Cyclists 'less human' when wearing a helmet.

[matticus]

Yup. The other side of the coin is that because people who don't fit in come in for such treatment there's a powerful incentive to conform, and do as everyone else does. It's a deep rooted instinct, and people are frequently unaware they're doing it, but it can lead to some quite amusing and bizarre behaviour when psychologists design experiments to reveal it. Here's a few examples:

Training people to stand up when they hear a bleeper:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8BkzvP19v4


Facing the back of a lift:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDAbdMv14Is


Patently wrong answers:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09nNw


And finally, when it gets really dangerous. Have you ever wondered why people don't act to save themselves in an emergency? This woman is willing to die in a burning building rather than do something different to the rest of the crowd:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjP22DpYYh8

Cool. I hadn't seen the lift film!

 

[Happy_Days]

I saw a cyclist and i realised id by on his tail on a blind corner, so i held back and maintained his pace and overtook when the coast was clear after the corner. Cars behind were furious with my decision, pipping and flashing their headlights

On rural roads, I’ve lost count of the number of times that car drivers have overtaken me while heading into a blind bend.

It’s often not boy racers. It’s middle-aged drivers who evidently estimate that their family car can make overtakes that my Ducati couldn’t make safely.

I’m convinced that the lack of training in overtaking for the L-test is a significant factor. Overtaking on rural roads is one of the most dangerous driving tasks; why does the DVLA syllabus leave drivers to learn overtaking by making it up as they go along?

 

[Mike Ayling]

A survey from down under has found that a lot of people think of Cyclists as less human when a helmet and hi Viz jacket.
Do you think there might be any truth in this finding from your own experiences?

https://road.cc/content/news/cyclists-wearing-helmets-seen-less-human-301661

What a load of carp

 

[Happy_Days]

What a load of carp

I, too, thought it was fishy.

 

[Profpointy]

What a load of carp

In principle sounds quite plausible. The likes of the Daily Mail and their ilk already dehumanises cyclists with their incessant hatred and use of targeted language like "lycra lout", and occasionally straying into calls for murder, but as cyclists are not a "protected group" this is considered OK. If anything it would be a surprise if helmeted / high-viz'd / lycra'd cyclist were not seen as less human