Do motorists respect cyclists?

[gmc]

Hello,

I'm doing a University project and would really appreciate some responses.

I'm an advertising student, and was given the brief 'find a problem, and then solve it'. I decided to go with the problem 'motorists don't respect cyclists'.

If you have any insights or experiences where you feel motorists haven't respected you, or any stories you could tell about your experiences it's be great.

- Do you feel motorists drive aggressively towards cyclists?

- Do you feel cyclists and motorists respect each other?

I've been doing a lot of research into this, trying to find some insights into what I could do to gain more respect for cyclists. Other campaigns don't seem to be working, so I'm trying to take it a lot further and get a lot of people on board with the idea.

Any responses would be greatly appreciated and taken on board.

Thank you.

 

[mickle]

No they don't.

Car ownership in many towns and cities in the UK and eleswhere takes on the some of the features of profound mental illness. Delusion and denial, an inability to grasp reality. Look at the TV ads for cars, all of them set in beautiful landscapes and deserted highways, or in city scapes devoid of other vehicles. Drivers buy-in to the great car culture, the illusion of freedom and the artificial construct of 'status' only to discover on a daily basis that the fantasy doesn't meet the reality and this is a source of tremendous frustration to them.

The car reinforces many of the behavioural characteristics which we try to beat out of our children, selfishness, bullying, aggression. They often take it out on each other but in the back of their minds is the sense that other drivers are at least 'on the same team'. When it comes to cyclists though, the gloves are off. They pay road tax don't you know, and enormous repayments, and fuel and insurance...

There we are, riding along, getting in the way of their important driving a car business. Obviously too poor to own a car, either that or some kind of beardy sandalista eco-terrorist out to save the planet. We look at them - they imagine - with barely concealed smugness and distain.

Out there, in the wind and rain, doing the right thing. We make them feel inferior, and they hate us for it.

 

[Dan B]

They often take it out on each other but in the back of their minds is the sense that other drivers are at least 'on the same team'.

I don't think this bit is true. Drivers will go to whatever lengths necessary to define other drivers as on different teams, by subcategorising them as "bmw drivers", "sunday drivers", "woman drivers", "sports car car drivers (subtext: small dicks)", "minicab drivers" or any other distinction necessary to draw a line between 'self' - the person suffering from congestion or overcrowding - and 'other' - the people who are causing it. It's easier to discriminate against cyclists, but it's still necessary to discriminate against everybody no matter what kind of conveyance they're in/on

 

[Amanda P]

The driver who had just driven straight at me, on my side of the road, to overtake a stationary bus: "You're only a f*****g bike, mate".

Often heard during Critical Mass rides: "Grow up and get a car!" (Most of us have cars. But hearing that comment from someone stuck in a stationary queue is kind of ironic).

 

[Spinney]

If you have any insights or experiences where you feel motorists haven't respected you, or any stories you could tell about your experiences it's be great.

You just need to read the Commuting section here to get a whole heap of stories...

Some motorists do respect cyclists. I cycle for pleasure, not commuting, and don't often get close passes. On the contrary, I often get followed (at a respectful distance) for up to a mile along country lanes, even when there are places that the car could have tried to overtake. So I think it is important that any campaign does not tar all drivers with the same brush.

I've been doing a lot of research into this, trying to find some insights into what I could do to gain more respect for cyclists. Other campaigns don't seem to be working, so I'm trying to take it a lot further and get a lot of people on board with the idea.

A few things spring to mind:

1) Some way of emphasising that cyclists are human beings who just happen to be riding a bicycle. A cyclist is not a 'thing', it is a person. How you go about delivering this message I'm not so sure. There was a good (i.e. horrific) road safety video done by Gwent about the possible consequences of texting while driving:
http://www.guardian....oad-safety-film

Maybe something on similar lines - the ambulance loading bloodied body of cyclist, shocked relatives, etc??

