Study Finds That Drivers Consider
Bikers 'Less Than Human' Researchers believe they have found
an explanation as to why drivers may
exhibit unwarranted rage towards cyclists. A study at Queensland University in Australia
has found a correlation between the dehumanization
of cyclists and drivers’ self-reported aggression. 442 participants were asked to rank cyclists
on two separate scales from ape-to-human
and from cockroach-to-human. More than half of the respondents did not rank
cyclists as fully human on both scales, with non-cyclists rating the average
cyclist as only 45 percent human. The study also found that 17 percent
of respondents admitted to deliberately
blocking a cyclist with their car, while nine percent reported deliberately
cutting off a cyclist while driving. In 2014, 52 percent of cyclist fatalities in the
United States were caused by rear end collisions
and collisions into the side of cyclists. A total of 45,000 cyclists were injured from
crashes in 2015 and 777 cyclists were killed in 2017.