Abuse of cyclists “almost like racial discrimination,” claims AA President

Wear an Incredible Hulk cycling jersey be about the same size as him and you soon get left alone. But kudos for Edmund King on this one lets just hope he keeps talking about it.

"At the same time, no national newspaper editor would publish a piece by a columnist in which the object of their rage was an ethnic minority, rather than a broad and significant section of the population who simply choose one mode of transport over – or, or more likely, among – others."

James Martin writes a motoring column for UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday. In 2009, Martin wrote in his column that he deliberately drove an electric Tesla Roadster in a manner that startled two cyclists causing a “look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge”.

I have now given up cycling on British roads.

Brilliant posts form Phytoramediant and others. Aligns with what I've been thinking for ages. Anyone who has posted videos of errant, bullying drivers on YouTube - as have I - and experienced the vile retorts from self righteous motorists will be in no doubt as to how extreme anti-cyclist sentiment has become.

It's funny that in a 21st century any idiot in a national paper can insult you because you chose to ride a bicycle and dress appropriately but taking a mickey out of someone's beliefs in fairy tales about Jesus or Muhammad can land you with a criminal record.

Kudos for shoe-horning schrodingers cat onto a cycling site!

The main problem with 'education' is that the vast majority of dangerous and violent acts I see when out on my bike are committed by people to whom explaining the intricacies of driving, respect for others, and sharing the road would be a fairly tall order. It would be more akin to trying to teach quantum mechanics to a cat*, than how to call 0800 DUMBASS to vote for xfactor.

*Excepting, perhaps, Schrodinger's cat.

Great comments.

Motorists fear of looking bad, trendiness to hate cyclists, 'bikeism', envy of cyclists freedom, and straight out macho aggression, yeah all of that. I have been assaulted twice in London (I mean punched in the face) both times being 'taught a lesson'. I wasn't the one driving the wrong way down a one-way street (same one, both times). Both times young men who basically wanted to piss on me in displays of Alpha maledom. Do not underestimate the need of a young man to be top dog!

The only thing I would add is that drivers just don't understand what it's like to have that 1.5 tonnes of metal do something entirely unexpected. It's like being charged by a rhino, so, no surprises, we get a little upset and will, in that moment, do anything to protect ourselves. Mostly swear like a trooper and try and smack the car with our hand. The driver thinks we are over-reacting, and because they are *inside* the rhino can't see the danger.

For the record Polish people in the Uk are an ethnic minority and are subject to abuse and misunderstanding - they certainly are in my part of london at any rate, though being given a criminal record for joking with friends seems over the top.

A

A Venn diagram......If you start to put cyclist's into categories, you will end up with something looks like one of these

http://research.stowers-institute.org/mcm/venny4.png
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v43/n2/images/ng.736-F3.jpg

Cyclist/Gay/Jew/Muslim - I'm drawing the Venn diagram now.

Been saying for years cyclist abuse should be classed as a hate crime.
Just sub the word cyclist for Gay/Jew/Muslim/etc... and it stands out a mile!!!

What a absolutely fantastic article and series of comments. It as if you've all been walking around in my head, listening in on my thoughts during my commutes this last 6 months. I genuinely thought I was the only person thinking this way but some of these comments have been such eloquent distillations of my own internal musings it's all a little perturbing.

I agree EK's comments are a massive progression and hope he catalyses some positive change in the debate. Next we need to get the TopGear mentality moving in the right direction; more Richard Hammond winning challenges on two wheels and that sort of positive promotion as unfortunately that's how the 18-25 year old demographic are educated.

@OldRidgeback I think you may be right.

Loads of insightful and intelligent comments in here. And I think everyone's agreed for once. Is that a first?

Mercuryone and Notfastenough have made some fine points.
Notfastenough's point of subjective perception is well made and Mercuryone's point about public information broadcasts is really important.
The term 'Nanny state' was probably coined by the Conservative British MP Iain Macleod in '65 to decry safeguards for the Working Class and has been spread by papers like the Daily Mail and anyone who wishes to abolish safeguards or the welfare State.
People who use the term are the first to sue if their name is impugned or if anything disadvantages them. If it's helping someone else it's the 'Nanny State', if it's helping yourself it's 'My rights'.
The replacement of Legal Aid (Which did a useful job of helping people fight personal injustice) has been replaced by NoWin NoFee, which allows companies to make money from idiots who sue Councils (But never Big business) for mistakes they themselves made because they were idiots and closes down many things because of the insurance risk. The Health and Safety Executive is very opposed to NoWin NoFee and regularly points out that it's very keen on kids playing conkers, learning to fall down grassy slopes etc. This, when allied to sensible 'Don't be a pratt' public information broadcasts lessens the number of accidents.
NoWin NoFee will not help you if you're a cyclist. On the contrary, you'll probably get fined for damaging someone's paintwork.
We might be able to do without that track-suited man from the '70's, just as we could do without the '70's dubbing that now make those mini-films so risible, but the advice would be very handy in saving lives.
Whenever I'm cut up by a motorist as they shout "Get off my ****ing road!" I remember the '70's infomercial where a driver is torn off a strip for not giving a cyclist adequate space. Were this advert to be remade today, it would save lives.
But, what government would legislate for that when we could have yet another TRULY awful advert in which some actor says "If you can stage an accident, we can use it as a pretext to rip off your Council and send you a cut of the profits"?
Plainly, Big Business is not in the Cyclists interest.

