Why do you think the cagers (that dislike us) dislike us?

[twowheelnut]

Hey, I already HAVE a Harley! :yahoo:

Our condolences.

 

[evil_henchman]

Loud pipes lose friends.

 

[red2kcbr]

Most car drivers that know nothing about motorcycling don't hate us, they just don't know us, and often they fear us. As any of us that have ridden in a major metropolis during rush hour traffic knows, it is SAFER to keep moving to the open spot. Don't ride beside a cage; they will usurp your space. Don't let a cage tailgate you; they will run up your ***. To the uneducated eye, it might appear that a motorcycle is weaving indiscriminately in and out of traffic, but we know survival depends on prevention of a possible run-down situation.

So they are mostly afraid of us. That, and our massive members. That scares 'em, too. :yahoo:

 

[Pjturbo]

Rememeber, half the population is below average. And the average isn't very high.

Ride like your invisible. You are!

Phil

 

[v65]

Rememeber, half the population is below average. And the average isn't very high.

:rofl:

 

[MsLilly]

I don't think "all" the cagers dislike us. Most of them don't even see us. And there are many times that I am on my motorcycle and would like to knock some sense into some riders I see..and not just the sportbike riders. People who decide they want to be "rebels", go out and buy HDs and don't really know how to ride but they are dressed for the part! They are all over the road doing about 45 mph, but hey, they are cool in their matching black outfits. Rebels! If you try to get around them (on my bike or in my car) they get all pissy. They are scarey but not because they are "big, bad bikers" but because they don't know what they hell they are doing! And when you are actually around those "bikers" they tend to be such snobs to people on "rice burners". ARGGGG :grrr:

Sorry, I get on a rant and don't know when to stop! :mellow:

 

[Fencer]

So they are mostly afraid of us. That, and our massive members. That scares 'em, too. :yahoo:

Leave Rad's **** outa this

 

[dbvolfan]

Because we take up a whole big old parking spot for a little old bike (I have heard this one more than once)...pisses me off to no end!

 

[madmike2]

Radman is there, but it seems to me that drivers simply don't care about anyone - riders, drivers, cyclists (OK, I'd like to run most of those ******** off the road, too), pedestrians, equestrians, baby buggy pushing nanitas - I swear it's seems any more that it's 'Pull Out In Front Of TWN Day', everyday.
If I could find a cheap '61 or '62 Catalina or Bonneville, it would be "Ramming Speed, Mr. Sulu!"

+1!

At first I agreed with Radman's post but the same issues happen whether I'm on my bike or in my work truck (erm...LT WT: 21,000 lbs). I wish you could just ride with me for one morning to observe how absolutely disconnected most cage drivers are. They are clueless and absolutely unaware of anything happening around them and how their actions while driving affect traffic patterns around them or behind them for miles. Add to the mix that they are distracted by the FM radio, CD player, Cell Phone, eating or lighting a cigarette while trying to merge onto a highway or talking with a passenger; the list is endless. Its miraculous that more aren't killed (or the cause someone else being killed) every day.

TC, you must have seen some wild and whacky reactions when they suddenly realize you are bearing down on them in your work truck while travelling at Code 3. As I said, they are isolated and clueless....oblivious...unaware...pick-your-own-verb-or-adjective!

 

[Ric in Sac]

80% of the cagers are literally oblivious as to what is happening around them. They don't dislike us, they are just clueless.

15% of the cagers think we are stupid because we ride motorcycles and have the attitude to go with it. They resent our mobility, especially when we pass them.

5% actually like us because they own motorcycles too.

That about sums it up. :blink:

 

[Windjammer]

+1 to Rad's post except for one small addition:

The quality of driving and tolerance for others on the road (biker and non-biker) varies in proportion to population density of a given area. Greater population density always makes things worse.

It's just excess tension in the concrete jungle.

 

[otrfjr]

Possibly ignorance should be one of the responses in the survey. Some of the cagers I know have the notion that motorcycles are inherently dangerous (no matter how they are ridden) ergo those who ride them are to an extent expendable & "had it coming to them" (it being whatever: road rage, death, serious injury, speeding tickets, etc.).

 

[Opus]

Fortunately, my experiences have mostly been positive on the road. I agree about urban centers of larger density being more stress-inducing for all drivers of all vehicles, therefore people take stupid chances and drift to more pleasant locales in their limited consciousness while behind the wheel.

Is this strictly a North American thing?

I drove on the 'Bahn at speeds of 200 kph, and believe me, all of the cagers were dead serious about driving.

No phones, no makeup-fixes, no extraneous activity behind the wheel. One glance away from the road can lead to becoming one with the guardrail.

I don't really think the caged masses really hate us, but I do think they dislike being trapped in a mass of other cagers.

We can escape, they can't. It probaly is all jealousy-related.

The cruiser-crowd with their modified exhaust do some of us a great disservice by plowing down pedestrian-lined strips in an attempt to set off as many car-alarms as possible. Barking dogs, they are. Stupid, barking dogs......

A little loud is fine if you are already deaf and have nerve damage, and can't tell if the engine's running or not.

 

[rogdeb]

80% of the cagers are literally oblivious as to what is happening around them. They don't dislike us, they are just clueless.
15% of the cagers think we are stupid because we ride motorcycles and have the attitude to go with it. They resent our mobility, especially when we pass them.

5% actually like us because they own motorcycles too.

That about sums it up. :blink:

+ 1 You got it Rick

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Stereotyping and ignorance kind of go together.

 

[Toecutter]

Possibly ignorance should be one of the responses in the survey.

