ride. I had never been treated better in my life. Cars slowing way down. Cars passing slowly. Cars giving widest possible berth. No engines moaning under the strain of acceleration. People waving as they passed. At the time, I opined that the American flag T-shirt resonated with the good ole boys and girls in the rural south in a way that "humanized" the encounter. No longer was I an annoyance in spandex, but a patriotic human and someone they could relate with. I continued wearing that shirt and continued getting treated remarkably well.

Riding a bike on a trail is one thing. Riding on a road and acting like you are a car is another. Fugg any biker who thinks thats ok

Fuque any pussy that doesn't have the emotional IQ to safely and courteously negotiate a law abiding bicyclist on the road.

“They [cyclists] look and act differently to typical ‘humans’, they move in a mechanical way, and their faces are not often seen by motorists, blocking empathic responses that might humanize them,” the authors write. “If dehumanization of cyclists is occurring, this could be contributing to the hostility and aggression experienced by cyclists on the road.”




That is about the stupidest thing I have ever read. This is what their study indicated? What a farce. Someone needs a new job.

The issue is always about sharing the road, and the complete opposite opinions of both the rider and the driver.


Clyde

There are bicyclist and there are drunks and crack heads riding bikes in the road. I have a lot more troubles with the latter.

Alot of bikers around here drive in the middle of the lane. Its absolutely ridiculous. Not much common courtesy with these f u c k s

This place is full of people that understand the law cannot always protect them so they new things like CCW license and such to protect themselves..
But then these bicyclists are you they have the legal right , claim they have as much right to be there or it's the law they can be here there. With the law and no way we'll keep them from getting run over by a car truck oversized load or anything else when they pull some ignore moving traffic.

Though it's not possible to parse that out of the national data, when I dig into individual accidents and fatalities, that group is heavily represented. There was a bicycle fatality at 2 this morning in NOLA. I suspect if I were able to learn, it would be an impaired rider with no lights.

For the most part, there is no real issue. The mental issue is that motorist's indignation is inconsistent with the inconvenience that bicyclists really pose.

Can you google map link me with one such road? If you will, I may be able to tell you why they ride in the middle of the lane.

Along that same class order phylum…

I would rank walmart electric scooter cart shoppers as mollusks

ABOUT LANE POSITION

The law in every state, whose bicycle law I have read, is functionally similar. Bicyclists should stay as far right as practicable. Most laws go on to qualify "practicable" In doing so cyclists are given broad discretionary latitude. One of the reasons a cyclist can deviate from far right is for reasons of safety. Another is sub-standard (not wide enough for a cyclist and motorist to safely share) lane width. That describes a LOT of our roads.

Bicyclists who relegate themselves to hugging the right make themselves less visible. What's the number one excuse offered when a motorist hits a cyclist? "I didn't see them." Hugging the right invites squeeze passes and increases the likelihood of a sideswipe crash.

This is a very good quick and easy safety guide for cyclists. https://bicyclesafe.com/ A mitigating measure in nearly every scenario is to move further out into the lane.

Kind of the same with road rage between two drivers. Some aśśhole cuts in front of you, so you exit your vehicle to kick his ass.

Over a one car length delay.

Cyclists ain't as bad as the Amish with their fuggin horse buggies. At least it's usually easy to get around a cycle.

I live on the oregon coast and alot of our main highway is hilly curvy 2 lane with no shoulder. We have vacationers pulling campers mixed with log and chip trucks and guess what else? Share the road my ass. Can I drive my car on that hiway at 18 mph? furk no I will get pulled over and ticketed. They are a huge hazard that cause more near wrecks than anything else. Plus I have NO IDEA what pleasure these cross country bicyclists get pedaling on a road all day with trucks and cars passing them at 60mph 4 feet awa. I used to have a hot cummins powered 4x4 that could roll coal on demand. Used to give me some satisfaction.

I don't actually have an opinion about individuals as long as they respect other people using the roads. It's the organized bike rides that I hated when I lived in a small town out in the country. They would take over the county roads and ride four abreast by the hundreds. Watering stations were set up at intervals and the DPS would protect them. They actually owned the road for that weekend. It was impossible for anyone to get to town because you had to get in line and drive at 10mph all the way with them laughing, joking and generally making asses out of themselves. Doctors, Lawyers and jackasses from all walks of life gathered together to overtake the countryside for a weekend with state law enforcement protection. Why would anyone be surprised that they can be hated by many people that are made to put up with their shenanigans. I'm sure they covet their spandex, goggles and styrofoam acorn shaped helmets but I found that at least a little comic relief.

A few things here. Do you have any data to support that they are a hazard? If you rolled coal on me, I'd invite you to come back and chat about it. Would you have the balls to come back?

same here ..spot on post