The Mob Mentality
Mon, August 10, 2020 Whenever I am engaged in conversation with people who are not cyclists, on learning of my background in the bike business, and my continued interest in cycing, they will invariably ask me,
“Why do large groups of cyclists take up the whole damn road? If you give even a friendly toot on the horn to let them know you are passing, you will more often than not get the finger. Why are they so hostile and so rude?”
This is how I try to explain it:
First of all in any random group of people you have a cross-section of society. Some are nice people, and some are assholes. It is the assholes in the group that will give you the finger. Rarely would you get the whole group giving the one finger salute in unison. Just as there are assholes who drive cars, there are assholes who ride bikes.
The other thing is the mob mentality. This is a common human trait that we see in any group of people not just cyclists. When people get together in a group, they are less considerate of others outside the group.
Your neighbor is having a party, and as the guests leave late at night, they laugh and talk loudly, slam car doors, and disrupt the sleep of people living several houses away. Usually these people are good neighbors, why would they have such inconsiderate friends we ask ourselves?
How many people have been in a restaurant where there is a large group of say ten or more people? I guarantee that party will be extremely loud, often obnoxious, and will have little regard for anyone else who is unfortunate enough to be seated nearby.
However, this is what we have come to expect in certain bars and restaurants. There will always be large groups made up of co-workers, family members, celebrating someone’s birthday or something.
Also, an important factor, these are just people you can’t stereotype them.
But get a bunch of cyclists on the road, enjoying each other’s company, and are being no more, or no less considerate of others around them than the party in the restaurant.
The big difference is, now you can stereotype them, they are cyclists. Whenever you see a bunch of cyclists together, they seem to be behaving badly, therefore all cyclists are lumped together as being bad.
The larger the group the worse the behavior. Take sports fans assembled in their thousands and the mob mentality really takes over. The mob could be angry over their team’s loss, or celebrating their victory, the outcome is the same.
In extreme cases store windows are broken, parked cars are overturned, and even set on fire. Most people would not behave that way individually, or even in a smaller group.
This is how I try to explain why some cyclists behave badly. I don’t condone it. It is one of the reasons I no longer ride with large groups, even though it can be fun. So I ask that people don’t condemn me for riding a bike, just because a few cyclists behave badly.
What is needed is a little more tolerance and understanding on both sides. Cyclists need to be a little more considerate of other road users. Remember our cycling kit and helmet is what sets us apart so we will be stereotyped and others like us will be judged by our behavior.
And the general public needs to realize that these are just a group of friends enjoying each other’s company and getting some fresh air and exercise while doing so. And if it is a Sunday, where are you going in such a big hurry anyway?
What are your views, and how do you handle the conversation with non-cyclists?
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Reader Comments (10)
The feminists have saying: men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them*.
Likewise: motorists are afraid they might be delayed by a few seconds, cyclists are afraid that a motorist will murder them and get away with it.
I long ago stopped giving an inch to motorists who think I shouldn't be on the road, or say they want to kill me (and they do! Literally "I should have run you over"... a coworker said that to me. Very politely and reasonably, in the middle of an explanation for why I should buy a car and never ride my bike again). After spending way too much of my life being nice to motorists like that I've decided that I've rarely made any visible progress with them and now it's someone else's turn to try.
I feel that I've done my time - I've written countless submissions to lawmakers, letters to the editor, I've done media circuses, I've had my contact details published by a tabloid (and I got death threats as a result), I'm "known to my MP", I spent a decade attending and organising Critical Mass, I still write letters to council and MPs... trying to explain to some arsehole that "well, actually, the road is there to share" for the thousandth time... sigh.
* one explanation here: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a15300130/sexual-consent-versus-coercion-aziz-ansari/
Actually, you WANT cyclists in groups to ride in a group and take the lane. Makes it lots safer to pass.
See Chris Boardman's videos for British Cycling for example.
