Slate Examines the Irrational Biases That Underlie Cyclist Hatred

The “otherness” of cyclists makes them stand out, and that helps drivers cement their negative conclusions. This is also why sentiments like “taxi drivers are awful” and “Jersey drivers are terrible” are common, but you don’t often hear someone say “all drivers suck.” People don’t like lumping themselves into whatever group they are making negative conclusions about, so we subconsciously seek out a distinguishing characteristic first.

Saksa correctly (in my opinion) states that much of the hate we hear about on talk radio shows, in OregonLive.com and local TV station blog comments, has more to do with emotion than reality. This is something I've tried to explain to people (in a much less eloquent way) for a long time, and it's why we can't let people's personal anecdotes become the basis for policy.

I've found that much of the divisiveness and anger present in our discussions about transportation projects and policies has to do with a simple lack of perspective. Most of the people I debate issues with simply haven't spent time riding a bicycle in an urban environment. On the flip side, I have driven around this city in a car plenty of times

One thing Saksa doesn't mention, but that I feel plays a large role in peoples' tendency to "hate cyclists" is that people on bikes are not anonymous. Because bike riders are out in the open, they are very easy to judge and attach anger to. People in cars, on the other hand, can barely be seen inside their vehicles and they are, in effect, shielded from hateful and emotional psychological scapegoating.