• If I can get back to the subject of placating drivers, Here's why I think it will never work (and sorry it's a little long winded/has already been covered/is in the wrong thread). The main stated reason that car drivers hate cyclists is because they RLJ and don't obey the rules of the road even if as anyone using the road will attest most road users don't obey all of the rules of the road all of the time (indicating while turning, speeding, you know actually dangerous stuff), and you can see this in any comments section about RLJing, some rules are set in stone (never jump a red light) whereas other rules aren't (entering a ASZ/ parking on a cycle lane/texting/twatting around on a phone while driving, perhaps the most dangerous and common 'acceptable' lawbreak, which is sure to be the demise of many a cyclist in the next few years))
    BUT they also hate cyclists when they 'take the lane' and ride not only legally but how it is recommended to ride, in these instances it is often said that cyclists should use 'road craft' or something like that (basically get the funk out of the way), so that is the first reason cyclists will never placate car drivers, even if everyone obeyed traffic lights and every other rule of the road there would be another reason and then another reason to hate cyclists which makes me think that there is an actual reason car drivers hate cyclists and I'm quite sure it is this:

    Car drivers were sold a dream, an expensive dream, the dream is freedom in a car, all the adverts show cars wending their way in empty country roads, and words like 'freedom' are used a lot in car advertising, the car is supposed to represent freedom but the reality is quite different, it is expensive and most time spent in a car is stopping at lights, most people in cars in their morning commute look miserable so then when you get someone drifting past on a bike that probably cost less then the petrol in their petrol tank actually free (or as close as one can get to any kind of freedom) they are reminded that they were suckered into this dream and that they probably bankrupted themselves to partake of this dream that doesn't exist and one of the very reasons they are stuck in traffic going to a job they hate is to pay off the interest on the loan they took out to buy into this non existent dream and instead of realizing that they were scammed into a form of self imposed slavery they prefer to hate all reminders that in fact true freedom comes at a fraction of the price.

    So in short I try to ride with consideration but I won't alter my riding simply to attempt to placate car drivers because they will never be happy and I think seeking permission from car drivers or their approval propagates a heirarchy that shouldn't exist. Cyclists don't need permission from car drivers to be on the road.

    And while I'm here, when drivers insist that cyclists should have compulsory testing and insurance I tend to find that said drivers stfu pretty sharpish when I counter that perhaps in order to validate the drivers license, all drivers should have to commute on a bicycle for at least a month in the year, every year which would be easier and cheaper to implement, would be better for the environment and probably would genuinely improve road safety............... rant over

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