Me? I take an active role in my safety: I'm all over the lane depending on what's coming up or coming up behind me. I know I can't stop the determined unsafe passer, but the reasonable people seeing me in the middle of the lane tend to stop behind me to wait till I can see what's coming and move back rightwards a bit.
My $.02
M
My usual response is along the lines of "Tell you what' i'll take responsibility for all cyclists' bad behaviour when you take responsibility for homicidal motorists."
Most motorists don't know it's quite legal for cyclists to ride 2 abreast. They just assume we're riding all over the road. No different than having to pass slow farm machinery on a 2-lane road.
I've backed off doing some of the charity rides because the riders do exactly what's described here, talking up the whole road for great stretches and being hostile to drivers who are just trying to get down the road. It's shameful. Problem is, then the drivers get hostile back. Where I live, we've had two riders hit in the last week - 66 and 81 yrs old. The latter rider has died; the former apparently has a severe head injury. How many times do we pull moves that then make drivers see us as the enemy. Gummeel's point about side-by-side is well taken, but I think as cyclists we need to try to work with the drivers who don't know that and are nervous about what to do, or impatient, etc - turn, make human contact, wave them on or give them the "one second" gesture to let them know we're aware and trying to work with them.
When they say cyclists take up “the whole damn road”, I take it they mean the whole of the lane, not the whole road otherwise half of them would be in the path of oncoming traffic.
So my answer is; that is exactly what they should be doing because you shouldn’t be overtaking if the opposite lane is busy. You wait and you don’t overtake until it’s clear. You do not try to squeeze through between the cyclists and oncoming traffic, doing that makes you a hazard to the cyclists, the oncoming traffic and yourself, your impatience is a danger.
Over many years of commuting in Los Angeles ( Land of Assholes) when non-cyclist's find out I ride they 9 out of 10 times mention the "running red lights", "riding on the sidewalk"," riding the opposite way of traffic," "riding out in the middle of the road wandering like they're drunk" and a host of other bad riding habits. Just the other day while driving home, I came to a four way stop. I was making a left turn. After stopping I as started to make my turn here comes some bike asshole a he's not slowing down. I kept an eye on him as he was opposed of me and I proceeded to slow enough to make him almost stop. I got the middle finger and and loud FUCK YOU ASSHOLE from him. So, I went around the block and chased him to the next traffic stop sign which was also an all way stop. He proceeded to blow through it, not realizing the motorcycle Cop waiting there for people just like him. The Cop was probably there for drivers, but this guy was the next ticket. The cop chased him down and stopped him. I rolled up and had my passenger window down and said " Who's the Asshole now Asshole" and drove off. You should have seen the look on his face. LOL!!!!!! My point is, like Dave stated, there are asshole drivers, motorcyclist's, bicyclists, truck drivers, everywhere. But general bad behavior on the road is rampant in all vehicles. Ride safe and stay over towards the side if possible. I don't blame riders for taking a lane, but you are going to piss off someone and in today's crazy world you might sadly become a statistic.
I don't understand the last comment.
Since your post is framed by referring to "groups" of cyclists, I'll answer in that light.
Group behavior changes as the size of the group increases. Safety in large numbers means a larger group of cyclists will take greater risks whether regarding traffic or confronting drivers. This is the mob mentality you mention. A perfect example are the recent protests turning to rioting and looting (the equivalent of giving the finger) after George Floyd's death.
There's a whole science to group behavior and neither cyclists nor drivers are immune to it. As a police officer in the Air Force, we studied it as part of Confrontation Management, otherwise known as Riot Control.
So how do I explain it to non-cyclists? Just like you; just as "there are assholes who drive cars, there are assholes who ride bikes."
"I just don't understand why adults ride bicycles. Is it some sort of infantile fixation? There should be a law against manufacturing bicycles that are large enough for adults to ride!" - a question and statement hurled towards me from a motorist stopped at a traffic light. I told her that I shared her concerns and would gladly leave my ridiculous bicycle in the gutter if she would kindly give me a ride home. A lingering blank stare ensued, until the light changed to green.