I’ve been pondering this question for the past week, as the Oregonian continues to batter us over the head with reports about angry cyclists, angry drivers; basically everyone’s really angry. Why is that? What is it about trying to get from point A to point B that’s so unbelievably frustrating? Here are my initial thoughts:
- Loss of Control and Impatience. People really hate feeling vulnerable and out of control. As soon as you put yourself into the flow of traffic, you lose your freedom; ie you have to stop at traffic signals, wait for traffic, wait for slow-pokes, wait pedestrians…get the picture? There’s a lot of waiting involved. And there’s nothing you can do about it, because you have no control over the situation. The only thing you ever have control over is yourself (a good life lesson to remember).
- Vulnerability. Continuing on the above, people hate feeling vulnerable. Sometimes it’s easier to lash out in anger then to accept that you are in a scary, potentially life-threatening situation.
- Pride and Guilt. People make mistakes while driving, like accidentally cutting people off. It happens. But instead of meekly excepting the mistake, many people do not want to lose face, and instead lash out when called out on it.
- Self-Righteousness. Continuing on the above, people feel very self-righteous, especially when it comes to traffic laws. So when someone makes a mistake, people often feel the need to call them out on it.
- Anonymity. Due to the fact that you generally can’t see into vehicles, you have a sense of anonymity when you’re in your multi-ton metal shield (kind of like leaving comments on blogs…). Cyclists, however, do not have this working for them, so the stress of vulnerability is heightened. Cars are weapons, and people often use them as such (gunning the motor, tail gating, etc).
- Stress and Time. Most people seem to always be running late. The stress of being late added to driving makes for a bad situation, where a driver will take undo risks to shave a few seconds here and there, and/or honk and yell at people for slowing them down. Whenever I get into my car (which does not have a clock in it), I try to abandon all sense of time and just relax, because if I’m late, it’s too late to do anything about it, I should have left earlier.
- Everyone is on the road. We all live in our bubbles, our life bubble of work and where we live, where generally most people are of the same income and education level (wide generalization here). For those of us with desk jobs who stare and computers all day, we don’t have to deal with people on a very frequent basis; however everyone is on the road. From high school dropouts, to felons, to PhDs, whatever. And you have no clue who is behind the wheel next to you; for all you know they might have no insurance and if they were to hit a cyclist, they would just drive off. You really have no idea who you’re dealing with.
- Driving is hard. Just because everyone does it doesn’t mean its easy, especially driving down a road with multiple turn lanes, with pedestrians, buses, bikes, etc etc. That’s a LOT to pay attention to, and it can get very, very stressful. Add to this fact that people often get lulled into complacency because its something they do every day, and you get an inattentive driver who is not checking for cyclists or pedestrians when taking right turns and so on.
- Traffic laws are different everywhere and generally confusing. Especially when you start bringing bikes into the situation. In Portland, the law generally treats a bike as a moving vehicle; however in some instances, the city’s own bike paths take bikes up onto sidewalks. If that’s not a mixed message, I don’t know what is.
- Traffic is unpredictable. Especially cyclists, who are often unobservant or ignorant to traffic laws regarding bikes. Is it legal for me to ride on a sidewalk? Should I use the cross walk if I’m taking a left turn at a busy intersection or just dart across 3 lanes of traffic?
As you can see, it’s a perfect storm for angry drivers and dangerous situations. I am interested in this, because obviously it’s not just cars that cause the anger, it’s being in traffic in general. It’s feeling threatened. It’s feeling like you’re following the rules and the person next to you is not. It’s being honked at for making a mistake, for being yelled at for no reason at all, it’s having drivers not understand laws around bikes on the road, it’s for cyclists running stop signs; the roads are a stressful, complicated place. All of this, and for what?
Encased in metal armor, many motorists who are normally passive become enraged road warriors when they get behind the wheel. Don’t become one of them. These individuals should be advised that (a) cars are not bulletproof; (b) another driver can follow you home; and (c) you’ve got to get out of the car some time.
Avoid all conflict if possible. If you are challenged, take a deep breath and get out of the way, even if you are right. You don’t want to be dead right. Instead, try being more forgiving and tolerant. Recognize the absurdity of traffic disputes and focus on what is really important in life. You cannot fight every battle. Save your energy — and your life — for something worthwhile.
-AAA
Yes, this is exactly what I think about when someone bitches about bikes on the road or gets all up-in-arms about this or that. It’s completely absurd.
