Apparently, we violate moral order. Who would guess this is the reason drivers hate cyclists.

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Permalink Reply by David P. on February 23, 2013 at 10:49am

The actor-observer bias is a relevant and related phenomenon. I'll leave it to Todd Scott, who wrote about it well: http://www.m-bike.org/blog/2012/12/11/motorists-and-actor-observer-...

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on February 23, 2013 at 11:23am

Never fails on a Critical Mass ride but we had MAYBE 50 people last night the police had to stop, tap windows on a few cars in the loop and a couple Alpha males laying on the horn the second the light turned green.

I mean the group was so small we actually were stopping at lights in the loop and riding in a formal fashion and on the 2 lane roads further out even staying to the right allowing faster traffic to pass on the left.

So much anger misdirected.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin K on February 23, 2013 at 11:41am

I rode last night, too.  Without the actual 'critical' mass, it seemed a little more difficult to stop traffic, ride through lights, etc.

I did love when the one policeman turned on his bike lights/sirens.  Bad-ass. 

Mike Zumwalt said:

Never fails on a Critical Mass ride but we had MAYBE 50 people last night the police had to stop, tap windows on a few cars in the loop and a couple Alpha males laying on the horn the second the light turned green.

I mean the group was so small we actually were stopping at lights in the loop and riding in a formal fashion and on the 2 lane roads further out even staying to the right allowing faster traffic to pass on the left.

So much anger misdirected.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin K on February 23, 2013 at 12:18pm

Interesting article.

I don't think the author is arguing that cyclists are 'immoral.'  He's just trying to explain the phenomenon of some motorists having a visceral, angry reaction to cyclists.  He's not saying that reaction is good, or bad, but it does exist.  As we all know.

So the question is, why do some motorists have such a visceral reaction to cyclists?

He could be right about that anger coming from some sort of perceived 'rule breaking.'  Humans are hard-wired to get pissed off when they see other people breaking rules, whether that's in economic situations, game situations, at work, etc.  No matter how small or how large the rule, when people see someone else breaking a rule that they themselves follow, they often get very angry.  It isn't just an intellectual feeling, it's an emotional, physical anger.  It's inherent to our biology, as a social species.

That said, the author pins the motorist-anger-towards-cyclists phenomenon as a "Free Rider Problem" which I disagree with. Not all anger towards cheating is a free-rider problem.  Everyone pays the taxes that are used to build and maintain roads, at least in the US.  It's not like car owners have to pay a special $2000 annual "road tax" which cyclists aren't required to pay.  That would be a free-rider situation.

Another factor in the visceral anti-cyclist anger might be due to the physical danger involved.  You know how when you see someone almost get hit by a car, or someone almost cut their hand off with a table saw, etc, it jacks up your adrenaline?  When you witness a near-miss, where someone almost gets killed or seriously injured, you usually have a visceral physical reaction, often quite intense. It doesn't have to be you that's in danger -- just seeing it happen to someone else triggers the response.

So when motorists see cyclists flying around in traffic, especially in way they perceive as reckless or dangerous, I think it can give them that amped-up adrenaline response.  If they're angry at the cyclist, they'll be EXTRA angry in that heightened state.  

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