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With the exceptions perhaps of Oxford and Cambridge, I reckon hate of cyclists correlates pretty well with Tory voting tendencies on a map.
Not really. I think in Britain you find hate for cycling where you find cars and cyclists in some combination, given the poor design of Britain's infrastructure and the way cycling almost vanished as a pracitcal and popular means of transport for so long, allowing an "us and them" mentality. Advertising sells driving as freedom, the reality is stressful and constraining , cyclists whizz past while they're stuck, sometimes "get in the way" and so it goes.
In rural Scotland, the drivers in the rural areas are typically very cycling-friendly even though almost nobody there cycles themselves, while the cities can be as bad as anywhere down here (although this varies). How does your theory map onto that? I don't think it does.
Any reputable studies on when the hatred against cyclists started in the UK? Seems like an interesting and impactful thing for a sociologist to pick apart.
My hunch is that it’s an artefact of late 19th / early 20th century classism, when workers increased their presence on the roads through the use of the recently invented bicycle, which must have pissed off the horse/carrriage/car-using upper class to no end. Fast forward to mass manufacture and sale of automobiles by the wealthy to the UK Everyman, and the bicycle must’ve been additionally loathed.
With the exceptions perhaps of Oxford and Cambridge, I reckon hate of cyclists correlates pretty well with Tory voting tendencies on a map.