Study: Drivers tend to dehumanize people riding bicycles

[TexasTowelie]

As bike friendly as the metro area can be, there are still incidents of aggression — and worse — between drivers and bike riders. Atlanta’s most well-known incident resulted in Joseph Alan Lewis being sentenced to 15 years in prison for deliberately hitting Greg Germani, who was riding his bicycle on a residential road in Morningside in 2014.

While most encounters between drivers and cyclists aren’t this extreme, researchers in Australia say they have found a link between attitudes toward bike riders and acts of deliberate aggression toward them on the road.

In a pilot test of the “dehumanization of cyclists,” researchers at Queensland University of Technology, Monash University and the University of Melbourne studied 442 people in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Dehumanization, the group said in the study abstract, “refers to any situation where people are seen or treated as if they are less than fully human.”

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/study-drivers-tend-dehumanize-people-riding-bicycles/GyRITsp5FdEPOwVk7SgsTJ/

[wasupaloopa]

1. Seeing a cockroach evolve to a man means you

dehumanize cyclists?


Is there a strong connection?

[Ron Obvious]

2. I think every cyclist recognises this as a real phenomenon

Considering most of us have had bottles thrown at us, obscenities yelled at us, or even experienced attempts to run us off the road. All while we're riding legally and not even remotely bothering or blocking anyone.

[jberryhill]

5. And how

I'm always impressed with how the mere sight of a cyclist seems to infuriate some people.

I also think a lot of folks don't quite get that the shock from a sudden noise like a horn or shouting can throw a cyclist off balance if the cyclist reacts to the sudden sound.

But you do see some really weird behavior out there sometimes.

Although one thing they don't seem to get is the following problem in physiology:

If you are going to physically confront someone, then it's not a good idea to do so when you've been sitting in a cushioned chair all day, and the person you are going after is already in a fully aerobic condition with their muscles loose, blood fully oxygenated, and adrenaline pumping before you decide to even stand up. Plus, that person is wearing a helmet.

[Hoyt]

3. Used to be big into cycling. Lived in Macon, Ga for awhile and road all over. Bottles, watermelons,

trash, etc., were thrown at me all the time. Or, they'd see how close they could come to you. A few were surprised when I caught them a couple of miles down the road.

Even the dang police tried to arrest me for riding on the very edge of the highway, not impeding anyone. They told me I was supposed to ride AGAINST traffic, said, " I'm not riding 25/35 MPH toward autos." He had to call the supervisor and backup. The supervisor cursed him out, after having the check the rules himself.

I guess the inbred locals didn't like my tight bicycle pants. If I'd worn overalls, it probably would have been OK with them.

To be fair to Macon, Atlanta really wasn't much better.

[Doreen]

4. You should see my town during the STP

every year. It seems like more than half of the hicks around here enjoy bullying them.

Granted there are a few cyclists who do things on purpose to make things go less smoothly between vehicles and themselves but they are very far and few between.

For those who do not know, the STP is a big bicycling event from Seattle to Portland.