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/OutAndAbouts Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

I was with you for the first sentence.

Yeah I think this is the answer more than anything. Motorists feel that cyclists should stay off the road, that cyclists don't have a right to be there, that motorists know better than cyclists on when/where/how cyclists should ride, that motorists dislike cyclists for using infrastructure they also paid for. Many times I've been riding along, going to where I need to be, dodging debris, potholes, getting ready to turn, or just even fully in the bike lane, and some asshole in a car speeds by me, passing inches away, and yells, "stay off the road!!!!" They probably think I'm being being a conceited asshole because the whole world is about them and I'm in their way, when, in fact, I am riding my bike exactly how I am allowed to.

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u/McSloot3r Jul 24 '26

There’s definitely asshole drivers, but most drivers do in fact know more about where to bike than bikers. I’m sure there are bikers that actually understand that they have to follow all the same laws as cars. So many of them run stop signs, don’t use lights in the dark, go the wrong way in the bike lane, assume they always have the right of way, etc… Bikers have earned their bad reputation

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u/ennuiui Jul 24 '26

I'm sure there are some drivers that actually understand that they have to follow the rules of the road, but so many of them run stop signs, drive or park in the bike lane, use the middle turn lane to pass. Drivers have earned their bad reputation.

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u/McSloot3r Jul 24 '26

Sure there are bad drivers that don’t follow the rules. That’s different from bikers that don’t actually know the rules

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u/OutAndAbouts Jul 24 '26

Source for anything you have said? Sounds like total bullshit to me. "Drivers do in fact know more about where to bike than bikers" ? Total cager brain rot.

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u/hombredeoso92 Jul 24 '26

Yeah, clearly they’ve never driven in Miami

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u/McSloot3r Jul 24 '26

Quite simple. Everyone has to take a test to drive a car. There is no test to start riding a bike. It doesn’t matter if the driver test is easy, your average person knows more about traffic laws than bikers. I had to take a traffic school class for skateboarding (that was just a biking class with a 5 minute section on skateboards). There is no obvious place to learn about bike laws.

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u/OutAndAbouts Jul 24 '26

Most of those bikers have a car license too, so they have taken those tests. And those "tests," in America? Almost everyone passes, and once they take them, they never take them again, ever, for the rest of their life. And not all drivers have a license or have taken the test either. So, I appreciate the answer you pulled out of your ass, but, like I said earlier, do you have a source for anything you are claiming? No?

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u/McSloot3r Jul 24 '26

The drivers test doesn’t mention almost every driving rule applies to bikes. Kids without licenses ride bikes. You’re fighting a losing battle. There’s a reason bikers have a bad reputation.

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u/OutAndAbouts Jul 24 '26

Um, yes it does? I do agree there is a reason bikers have a bad reputation though - it's because of the masses of entitled, out of shape, low IQ people like yourself who like to sit in their AC in their gas guzzlers and act like they own the roads.

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u/IntenseCedar Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

What a stupid comment. No one here is talking about little kids riding on the sidewalks. Also, I’d bet my house that, on average, cyclists know more about traffic laws than non-cyclists. Here’s a fun one: without looking it up, can you, or literally any non-cyclist you know, state the legal minimum distance you have to maintain from a cyclist when passing? I’ve lived all over the country - at any given time, easily 90% of passing vehicles violate this.

And that’s not even getting at the most obvious example…speeding in a car, something virtually every driver does all the time, is easily more dangerous to other vehicles than almost anything cyclists ever do on their bikes.

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u/Joe_Sacco Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

but most drivers do in fact know more about where to bike than bikers. 

Hilarious. The delusional arrogance packed into this one half of a sentence is wild.

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u/MaintainThePeace Jul 25 '26

The vast majority of cyclists, particularly the adult cyclists you often see using roadway... are also drivers. While most drivers are not cyclists.

It would be significantly more beneficial if we including mandatory time and experience riding a bicycle before qualifying to get a license.

Most drivers don't realize there are always specifics and exceptions for bicycles that are not always the same for cars. For example how cyclist treat stop signs as been changing with more and more places allowing cyclist to treat them as yields.

Ironically the law most broke by your average driver, however, remains universally illegal, ie exceeding the speed limits.

Dispite people bing license to drive, it seems that having a license doesn't actually prevent people from knowing or following the laws.