| Comment | Pretty much. There also seemed to be a difference if the rider was perceived as a woman (eg long hair and a skirt) - they'd get slightly more clearance, if I remember rightly. And children also got plenty of clearance.
Seems to be the "they'll be fine if I hit them" thought process (subconscious or not), but people are apparently a bit less inclined to put a woman or a child at risk. Not massively so, so it's not like any study showed that men were getting side swiped and women weren't. It was only a difference of a few inches, maybe 3-4 inches in the average passing distance. But when people say they "hate cyclists", the image they usually get in their head is the Middle Aged Man In Lycra or a Deliveroo rider now, not a woman or a kid, generally. I used to cycle when I lived closer to the city centre and when people talked about hating cyclists, I'd say I was a cyclist and they'd *always* go "oh I don't mean like you". Because I'm not a middle aged man in lycra or a Deliveroo rider. So I can see why seeing a "MAMIL" might make people a bit less inclined to drive safely around them. |
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