Everyone hates us?

[cmg]

on the south side of san Antonio the number of cyclists have increased and that has made it better. The citizen is getting use to us on the road. SA is usually about a 10years behind the rest of the nation culturally so embracing cycling has been slow to come.

[Ken Robb]

I've said this before but when I ride in regular clothes like walking/hiking shorts and a tee or polo shirt I get a lot more consideration from drivers. It may be that I just look like a regular guy trying to get around. When I wear lycra cycling gear I get many more negative reactions from drivers. I can only imagine that it would be worse if I rode in any racing "kit" real or simulated. That looks to drivers like a wanna-be soccer player in team gear dribbling a ball down the street-i.e. playing in traffic. And a group ride of 20+ riders looks like a game in progress.

I'm not saying that's a reasonable attitude but I think that's how it is in my area. Try a solo ride with the least cyclist-looking outfit you have and see if there's a difference in your neighborhood.

[Marc40a]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the bad apples comment.

For a perspective check, particularly when I have a strange interaction with a pedestrian, I force myself to think that a cyclist to them is very much like a car or truck is to us.

The definition of what is too fast and/or too close tends to be very different when considered from the perspective of the helpless or exposed person.

[timsmcm]

I have been riding bicycles and motorcycles for more than half century. I have been harassed since my youth on both. I try to bo open minded on all things pertaining to others and their God given rights . I was riding around whiterock lake in Dallas last year in my car with my wife. The cyclist we came into contact with were the most rude obnoxious shytes I had ever seen. Actually made me sad to be a cyclist. I guess there are bad apples all over the earth that give bad impressions. I really wanted to pull over and kick some arse. That is how bad this group of about 10 to 15 riders were.

[yinzerniner]

....people being scared of the unknown, ownership bias, seething and lasting contempt towards real and perceived personal wrongs, and NYC having been cyclist unfriendly for the better part of a hundred years.

-The great majority of new yorkers have gotten around the city by walking (which includes walking in and out of public transit) or driving and thus only can identify and empathize with those modes of transportation. They don't personally know the positives and negatives of cycling so they're automatically against something which isn't like them - simple human nature.

- Since most people only get around walking or driving they see the sidewalks and blacktop as the property of walkers and drivers, with all of the blacktop which is associated with non-movement the walker's domain and a natural buffer against faster moving traffic. Since where there's cycle lanes the buffer and real estate has been taken away walkers automatically see it as a theft of their rights and property.

-Bicycles are easier to visually group into a single memory block than nondescript cars or faces, so it's easier for someone to create a lasting negative bias towards them if/when they see a cyclist do something illegal or stupid.

-NYC was never designed for bicycles until very recently. Thanks, Robert Moses!

As for the people all of a sudden being total dicks that's been true forever, now it's just easier to see the extent of how horrible a great amount of the population is. It's like when microscopes were used to see cholera bacteria in otherwise crystal clear glasses of water. Also true is it's easier for idiots with wrongheaded views to entrench themselves since they can find other morons with similar views.

Stay safe out there, and if you assume everyone hates or is trying to kill you you'll be OK on the roads.

[Hilltopperny]

I think the more densely populated the area the more potential for horrible people. I don’t have any issues riding in my area and it is littered with people who lots of folks in cities would think of as undesirable. We have Amish in buggies, people trail riding horses and big old trucks on the road everywhere. The closest I’ve come to being hit was last week by a teenager in a red focus exceeding the speed limit on route 80 on the west side of Otsego lake. Luckily they swerved, but almost hit a man head on in a corvette convertible instead.

The human condition is a funny thing and it seems that it has become a culture of easily offended, self absorbed and you owe me types that are spreading. If you don’t agree with them or their way of life then you are somehow their enemy instead the thought process of to each their own. Be safe out there and hopefully things can get better.