2) Some way of showing what it is like to suffer a close pass. Something like a helmet camera video (but better quality) of someone bimbling along peacefully and then a loud and very close car going past. The problem with helmet cameras is that they tend to be wide angle and what is a nastily-close pass doesn't look that close on the head cam.
And the consequences - startling cyclists can easily induce wobbles, which could make them fall into the path of a following vehicle (subject matter for (1) above).

(Possibly also something shot from within a car - I know I don't like it if a huge HGV thunders past my car very close on the motorway - and I've got airbags and metal wrapped around me, then relate this to the close pass of a cyclist by a car).

3) I think there are already some videos about looking out for motorbikes - something similar but involving a cyclist. Things like door pillars blocking the view when people pull out.

4) Something to correct the impression that all cyclists move at about 5 mph. Some of teh commuting folks can be doing 20 mph or more (esp. downhills!). I think many car drivers see a cyclist and assume they are moving slowly and they therefore have time to pull out... (the ones that think...!)

 

[Dan B]

The driver who had just driven straight at me, on my side of the road, to overtake a stationary bus: "You're only a f*****g bike, mate".

Haha yes. Someone in a following vehicle did once ask me "do you think you're a ****ing car?". Which quite confused me, because, cars being artificial constructs without intelligence, surely if I thought I was one I would therefore believe myself unable to think anything at all. This thought contains the seeds of its own contradiction and as such is logically unthinkable.

That's not what I said, though, which was more along the lines of "Er, you what?"

 

[xpc316e]

I admire the concept of finding a problem and then solving it, but you may well have bitten off more than you can chew with this one. There is sound research that shows that even people who cycle do not always respect/consider other cyclists whom they encounter when they are in control of a motor vehicle, so good luck with trying to get non-cyclists to respect us.

Our status is frequently judged solely by the worth of our possessions, and even riding a lovely £5,000 carbon confection will label a cyclist as a pauper in the eyes of most motorists. We are seen as not having a right to be on the roads and inconvenience drivers, because we do not pay anything for the privilege. We will always be second-class citizens as most people are raised in a society that uses only monetary wealth as a measure of our value.

I regularly visit educational establishments to try improve road safety, and I'd welcome a certain method of ensuring that drivers behaved in a sensible, safe and tolerant manner to other road users, whatever their position in the hierarchy. The suggestions made by others can do no harm, but I doubt they'll achieve much.

I genuinely wish you all the best in your endeavours, but my cynical side doubts whether you will change much. Failure will not be in any way related to you, or your ideas, but more to the general idiocy and selfishness of man.

 

[Origamist]

I'd recommend having a look at these papers as they're pretty good primers:

Drivers’ perceptions of cyclists (2002)

http://www.southamptontriclub.co.uk/storage/TRL549.pdf

Cycling, Safety and Sharing the Road: Qualitative Research with Cyclists and Other Road Users (2010)

http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme1/researchreport/pdf/rswp17.pdf


I'd also have a read of the sociologist Dave Horton's: Fear of Cycling
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/09/fear-of-cycling-01-essay-in-five-parts.html

As others have intimated, you're not going to be able to "solve" this issue - there are so many intertwined social, cultural and psychological factors that have contributed to the idea that the roads are "contested channels"; a collision of the public and private...etc

 

[Spinney]

As others have intimated, you're not going to be able to "solve" this issue - there are so many intertwined social, cultural and psychological factors that have contributed to the idea that the roads are "contested channels"; a collision of the public and private...etc

Agreed - but no harm in making an attempt. If it only changes a few peoples' perceptions...

 

[al-fresco]

To some we don't exist, others are terrified of us and hang back when they can safely pass. Out here in the sticks most are fine. Come to think of it I've only felt the need to yell abuse at one driver (pulled out in front of me on a roundabout) in the last few months.

 

[TVC]

Do motorists respect cyclists? Yes, the vast majority do. Those who don't respect cyclists tend not to respect other drivers either.

