Originally Posted by
Cyclaholic
There's no use trying to rationalize it, the fact is that the average Aussie motorist is a friggin moron with zero regard for anyone but themselves. It's ingrained in out culture.
If you were to take every single cyclist and make them pay the same amount of registration and insurance as the average car, make them go through the exact same licensing process as a driver, then guess what - the cagers around here will still treat cyclists in exactly the same way, nothing will change. They will always justify their selfish dangerous antisocial attitudes, and nothing will change.
Yeah, here too, but we have a slightly different twist on it. My experience here is that the average Utah driver is usually in a self-absorbed fog, completely oblivious to anything outside of their sealed up econobox or SUV. We get a more passive-aggressive approach, with pseudo-stupidity thrown in; "I didn't see him," or, "They weren't being careful." When something horrible happens to a cyclist you usually hear the driver talking about how bad
they feel - and not one shred of empathy for the injured (or dead) cyclist. Its bad.