> If you dare to drive a small car in the US, you are treated like a second-class citizen. It’s bizarre, it’s weird, and it’s uniquely an American phenomenon.

> If you dare to drive a small car in the US, you are treated like a second-class citizen. It’s bizarre, it’s weird, and it’s uniquely an American phenomenon. Try using a bike as your primary mode of transit and get back to me on feeling like a second-class citizen. I can argue about poor bike infrastructure all day, but I'm just talking about the behavior of motor vehicle drivers here. So many can't just be content to pass me regardless of whether I'm in the bike gutter or taking a lane (I avoid this where possible, but if a bike lane is unavailable/not safe, or I need to make a turn I will assert my right to be in the mix with auto traffic), and insist on rolling down their windows just to hurl insults at me - even with my 10 year old daughter on the passenger seat behind me. Then the other half of the time they'll give me anywhere between 6-18" of clearance while passing me. I don't really like generalizing people, but my experience and that of my wife seems to point to a rather common law: the larger the gap between curb weight of vehicles on the road, the more likely the operator of the heavier vehicle will be an aggressive dick towards the lighter one. Pedestrians? Unless you're in something with a ride height lower than 20" chances are you don't even notice them until they're under your tires.