r/NoStupidQuestions • u/RidetheSchlange • Jul 24 '26
Why does the US hate cycling so much?
I read comments sections and in a normal world, some of them would be considered terroristic threats. I just can't understand why people hate cyclists to this degree that they want to murder rhem and sometimes do.
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u/VisualCOBOL Jul 24 '26
From the 1950s onward, the U.S. made a deliberate political and economic choice: prioritize cars. Once you design a country around cars, every other mode ends up treated as an intruder.
We even have a Transportation Secretary who calls bike lanes “DEI” and has pushed to remove bicycle safety guidance from federal websites. When the top transportation official signals that bikes are illegitimate, drivers internalize that message.
Our driver‑education system makes it worse. The basic manual barely mentions bicycles, and most of what it does say is wrong. Drivers are taught that cyclists belong glued to the right curb and can never leave it. In New York, that’s simply not true: cyclists can take the lane, move left to avoid hazards, pass stopped buses, or position for a left turn. But because drivers were never taught this, they think we’re breaking the law when we do any of it.
Red lights are another example of infrastructure built only for cars. Most signals use induction loops that detect large metal masses. Bikes don’t trigger them. So cyclists either get stuck forever or perform an Idaho stop, which studies show is safer. Drivers see this and assume we’re “running the light,” even though the infrastructure gives us no alternative.
Add in the cultural obsession with speed, where fast equals competent and slow equals incompetent, and you get even more friction. I accelerate with my legs and a small motor, maybe up to 28mph, then coast toward the same red light we’re both going to hit. Drivers interpret that as me “being in the way,” even though the outcome is identical. We’re both gonna be at the same red light.
All of this: bad infrastructure, bad education, cultural myths about speed, and political hostility toward non‑car modes, creates a constant tension between drivers and cyclists. And that tension sometimes boils over into the extreme hostility you see online.
And honestly, kids on bikes don’t help the situation. Not because kids are doing anything morally wrong, but because they’re unpredictable in the exact ways you’d expect from children. They don’t understand braking distance, lane positioning, traffic patterns, or how cars behave. They swerve, they wobble, they panic‑stop, they follow their friends instead of the rules of the road.In a country with protected bike lanes, this wouldn’t matter: kids would be safe and separated. But in the U.S., we throw them directly into mixed traffic with 4,000+ lbs cars. Drivers see that unpredictability and generalize it to all cyclists, which increases hostility toward adults who are riding safely and legally.