On the other hand, there’s a fairly obvious correlation between, say, the apparent (self-identified) riding style of commenters at atxbs.com and further down the totem pole, and the relatively high level of complaints they have about motorists treating them badly.

Elliott, my ‘tribe’ from about 1996-2007 was “both”. This was why I was sometimes the guy who had to get the bike stuff past the skeptical motorists on the UTC, by the way, and was a part of the reason Slusher agreed to appoint me to begin with.

I suspect that Bob Mionske’s theory is pretty close to the crux of the situation of why cyclists and motorists seem to dislike each other (when among people who do both) — though I think there’s a lot more `they just don’t care’ than anything else, and that the negative experiences tend to stick with us more than the positive ones, even though the positive ones are probably more numerous.

In any event, Critical Mass seems to garner more positive feedback (smiling, cheering, high-fives, etc.) from the people who encounter it than negative feedback (frowning, honking, yelling, etc.) I don’t think this means that most people approve — instead, I just think most of the unhappy people don’t really express it. Also, a lot of the happy people aren’t in cars at all — they’re walking on the sidewalk, eating outside, etc. The mass isn’t slowing them at all.

In my own personal riding experience, I rarely have problems with motorists — but when I do, they tend to stick with me. I don’t normally tell my friends about that nice guy who let me in, or the guy who gave me plenty of space when he passed — even though there’s lots of these folks. I do tell them about the people who were jerks, however — and those kids who shot me with a paintball gun, I’ve told *everybody* about them. I gripe far more about motorists doing bad things than I do rant about them doing good things while I ride — but I’m also quite aware that the good events outweigh the bad events by a very large margin — but the bad ones stick with me a lot longer. Call it human nature.

When I do have problems, it’s usually when I was doing everything right. Perhaps this is because the people already had problems with cyclists? Perhaps it’s because they didn’t agree that I was doing everything wrong? Perhaps it’s simply a numbers game, where I’m usually doing everything right if I’m not alone? Dunno.

(Just for the record, I tend to be a very courteous and generally law-abiding rider. I’ll roll through a stop sign or even a light at times — but only if there’s no other traffic. If there’s somebody watching, especially if they’re somebody who would have to yield to me or vice versa, I stop completely if I’m supposed to, just so people don’t get confused about what I’m going to do.) I take the lane when appropriate — but I stop occasionally to let people pass if needed too. I also don’t usually look anything like a hipster or a guy on a training ride — which I think improves how motorists treat me.

(All anecdotal evidence. It does disagree with yours somewhat, however — though I’m not sure if you’d have guessed that I rode like a yahoo or not.)

I’m fairly anal about following traffic laws yet I’ve had motorists honk at me, speed up and turn in front of me cutting me off, throw things at me, pass within an inch of my body, and tell me to get on the sidewalk and out of the street. Each of these instances, I was following the law, holding my part of the road, and not riding unreasonably slow (about 18- 20 mph). These are not everyday occurances but they do happen. I didn’t belong to their tribe. I was other so I was treated like the enemy.

While I don’t doubt that law breakers have had an effect on drivers, the truth of the matter is we have a transportation system and society that gives cars preference over other forms of transportation. Bikes are toys or the tools of weirdo freaks. Buses are for poor people or those who have a DUI. Cars are represented as symbols of freedom and the cyclist, law abiding or not, gets in the way of that freedom. Until we change that attitude and how we build our streets, the dislike of cyclists is not going away.

This assertion is made frequently by those who either break the law or enable those that do, yet it flies in the face of the experience of those of us who do neither. I, for instance, was rarely hassled by motorists while bicycling – most of the handful of times I was was on Shoal Creek where the facility design made the motorists think I was willfully blocking them.

I got more positive than negative feedback overall.

On the other hand, many people who I know from experience ride like yahoos are constantly complaining how bad motorists act towards them and their friends.

While (NOTE TO DOUG!) this is not a scientific proof or anything, it is strong circumstantial evidence that how you act when cycling does, in fact, matter.

I do not condone illegal behavior in day to day cycling, but I disagree that the law breaking is what causes, or at least is a major cause of the driver hostility. The fact is that drivers consider cyclists an inconvenience, something blocking them from zipping along their way. If 100% of cyclist obeyed the law today, this would not change. Unfortunately, it is part of the psychology in a nation where the automobile is given supreme deference.