Stereotyping and ignorance kind of go together.

Done, and good points brought up....

Today, while driving around in the cage, sober, I thought of a relatively sound concept, based in logic (so it will never fly). Different levels of driver's licenses. Properly qualified (MSF basic and experienced minimum) motorcycle license holders would get to run legally at 20% over posted speed limits of 45 or higher while on bikes, basic speed law notwithstanding.

That way, we could legally ride safely among the cagers, keeping a cushion around us. It would also encourage more to commute on bikes, saving gas on all those single-occupant vehicles. In CA, lane-sharing alone should be enough of an incentive, but this would really sweeten the pot.

And while I'm on Utopian thought, lane-sharing for everyone!

I think the CHP already gives us more leeway. The other day, I was running in the #1 lane at 74 in a 65 and spotted a motor officer up ahead gunning for speeders. He never even triggered me. It would just be nice to have the unwritten rules applied uniformly.

There was already talk of allowing trucks to run at 70 on I-5 in CA, although their speed limit is 55 everywhere else, to ease the traffic on a parallel route (Hwy 99). It made too much sense, so it didn't fly (that I know of).

 

[madmike2]

There was already talk of allowing trucks to run at 70 on I-5 in CA, although their speed limit is 55 everywhere else, to ease the traffic on a parallel route (Hwy 99). It made too much sense, so it didn't fly (that I know of).

Because trucks already drive 65 on I-5. I've been travelling on that roadway and have been passed by trucks travelling well in excess of 65. I believe they use trucks as a gauge to control the speed of all vehicles. If the truckers were allowed 70 mph, they'd want to drive 75 or 80 and the cars would want to drive 90-100 (okay, some already do drive that fast) so they wouldn't have to follow the trucks. I'm sure there is a traffic engineer somewhere who could explain it.

Also, there are many trucking companies who have terminals in Stockton, Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield (Our drivers use I-5 between Stockton and Sacramento. They use the Cross-Town Hwy between I-5 & Hwy 99). There is simply no easy way to travel to those Southern valley cities from I-5, so Hwy 99 is the artery of choice. And I-5 is "rough", it'll jar your kidneys in a big rig.

 

[James Burleigh]

You guys is lucky that my weekend oil painting is coming out ******, because I need a looong break and now I'm going to bless you with my wisdom on this subject....

When I start to feel like I want to call everyone in a car a "Stupid f**king moron who deserves to die," which is often , I think of my wife and kids who drive, are decent drivers, are considerate of motorcycles, and whom I don't believe deserve to die. Then by extension I realize I must not actually believe everyone in a car is stupid and deserves to die. Just some people. And of course those people should be dragged from their cars and summarily shot dead in the street. :glare:

Now, as to why motorcyclists gripe some people's *****, well, I think it's all been covered above. But I would have to have lived my life entirely differently before I could walk away from an opportunity to give my humble opinion.

My boss actually hates motorcyclists. Man, we get in his car and go somewhere together, and if I want to light him up, I just say, "Hey, boss, what do you think of motorcyclists?" And then I listen in fascination at what comes out of his mouth.

Now, holding that thought for a moment, whenever someone here in the Great State of California who does not ride hears that I ride, the first question out of their mouth is (after they tell me about their friend who died horribly in a motorcycle accident that is): "Are you one of those guys who goes up between the cars?" [Every commuter on this forum from California will agree that that is the question we are all asked.]

They ask this question for two reasons: (1) They want to know if you are a crazy son of a *****, and (2) they want to know whether to hate you or not.

So my response to that invariable question, depending on whether I care about the person's good opinion, is, "Do you hate it when motorcyclists do that?" Of course mine is a moot question because all non-riding drivers hate it when motorcyclists go up between them and another car--period.

And now we come to the crux of the thread: The reason they hate motorcyclists for doing that is because it scares them. And they hate us for scaring them.

When I am commuting to or from work on a dense but fast-moving freeway, cruising in the number one (fast) lane several car lengths off the right rear quarter of the car in front of me, practically straddling the centerline (no car to my right), I KNOW I'm making that driver nervous. Because they don't know what in the f**k I'm going to do. And they're afraid they're going to kill me...by accident. And that makes them mad. So that when I get weary of hanging behind the car and go on up past them, they feel relieved.

What ticks my boss off and gets his ears turning red talking about it is that he's afraid he's going to nail a motorcyclist who comes out of nowhere just when he starts to think about making a lane change. And even though the rider was in no danger (from the rider's perspective), the driver believes that the coincidental timing of his thinking about making a lane change and the bike's shooting by meant that he almost hit the bike. In his head he shouts "F**kin' a**hole motorcyclist! Damnit! I coulda killed him!" But it waren't really close for the bike. Doesn't mean the driver's not pissed off.

[Practically] nobody gets in their car with the plan of killing a motorcyclist today. And they know that if a motocyclist killed him- / herself by riding into the side of their car when they were making a "safe, rational" lane change (because there isn't a driver on the road who doesn't think he / she is a good driver), well, that would just ruin their day (and their paint job). So they're mad at us for creating that possibility.

I do not doubt TWN for a nano-second that given the chance, California voters would eliminate the right to go up between cars in a heartbeat. Of course they would.

 

[Claymore]

5% actually like us because they own motorcycles too.

Like some of us here, I own a cage - in fact, where I live, I am forced to drive it more than 6 months a year (snow, ice, etc)

I will admit that since becoming a rider (10 years now) I have become a MUCH better cage driver - full shoulder checks, etc and make a concerted effort to allow faster traffic through....

 

[evil_henchman]

:rofl: :rofl: