Cyclists are so annoying! Why don't they follow the rules of the road?
First of all, if you've encountered cyclists behaving poorly, I'm sorry. Cyclists are as beholden to the law as everyone else who uses the roads. Believe me when I say that most serious cyclists are as annoyed as you are with bad actors because they make us less safe.
However, there are a couple things you should also consider. First, are you sure that they weren't following the rules? Cyclists belong on the road, and just because you see us as a nuisance doesn't mean that we are doing anything wrong. Second, if they clearly weren't following the rules (e.g. riding on the sidewalk or blowing through a stop sign), you should report them to the police. Most cyclists welcome better enforcement of the law all around. I certainly do.
Consider this, though: when you're in your car, how often do you see other motorists behaving poorly? How often do you see cars speeding or otherwise driving dangerously? How angry does this make you at drivers? I'm guessing that, beyond a moment or two of frustration, you just let it go. How often do you see well-behaving cyclists and fail to acknowledge it? Is it possible that your confirmation bias makes you more likely to take note of annoying cyclists and to ignore annoying drivers and well-behaved cyclists? Is it possible that the ultimate attribution error makes you more likely to attribute the poor behavior of cyclists to some internal characteristic because you're not a cyclist and to dismiss the poor behavior of drivers as situational because you are a driver? My point is that perhaps you are making overgeneralizations about cyclists, which is not to dismiss the poor behavior of a few among us. Food for thought, I hope.
First of all, if you've encountered cyclists behaving poorly, I'm sorry. Cyclists are as beholden to the law as everyone else who uses the roads. Believe me when I say that most serious cyclists are as annoyed as you are with bad actors because they make us less safe.
However, there are a couple things you should also consider. First, are you sure that they weren't following the rules? Cyclists belong on the road, and just because you see us as a nuisance doesn't mean that we are doing anything wrong. Second, if they clearly weren't following the rules (e.g. riding on the sidewalk or blowing through a stop sign), you should report them to the police. Most cyclists welcome better enforcement of the law all around. I certainly do.
Consider this, though: when you're in your car, how often do you see other motorists behaving poorly? How often do you see cars speeding or otherwise driving dangerously? How angry does this make you at drivers? I'm guessing that, beyond a moment or two of frustration, you just let it go. How often do you see well-behaving cyclists and fail to acknowledge it? Is it possible that your confirmation bias makes you more likely to take note of annoying cyclists and to ignore annoying drivers and well-behaved cyclists? Is it possible that the ultimate attribution error makes you more likely to attribute the poor behavior of cyclists to some internal characteristic because you're not a cyclist and to dismiss the poor behavior of drivers as situational because you are a driver? My point is that perhaps you are making overgeneralizations about cyclists, which is not to dismiss the poor behavior of a few among us. Food for thought, I hope.
