-
I turned round and stared into his eyes that he seemed to come round from whatever violent reverie he was in
Indeed the look back does really change how drive interact with riders. Riders often don't look back enough. These are simples changes in behaviour that reduce risk without loads of additional protective kit....
skydancer-
Yes, but there's also weird cultures that are tolerated within sub-groups of drivers, i.e bus drivers/Addison Lee cabbies.
In Glasgow, busses are privatised and the drivers are universally antisocial, aggressive cunts to cyclists. In Edinburgh the busses are publicly owned, and drivers are far more friendly, tolerant and accepting of other road users and the civility is returned. I think that's far more about how they are valued and treated as professionals within their own companies and communities. I think there was a study on heavy goods drivers accident rates and contract types that also supported the idea that better working conditions equated to safer drivers.
I was working with a Dutch guy a few weeks ago and we were talking about how good Holland is for cycling (of course) and he said "we're not any better than anyone else, but everyone grows up riding a bike so we know what it's like being on the road around cars" and I think that's the most simple reason for British drivers being absolute cunts (alongside entrenched self entitlement and selfishness driven by Neo Liberal Economics and hereditary privilege of course...)
deleted
I think the act of being in a car is quite disassociating so that drivers don't really understand the implications of their actions, and combined with the very particular mentality of London/British 'my car is my castle' drivers it creates a really fucked up situation where they feel entitled to bully and abuse people they perceive as a nuisance. I remember waiting at a junction on my bike and a driver behind me literally pushing me into the road by edging forward against my back wheel-it wasn't until I turned round and stared into his eyes that he seemed to come round from whatever violent reverie he was in and he looked immediately embarrassed (and possibly fearful as I was about to get off my bike and drag him out the car/beat him to death with my D-lock) . I genuinely think he just didn't see me as a real person but just another object to get around like a parking bollard.