[johnmdesigner]

I have been riding in NYC since 1982.
What you are experiencing now is a tremendous upsurge in vehicular traffic and a complete disregard for your fellow man.
150K+ Uber and Lyft drivers on the streets (with 0 regulation).
Plus human civility has taken a nosedive.
One example are the people who insist on crossing their legs on the subway no matter how crowded it is. Or taking up an extra seat with their junk (no manners). If you call them out for it you get the standard fu.
Twice this week (as a pedestrian) I have been nearly killed by Uber drivers who run the red light on my street corner. One of them actually got out and cursed me for crossing with the light. Because they know the NYPD will give them a slap on the wrist if they kill you.
So it's really no surprise the way cyclist are treated. I have seen some really douchy cyclists in my neighborhood, blowing through lights and nearly running people down. If you are an ahole in the rest of your life you will probably be one on a bike.
Bloomberg created the bike lane system with no cooperation from law enforcement. They hated it from the very beginning. It's much more fun to chase terrorists around with your new AR-15 then it is to enforce the traffic laws.
If I want to ride these days I take the fastest route out of town. Up and over the GWB is about 15 minutes from my house. But even that stretch is dangerous.
No way would I ride through Midtown now.

[jrsbike]

Originally Posted by Fishbike

It is a symptom and subset of a profound lack of civility and lack of respect in everyday life in 2018. People's instincts are to be critical, blame others and promote personal feeling and opinions as the most important thing in the worlds. People have poor abilities to compromise, consider other points of view or look objectively in the mirror.

Very well said!

[duff_duffy]

Almost 99% of my rides are late at night...little to no traffic, temps in summer much better, quiet...I don’t use lights either - you’d be surprised how quickly you can adapt to the dark! Anyway, works for me and I have not been hit, spit on, cursed at, or anything since I started riding at night.

[BobbyJones]

I don't think this is anything new. I was reading Hunter S. Thompson's Hell's Angels (1965?) and this stood out. It's about motorcycles, but I think the same psychology applies.

For a lot of reasons that are often contradictory, the sight and sound of a man on a motorcycle has an unpleasant effect on the vast majority of Americans who drive cars. At one point in the wake of the Hell’s Angels uproar, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune did a long article on the motorcycle scene and decided in the course of his research that "there is something about the sight of a passing motorcyclist that tempts many automobile drivers to commit murder.’"

Nearly everyone who has ridden a bike for any length of time will agree. The highways are crowded with people who drive as if their sole purpose in getting behind the wheel is to avenge every wrong ever done them by man, beast or fate. The only thing that keeps them in line is their own fear of death, jail and lawsuits…which are much less likely if they can find a motorcycle to challenge instead of another two-thousand-pound-car or a concrete abutment. A motorcyclist has to drive as if everybody else on the road is out to kill him. A few of them are, and many of those who aren’t are just as dangerous – because the only thing that can alter their careless, ingrained driving habits is a threat of punishment, either legal or physical, and there is nothing about a motorcycle to threaten any man in a car *. A bike is totally vulnerable; its only defense is maneuverability, and every accident situation is potentially fatal – especially on a freeway, where there is no room to fall without being run over almost instantly. Despite these hazards, California – where freeways are a way of life- is by long odds the nation’s biggest motorcycle market.

[Big Dan]

Taxi drivers are bad and predictable.
Uber drivers are bad and unpredictable.

[jrsbike]

According to the NHSC there about 100 million registered cars in the US in 1976 when I was commuting to college on a R26 250CC BMW. By 1995 there were 128 million registrations and last year there were about 260 million. So in spite of unending construction and expansion, the roads are very busy. I too have had my share of near misses on bicycles and motorcycles. My take on many of the problems listed in this thread is driver education. I know this is a tired old stick that gets waved around periodically but its just too easy for people to get licenses without proper testing and monitoring. I have had incidents in Massachusetts with drivers who could not speak or read English. How did they get licenses? I can't remember the last time I saw someone use a signal before turning. Why bother to sell cars with signalization any more? Yes there are definite bad apples in the two wheeled world, but doesn't the real problem go back to the uneducated and irresponsible driver? Its old school but I still see having a license as a privilege and not a right.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

i haven't ridden in the city in years, but when living there i'd be in central park around 4:30-5 a.m. for laps. or, after 8 pm. loved the night riding! do people still do that?

Just did it yesterday, central park, 9pm to 11pm. Its great at night. Getting there sucks though

[OtayBW]

I do not suffer douchebags gladly.....

[El Chaba]

I've seen lots of evidence that your simply being present riding a bike is enough to infuriate some portion of the motoring public. The percentage varies with location, moon phase, etc. I am not a psychiatrist, so I won't analyze the reasoning, but it's important to recognize the animus.