We all know the stereotype of the disgruntled cyclist, yelling at drivers and being obnoxious. And maybe it’s true—but there might just be reasons.
Cyclists get a lot of hate. Ask any commuter—they’ll cite cyclists as being reckless, dangerous, lawless and just downright surly too. “They yell at us, get in our way and sometimes even cause full-on road rage incidents!“
What’s up with these bikers, anyway?
Well, it’s actually pretty simple. We cyclists are tired of saving the world for a bunch of ingrates.
What do I mean? Well, consider this:
As far as transportation goes, there is nothing that even compares with the benefits to society provided by cycling.
- It reduces your carbon footprint, compared to driving or even taking public transit
- It reduces particulate pollution inside urban areas
- It increases your health and wellbeing, saving healthcare tax burdens
- It reduces congestion on our roads
- It has a lower cost of infrastructure needs, when compared to everything other than walking
- It reduces ambient noise in cities
- It’s show to fight depression and other mental illness
Basically, cycling saves the world.
But there are some downsides. It’s harder than driving—physically, and often mentally. Weather can be a pain. And it puts you in the position of being a vulnerable road user among vehicles.
However, it’s worth it for those world-saving benefits! But this is where we get mad.
Because, despite the fact that cyclists are literally saving the planet with every pedal stroke, we are also:
- Held to a higher standard of lawfulness (stats show motorists break more laws)
- Expected to smile and brush off near-death experiences, daily
- Expected to both follow laws when they’re advantageous to drivers, and disregard them when not
- Expected to risk our life among drivers who can’t be bothered to look up from their phones
- Expected to don ourselves in protective and high-vis gear for motorists’ sake
- Expected to handle constant abuse online
- And, occasionally, expected to just “go on” after our peers are terrorized and attacked just for existing
So basically, while we sweat it out in the rain saving the planet for YOUR kids, we also have to deal with insults, abuse and attacks.
In case you were wondering why we’re grumpy.
You might be too, if you were us.