Studies of animal behavior have shown how rats and various primates can respond aggressively in response to overcrowding. It is reasonable to suggest that humans respond in a comparable manner. Human beings are territorial. As individuals we have a personal space, or territory, which evolved essentially as a defense mechanism — anyone who invades this territory is potentially an aggressor and the time it takes the aggressor to cross this territory enables the defender to prepare to fend off or avoid the attack. [...]
The car is an extension of this territory. Indeed, the territory extends for some distance beyond the vehicle, again providing room for the defender to prepare to fend off or avoid the attack. If a vehicle threatens this territory by cutting in, for example, the driver will probably carry out a defensive maneuver. This may be backed up by an attempt to re-establish territory — in spite of the rationalizations we used to account for our behavior, flashing headlights or a blast of the horn are, perhaps, most commonly used for this purpose.
The AA Foundation study revealed that one of the main factors influencing driver behavior was mood. A greater number of unsafe drivers were affected by mood to a much larger extent than the safe drivers. It was suggested that this may be due to the fact that, for many of the unsafe drivers, the act of car driving is regarded as an expressive, rather than practical, activity. Being in a bad mood appears to have an adverse effect on driving behavior and this effect appears to be most pronounced among unsafe drivers.
That is an interesting one, that traveling from one point to another is an expression of one’s identity, as opposed to just a practical thing that people do.
Driving also represents a situation in which people are forced to take a high degree of interest in the movements and behavior of strangers. Walking into another person on the street accidentally might present some risks, but the potential expense and aggravation of damaging one’s car in a collision far outweighs them. This burden of responsibility to see that the mistakes of others do not result in an accident may result in a greater susceptibility to aggression.[...]
The car is symbolic in many ways, regardless of its owner’s perception of it; often it is the individual’s second most valuable belonging; it is frequently an important part of the owner’s livelihood; often his main access to freedom; and, almost invariably, a “statement of self.”[...]
Driving is an emotive activity, and the car is a prized and symbolic possession which is uniquely able to provoke personal offense and territorial defense if any perceived threat occurs.
This is all very interesting. It goes on to talk about the psychology of anger and how hard it is to control, how energizing it is, etc. In Jonathan Maus’ article about the Us-vs-Them war currently going on, he says that we are not defined by our choice of transportation. Someone in the comments said that this is completely untrue, that we ARE defined by it. I would like to say that we are not, but in fact we are. Whether we like it or not. This is what stereotyping is all about–having assumptions made about us because of who we are or what choices we make. Cars are seen as badges of social hierarchy; how do you perceive someone who gets out of an Escalade VS a Pruis? Would you be shocked to see a barefooted, long-haired “hippie” coming out of a Hummer?
Watch how bikes are perceived in the media. Two examples: the movie 40-year-old Virgin and the show Scrubs. Both characters dorky, socially retarded, immature, and outcasts. Both ride bikes to get around. Driving is an emotive activity, and the car is a prized and symbolic possession which is uniquely able to provoke personal offense and territorial defense if any perceived threat occurs. So people on bikes are poor and immature, even possibly socially threatening–if a car defines your social status, and you reject this social symbol, you might be some sort of social renegade.
I hear “roads were built for cars, so get out of my way” a lot. What’s with the attitude? I think people like to feel like a bad-ass, and hiding behind the wheel of the car is the only time they can do this (get them out of that car and it’s an entirely different story). People feel entitled to the open road. Certainly, I don’t want to block anyone’s way, and the more free-flowing the traffic, the better for everyone. However, when you live in a large city, you must deal with the fact that there are more vehicles then road space available for everyone to go their desired speed. You give up some of that control, some of that freedom. Because driving is such an emotive act, and cars are such a status symbol, most people do not want to have to slow down for a cyclist: it’s their right to own the road. Even though most of the time you’re sitting in traffic.
I think it would take a pretty huge social shift in thinking to change this. The fact is, roads were built for cars, our entire infrastrure is built around cars. That doesn’t mean it should stay that way, but until we make some huge changes, the roads will continue to be a dangerous place for all non-car traffic. Bike boulevards and bike paths certainly help pull a lot of cyclists out of the melee and onto a safer route. That will never be the end-all-be-all though, for people who actually use their bikes to commute. I’m not sure what the answer is, but one step towards traffic sanity would simply be to relax. Use your time commuting as a time to forget about deadlines and time (put tape over your car’s clock), and simply listen to the radio in your car or enjoy the fresh air on your bike. This may involve waking up 10 minutes earlier (OMG!), but it would be better for everyone. Oh, and stop associating your car with your identity. After all, it’s simply a machine to get you from one place to another, so stop taking all those car commercials to heart. Don’t let the PR and marketing people win! 