Are 18 to 24 drivers not also responsible for a large proportion of RTAs? If so, it would seem more about their general attitude behind the wheel rather than any particular antipathy towards cyclists.

In my experience, hatred of cyclists is exactly what racism is - the identification of a group you can bully and be applauded for doing so.
It's possible to make jokes about race and note racial differences without being hurtful, so long as it's not meant AS hurtful. Being hurtful or unpleasant to people is bad, whatever the 'race' or 'religion' excuse.
Racists manage to make their hatred cringingly clear with terms like 'Our coloured bretheren' etc. These people are, of course, vile.
It's not words or race which is really the issue, it's hatred.
In just the same way, a bully will pick on another for their haircut, their briefcase, their race or the car their dad drives. None of these are really the issue, it's the deficiency in the bully that makes them do this that is the problem.
As a long-term cyclist, I'm sure I used to be treated with contempt by drivers back in the '70's but I never actually felt any actual hatred.
Drivers were selfish, inconsiderate, dangerous or drunk but I never had anyone shout obscenities to me or actually attempt to kill me 'for a laugh'.
Nowadays, this happens all the time and many 'comedians' and public pundits get easy laughs from their open comments encouraging violence to cyclists.
Why the change?
I have five immediate theories:

1:Congestion:
There are more people and more people have cars. However many roads we make, this will only get worse. Driving is no longer the pleasure it once was - time was traffic jams were annoying but there were gaps of 'driving' in between. These periods of enjoying driving a car (The thing car adverts still promise) are pretty much gone for motorists and there's a cognitive dissonance between the 'Pleasure' that the adverts and things like Top Gear promise and the reality. Motorists always did tend to aggression and irritation (See old cartoons for confirmation) but now it's a constant. They can't pick on lorries (Now more common) or tractors (Though they'd like to), but cyclists - ideal.
2: Guilt:
Whereas once having a car was a statusd symbol, now it's a 'neccesity'. There's no sense of achievement. Worse - whether they believe it or not, motorists know they're blamed for congestion, pollution and climate change. They'll argue they don't believe this but this still lies at the back of their brains. This is one reason one of the most commonly cited complaints about cyclists is that they're 'Smug'. To be upset about someone because they're doing less damage than you and they take some pleasure in this is incredibly twisted.
In amongst this is disguised envy - how DARE that cyclist move through a traffic jam? How DARE they look like they're enjoying their commute? How DARE they be healthy and sport a better body than mine? How DARE they use my road of suffering and personal loathing as their own private gym?!
3: Culture:
Our culture is more hostile. Whereas once Game Shows involved someone winning a Kenwood Chef (Ask yer mum), it probably now involves someone eating spiders. Once comedies involved someone losing their trousers in front of a neighbour . Now it's about them losing their hands. Violence has always been with us in films, but never at the level when the mainstream is providing violence-porn. We now have a media that tells us to admire the successful, however vile they are and despise those below us. Three decades ago, no politician would be insisting that it was a 'crime' to work together for the common good, now it's basic policy. In a world in which everyone kicks those below them and 4x4's are sold on the basis of fear (As an aid to bullying others on the road), cyclists are the inevitable prey.
4: Fashion (Or custom):
Once, most people cycled or took the bus. Everyone knew a person that cycled. Now a cyclists is an oddity. Car adverts - no longer able to portray driving as a pleasure - become ever more surreal and, at least, normalise the act of Driving. There are no cycling adverts in mainstream media.
Whilst cyclists are becoming ever-more common (Thank god), motorists now see them as some alien race with whom no-one can relate. This makes them 'scary'.
5: Politics:
Our media is increasingly run for profit - hence the determination to kill the BBC. The media insists that 'society' is dead. The notion of a road as a public good has disappeared. It's now seen as 'something I pay for. Something I own. The oft-shouted "Get off my road, freeloader" ignores that roads are maintained by tax from everyone and that it's the damage caused by motorists (And safeguards against that) that puts the tax up is never considered. Neither is the point that the haulage industry pays very little tax at all, and damages the roads more than anyone. In fact, we all subsidise the haulage industry from our tax... but no driver is going to be trying to cut up a juggernaut "To give him a bit of a scare".
Conclusion:
If the culture of hatred of cyclists is allowed to continue, deaths will increase and cycling will die out as a means of transport. We need legal rights of protection just as did the coloured community of South America in the 1960's.
The only way to obtain this is by appealing to the law.

We need active protests and a proper campaign.
Only then can we free those poor crippled motorists from their metal cages.

