Theoretically the safer you are the riskier you behave. Then if you’re in a car meeting a cyclist, you will have a propensity for road rage because you’re in no

Theoretically the safer you are the riskier you behave. Then if you’re in a car meeting a cyclist, you will have a propensity for road rage because you’re in no danger of a fatal collision, you’re shielded from attacks, and you can speed off and end the conflict at a moment’s notice. You have an egotistical feeling of power in your car because it’s true, you have the power. Roll the numbers a few hundred times for every car you see on a typical trip, and you’ll be accosted every time you take your bike out the door. A bicyclist’s life is not always worth much. It is common in NYC for a bicyclist to be killed by an SUV or truck, it happens on average every other week. It is just as common for the driver to walk away without so much as a ticket, because the bicyclist will have been found to have violated a minor traffic regulation, nullifying the driver’s culpability. A sad state of affairs that leaves bicycling for only the daredevils in most American cities.