 

[Thomk]

It's partly gang warfare out there but this only manifests when there is a scarcity of recourses and time, hence problems during the commute particularly at busy times. Lorries are in the same gang as other lorries and despise cars. Black cabs just play with black cabs and think the rest of us are numpties. Bus drivers wave at bus drivers and s*d the rest and cyclists are at the bottom of the gang hierarchy.

Cyclists also suffer from the perception among the other gangs that we don't really belong on the road at all and there is some truth in that as it would be far better for all if we had our own network. I also think some of the aggression and bad attitude comes from momentary confusion, an almost quasi hypnotic thought chaos if you like, brought on by seeing something they don't expect on their turf. 'Get off, get away, no no no' is the sort of thought which manifests in the car/lorry/bus/taxi driver. 'I must get away from this confusing, uncomfortable situation...the last thing I need is a cyclist buzzing around my car, it's an accident waiting to happen".

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Hello,

I'm doing a University project and would really appreciate some responses.

I'm an advertising student, and was given the brief 'find a problem, and then solve it'. I decided to go with the problem 'motorists don't respect cyclists'.

If you have any insights or experiences where you feel motorists haven't respected you, or any stories you could tell about your experiences it's be great.

- Do you feel motorists drive aggressively towards cyclists?

- Do you feel cyclists and motorists respect each other?

I've been doing a lot of research into this, trying to find some insights into what I could do to gain more respect for cyclists. Other campaigns don't seem to be working, so I'm trying to take it a lot further and get a lot of people on board with the idea.

Any responses would be greatly appreciated and taken on board.

Thank you.

Some do, some don't.

To be honest, I have found the proportion of disrespectful drivers very low, but their actions can be so strange that it does create an awful stereotype of drivers and you end up with this silly "them and us" culture.

Maybe you could try a less annoying version of those posters on London public transport:

http://raxraxrax.com/2008/10/27/london-calling/

 

[Brandane]

I'm an advertising student, and was given the brief 'find a problem, and then solve it'. I decided to go with the problem 'motorists don't respect cyclists'.

Finding the problem was probably quite easy; good luck with solving it!

I don't see it so much as a cyclist v motorist matter; more of a selfish people v respectful people matter. It just so happens that selfish people tend to prefer the sanctuary of a car, while people who have respect for others may be more inclined to take to a bicycle. I use both, but as a cyclist I know the problems we face, so when out in the car I do of course respect cyclists!

 

[Bicycle]

Hello,

- Do you feel motorists drive aggressively towards cyclists?

There is potential for comedy in the wording of the question, but it is a fair thing to ask. My serious reply would be: Most motorists are skilled, courteous, thoughtful and obliging. Some are slightly less so. Very few display aggression towards other road users.

- Do you feel cyclists and motorists respect each other?

Most appear to. I'm not sure I'd want to cycle in an environment where there wasn't at least a modicum of respect and courtesy between road users. As it is, I love cycling on UK roads. There is a danger in tarring all (or most) drivers with the same brush.

From an advertising/marketing point of view, you face the issue (potentially both a good and a bad thing) that both groups (motorists and cyclists) contain elements who somehow define or identify themselves as a part of that group and - by extension - not a part of the other. In extremis, this can start to appear slightly tribal.

As a cyclist, I find the bleating of anti-cyclist motorist friends tiresome, empty and clanging. As a motorist I feel the same about anti-motorist diatribes from the anti-car brigade.

Most people ignore both ends of the spectrum and get along jolly well with most other road users.

We've all had scrapes an scares (and some of us have been hospitalised in traffic collisions) but it can sometimes appear that the nearer one gets to the anti-car wing of the cycling community, the more stories one hears of aggressive drivers, close passes and outrageous driving.

Many of us who have no strong feelings on this issue manage perfectly respectable mileages (4000 miles p/a in my case) at perfectly respectable speeds but suffer very little from aggression by other road users.

I don't know what that tells us, but sometimes a loud minority might be able to make more of a case than the ground reality might warrant.







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