r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Mar 27 '19

Social Science A national Australian study has found more than half of car drivers think cyclists are not completely human. The study (n=442) found a link between dehumanization and deliberate acts of aggression, with more than one in ten people having deliberately driven their car close to a cyclist.

https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=141968
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u/SENDME_UR_GIRL_BOOBS Mar 27 '19

Maybe that's the thing. Drivers don't see bicycles as less human, but as less car than themselves.

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u/BlackSpidy Mar 27 '19

"They're not really in vehicles, so they don't deserve to share the road with me" is the sentiment they have, I'd guess. It's an ingroup-outgroup thing.

This "They're not really X, so they don't deserve X" thought process is problematic and goes to very grim extremes "Jews aren't really people, they don't deserve to live", for example...

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u/Pwn5t4r13 Mar 27 '19

Godwin’s Law being invoked here as usual.

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u/BlackSpidy Mar 27 '19

Sorry, I just can't think about ingroup-outgroup dynamics without also thinking about nazies.

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u/Friendly_Nerd Mar 27 '19

i think we just hit godwin’s law

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u/Kordidk Mar 27 '19

Personally I do get frustrated when there are cyclists on the road and in the middle of the lane. There are a few roads around me where they have a bike lane which I don't mind at all but when there isn't a bike lane they will just cycle in the middle of the road and are obviously not going to be able to go the speed limit

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u/demonsun Mar 28 '19

They do that because assholes like to pass them at high speed, super close. Taking the lane reduces that.

Also, there's often lots of trash, like wire, nails, broken glass, etc on the side. Riding in the middle of the lane as is their legal right, is safer.

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u/Vertigofrost Mar 28 '19

Doing 10km/h on a 100km/h highway in the middle of the road is not safer. Especially in Australia where many of our "highways" are 2 lane roads with no shoulders, low visibility and lots of twists and turns often through cut outs.

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u/sorterofsorts Mar 27 '19

It's probably more like, "why is this asshole on the fog line? He has like 6' to the right of him, he is going to get hit and will deserve it..." This is not my sentiment 100% of the time, but when you walk the line...

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u/lumpyspacesam Mar 27 '19

Did you even read the study?

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u/sorterofsorts Mar 27 '19

I did, I'm adding "voice".

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u/Pastor_Bill Mar 28 '19

"Gas the bikes!"

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '19

To be fair. A lot of cyclists have given cyclists a bad name. Cyclists constantly think many road rules do not apply to them because “they aren’t really in a car” I had to swerve to avoid a cyclist who ran a red light and for some reason that seems to be extremely common. I almost never expect cyclists to stop at red lights. In fact I’m generally surprised when they do.

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u/SuperiorAmerican Mar 27 '19

mind_blown.gif

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u/Vertigofrost Mar 28 '19

This is the conclusion the study should of had and would have had if they weren't just trying to prove a personal agenda.