Fear of Cycling

[Origamist]

An interesting chapter entitled "Fear of Cycling" from Cycling and Society By Paul Rosen, Peter Cox, David Horton

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA138,M1

 

[dellzeqq]

Thankyou

page 145 is especially interesting. I think that the cyclist transgresses the boundary between body and road space in a way that is genuinely unsettling for many people. Any number of conversations with non-cyclists has convinced me that they see cyclists as a different breed, upsetting the conventions that guarantee their security. The cyclist's lack of physical protection frightens them in two ways - they're reminded of their own vulnerability, but there's also a worry that we've got some kind of super power that is in itself threatening.

It's a little like getting wet, which is seen as disruptive, or eccentric.

I don't know how we go about dealing with this - but I'm convinced that the irrational hatred that comes our way is rooted in fear.

 

[tdr1nka]

I agree that the fact some of us are, sometimes not exactly comfortable but confident
in using the road is viewed with some suspicion and even outright hostility.

There are those that will ernestly believe that we are needlessly taking our lives into our own hands when we cycle and thus pose a risk to ourselves and others by being in someway irresponsible or selfish.

I find it slightly ironic that car driving parents will warn their kids and others away from cycling because of a perceived danger of traffic, but wouldn't openly address being a part of the problem itself.

 

[Origamist]

The roads are a fuzzy, liminal zone and psyclists are the transgressive outsiders and absent referents in the psychosocial streetscape.

 

[summerdays]

There are those that will ernestly believe that we are needlessly taking our lives into our own hands when we cycle and thus pose a risk to ourselves and others by being in someway irresponsible or selfish.

I find it slightly ironic that car driving parents will warn their kids and others away from cycling because of a perceived danger of traffic, but wouldn't openly address being a part of the problem itself.

My Mum's reaction to me coming off the bike last week was ... "you'll be stopping cycling now" err no! And yet she didn't contrast my injuries with her son in law's back in Dec whose leg is still in its metal cage and spent 6 weeks in hospital after a car accident. I think cyclists have a more realistic expectation of risk, and that car drivers ignore that risk to themselves let alone people outside their bubble.

I haven't read it all yet but that article is certainly interesting, for me it was that we spend our time telling our kids how to keep safe on the road rather than putting the onus on cars to respect us.

 

[Lurker]

.... I haven't read it all yet but that article is certainly interesting, for me it was that we spend our time telling our kids how to keep safe on the road rather than putting the onus on cars to respect us.

Bit harsh on /cars/, expecting them to respect us, is it not...?

 

[summerdays]

It was the way they phased it ... really made me see it another way .. that road safety education concentrates on instilling in children the fear of traffic on the road, rather than educating the motorised public.

I really wish we had the system as in some countries in Europe where the blame lay with the motorist unless they could prove otherwise. Maybe it might change the way some people drive and believe that they have a right to be on the road in their car.

I saw the usual idiots on the route to school today. We have to walk along a very narrow road - literally 2 cars wide with lots of commuter cars parked on both sides and on the pavement (trying to avoid paying for parking near by) - which causes really problems for flowing traffic. Usually they mount the pavement in an effort to get past each other. Really it would be funny each day watching the performance each day if I didn't have 3 children with me to keep safe. Now do I tell them to always give way to the cars or like today we made the car trying to reverse into us wait until we were safely by (thereby holding up another 3 or 4 cars on the rat run).

 

[Tony]

Another place referred to a narrow road, which led to a light-controlled junction, at which point there was a left-turn lane and a straight-ahead lane. The left filter does not start till just before the lights
A poster in this other place described how this "forced" drivers to mount the pavement so as to get down the inside of cars waiting to go straight ahead.
No mention need be made of the fact that many of those particular cars would be waiting to turn left, nor that the pavement driving down the inside of other vehicles ticked two of drivers' pet hates about cyclists.
The point is that there was an automatic excuse for lawbreaking and dangerous driving because of an assumption that nobody should have to wait---or rather, no driver.
And there it is in a nutshell. Cyclists transgress. Drivers are "forced"

 

[byegad]

The perception of danger is not only one expressed by none cyclists when speaking to a cyclist, but also some cyclists talking to recumbent riders. I think it is largely the result of a lack of understanding.

 

[Lurker]

Another place referred to .... The point is that there was an automatic excuse for lawbreaking and dangerous driving because of an assumption that nobody should have to wait---or rather, no driver.
And there it is in a nutshell. Cyclists transgress. Drivers are "forced"

Or, to put it another way, cyclists' behaviour is seen (by drivers) as dispositional, whilst drivers' behaviour is seen (by drivers) as situational. Much more on this in 'Drivers' perceptions of cyclists', TRL Report 549, 2002.

 

[marinyork]

Ah excellent Lurker. I've read that and been trying to refind that for sometime.

 

[Origamist]

If anyone wants TRL 549 - "Drivers' Perception of Cyclists", pm me as I have a pdf

 

[jonesy]

Or, to put it another way, cyclists' behaviour is seen (by drivers) as dispositional, whilst drivers' behaviour is seen (by drivers) as situational. Much more on this in 'Drivers' perceptions of cyclists', TRL Report 549, 2002.

http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/r...ty/report_drivers_perceptions_of_cyclists.htm

 

[dellzeqq]

It was rather that, in the opinion of the magistrate at the first trial, to delay the drivers by one second was unreasonable. The legality and wisdom of the overtaking manoeuvre was a matter that the defence at both trials didn't think it worthwhile pursuing. With good reason, particularly in the first case.

 

[yello]

page 145 is especially interesting. I think that the cyclist transgresses the boundary between body and road space in a way that is genuinely unsettling for many people.

Yes, and the literal and metaphorical use of 'marginal' is apt for the cyclist. When the cyclist takes a 'central' position in the motorists view, be it either a physical primary road position or a ideological/political stance, then they become a nuisance*.

Interestingly, page 146 seems to condone red light jumping (not wishing to start that debate!) as something to be seen within a context of a cyclist taking a "risk reduction strategy" that is not available to cars. I'd like to give that line some thought.

It's a damned interesting read and I'm tempted to buy the book.