Just wanted to share : I had some nasty abuse today from a guy in an Astra behind me swearing loudly . The reason: I was allowing a doors width as I overtook a line of 3 cars. Why can't these people understand? I agree there is some sort of tribal thing going on but also there's an awful lot of plain and simple stupidity and lack of empathy out there. The thing is we behave in a different way to a car faced with the same situation. So drivers have no idea of the dangers we face and how we have to behave to avoid those dangers.

It's like I ride through a set of lights every day. About half the traffic turns left so I come out of the cycle lane just before the lights and merge with the cars. I can easily keep up with the cars and I avoid the left hook side swipe accident from cars not seeing me turning left. I get abuse for that too and I never actually slow anyone down. The problem is the abuse ' trains' cyclists without my bloody minded attitude ( the majority of cyclists) to behave in a dangerous way in such situations.

Gkam, I agree that's bad. My family and I are Chinese descent, you should hear the banter with my niece. If her Iranian friend is present, outsiders would be even more shocked, but that's just the humour.

However, I think the AA saying this has more impact than from cycling groups, and I respect Edmund King for it.

That's a good idea, but when is the next census? 2021?

Dead right, Mr. Gear.

Territorial and dominance behaviours are primitive factors in the hatred we see from some people towards cyclists. Teanage members of street gangs kill each other for these reasons.

Many motorists sealed inside their vehicles see cyclists as interlopers on their territory. They are seen as a weak, low status, minority group who have no right to impede the motorist.

This is just primitive, uncivilised behaviour and it is encouraged by the attitude of those in authority who do not consider it to be a matter of importance, since most of them are motorists and sympathise with them.

I'm going to make one comment on this one, then shut up. I wish AA would also do the same. This is just giving people a chance to jump on the bandwagon.

My comment is about the racial part of it and only applying to "ethnic minorities". This infact is not the case.

I was out with friends on night, one of the females in our group was Polish and we were having a laugh and joke. I was ribbing her about the Polish builders.....etc. She said something in Polish, which I got the just of and I said these exact words. You f*cking Polish bitch. Jokingly and it was all fine. That's just they way we were with each other.

Next morning, a chap at the door, the police. I was taken to the station and charged with racial abuse, because another Polish person in the vicinity had heard my comments and reported it to the police. It went right to court and I now have a criminal record for racial abuse. For something I said to a friend

I wouldn't class Polish people as an ethnic minority, would you?

So racial abuse can come in many forms apparently not just towards minority groups.....

I agree notfastenough. The trouble is that the government closed the department that dealt with public information films just over a year ago and it shows no signs of coming back.

We all used to laugh at some of the films but it's seems pretty obvious to me that instructional films need to be shown more often at cinemas and TV channels to show how cyclists and the road ahead should be negotiated safely.

Sometimes The 'nanny state' is just what is needed if it's got to the point where people are behaving like idiots and saying "Well we've never been told.."

I've been riding bikes for 42 years and driving cars for 30 years and I've noticed the decay of safe motorway driving over the past 15 years to the point where undertaking is normal and indicating to change lanes is seen as optional and even a bit fussy.

They should bring that nice blonde haired bloke in the tracksuit who used to do the 'Clunk Click Every trip' film. You don't seem to hear about him these days....

Re the 'Psychologist' article on minority outgroups, I think the variable they are missing is the fact that overtaking cyclists is subconsciously perceived to require skills that expose their self-perceived incompetence. Bear with me.

Scenario 1. Driver approaches a cyclist from behind, eases off the accelerator long enough to assess the situation, decides that the oncoming traffic (or the overtaking traffic in lane 2) is a bit close, slows, looks for a good gap, mirror/signal/manouvre, foot down again and safely away.

Some drivers view this slowing etc as an impediment to their goal, as part of the same psyche that would cause them to road-rage other drivers. If you were to ask them, they wouldn't say that 2 seconds on their journey time was more important than your safety, but that's not how they actually think when at the wheel.

So, Scenario 2. Driver approaches a cyclist from behind, slowing down isn't really an option (as above), so suddenly they are confronted with a narrow point on the road, between the cyclist and the oncoming/overtaking traffic. This is effectively a moving chicane, and they tense up a little momentarily while they make the overtake. Then at the lights, the cyclist overtakes them to the ASL and the whole thing starts again. The driver gets frustrated because the whole thing makes them a little nervous, and the minority outgroup, rather than simply being an observed outgroup, repeatedly (collectively, if not an individual) exhibits behaviour which exposes this nervousness, and eventually causes resentment. I noticed this about my wife, but since I've been cycling again she's worked out how to interact with cyclists better.

There is also an education issue. Why can that cyclist stop past the line at the red light? Why can they filter up front to sit in the ASL? Why have they taken primary position in the middle of the lane? Why is there a two foot gap between them and the pavement? Sure, we know there are good reasons for it all, but they don't. It would be great to see the AA help us out on this with some educational adverts for example.

Anyway, kudos to EK and the AA for taking it this far. He seems to be talking some of the most sense in the whole wider debate right now.