While there is much anecdotal evidence of tension between cyclists and drivers, and more widely of generally increasing tensions on the road between all road users, what is lacking is an understanding of the underlying motivations for any tensions, and indeed how extensive these may be in the community.

This report documents a research project that investigated the extent of the tensions and then takes the first steps to uncovering the components of these tensions. The purpose has been to understand the factors, behaviours and circumstances that lead to friction between drivers and cyclists.

It has found a series of overlapping factors that are likely to combine to create situations and interactions that lead to people experiencing tensions (which may or may not manifest themselves in altered behaviours). The report proposes a series of factors that could form the basis of further investigation that could lead to actions and policies if needed.

The report suggests that the levels of tension in the driver-cyclist relationship occur in the context of a society as a whole which is exhibiting behaviours and creating situations that are likely to increase tensions in all walks of life.

Method

Most previous research on tension on the roads has focussed on drivers’ and cyclists attitudes – particularly anger and aggression.

While our work involved a detailed investigation of relevant literature, this report describes a methodology that was based on exploration of actual behaviours – both reported and in situ. This process consisted of an interactive process of: 
literature review,  hypothesis formation,  focus groups to ask people about past behaviours, interactions and perceptions,  people being recorded as they described thoughts, feelings and situations as they cycled or drove (protocol analysis), and further focus groups and literature review to explore leads that were found as the process emerged.

Extent of the tension

The research suggested that while there were reported tensions, the majority of reporting came from (a) having seen behaviours that are considered dangerous and concluding that ‘there is a tension’, meaning an actual or potential danger, (b) having heard others describe similar situations, and (c) having read (occasionally seen) media reports which add to the influence of either (a) or (b).

In a simplified summary, the community tends to think there is a lot more tension than is actually reported – and that actually seems to occur on the roads.

Key themes or factors potentially leading to overt tensions  The understanding gained during this project made it possible to posit four key factors that are likely to, alone or in combination, lead to situations where either drivers or cyclists could become tense and elicit observed negative interactions ranging from physical violence to lesser signs of overt tension such as yelling, offensive hand gestures, muttering and so on.

The following were the key themes and triggers. 
 

Impatience

It seems that impatience - irritability with anything that impedes delays – is likely to be one of the key factors underlying the tendency to create situations of tension.

There were formal studies where certain situations (e.g. congestion) led to symptoms of impatience. There were also practitioners (e.g. clinical psychologists) who noted that people who are generally experiencing higher levels of stress are more likely to show visible signs of aggression both on the roads and elsewhere in life.

We were able to identify specific behaviours that people used to identify impatience of others. These included ‘drivers speeding and weaving’, ‘you can see their expression, they look anxious’, or ‘cyclists cutting in and around slow moving traffic’.

It is concluded that situations that generate impatience, or an environment in which there are impatient people, are likely to stimulate tension between cyclists and drivers.

Fear and Fright

Common themes were two emotions that we have described as fright and fear. We have used fear to describe the emotional response to a perceived threat. It is often stimulated by situations where past experience or stories have made people anxious. This can lead to the ‘fear’ of a certain type of rider/driver or of a certain intersection or situation.

Under situations of fear, people (both riders and drivers) are more likely to exhibit overt tensions – particularly if that circumstance is accompanied by a surprising or unexpected situation.

Fright is a surprise or something immediately threatening. Fright has been reported to cause aggressive responses of varying levels in many life situations, as well as among cyclists and drivers.

In one focus group we explored the relationship of drivers and cyclists behaviour to responses of fright and fear and found that there does appear to be a close correlation, although this would need to be verified through further research.

Level of Expectation

The level of expectation is, in many ways, closely related to the concept of fright. Many people talk of an emotion similar to fear or fright when in an unexpected situation. It was clear from the focus group discussions that drivers felt lower tensions where they were expecting to meet cyclists than in situations where cyclists were very infrequently encountered.

The literature is clear that expectation can lead to certain types of biases. These include a tendency to overvalue personality based explanations for behaviours (e.g. cyclists must be low income), and undervalue situational explanations (e.g. it is beautiful weather for cycling) – this is termed fundamental attribution error in the psychology literature.

In the same way, research suggests that people think that minority groups (e.g. cyclists – the less frequent mode) exhibit consistent behaviours within the group (e.g. all jump red lights).

We tested this to some extent by asking people what type of people they thought were the worst bike riders and the worst drivers. Very similar adjectives were used to describe both, and included – arrogant (don’t obey rules (bikes), or speed (cars)), and ‘act like they own the road’.

The level of expectation can also relate to infrastructure and cyclists in particular reported surprise/fright/fear when, for example, a bike lane suddenly ceased.

In summary, unexpected situations can cause other reactions (fright/surprise/fear) which seem to be closely related to increased potential for tension.

Level of Awareness

During the analysis of the protocol statements, and viewing the video cameras used by the protocol group, two aspects of awareness differences between cyclists and drivers became apparent:

1) Cyclists seemed to be alert to many more aspects of the road space and environment than did drivers

2) Cyclists have a different view of the road than drivers  About 0.5 to 1.0 m higher than drivers (roughly similar SUVs or light commercial vehicles)  180 degrees unimpeded vision (no car frame in view)

Both of these themes were explored in the final focus groups. The first seemed to be believed by most people, but is worth further exploration. If true, it may mean that  behaviours that seem reasonable to the cyclist who has a greater view of the road might seem dangerous to drivers – leading to perceived impatience of cyclists by drivers as described in the section on impatience.

Dissemination of Attitudes

The study found that tension between cyclists and drivers were no more or less prevalent than other forms of tension in the community. We explored briefly the origin of people’s perceptions of the tension that might lead people to say that it exists (seemingly with much conviction) without being able to substantiate examples.

In many aspects of life, people apparently get their information from word of mouth, supplemented by the media. It seems that this is likely to be similar with driver and cyclist relationships.

In other words they might have seen an experienced a situation which they see as dangerous, which they interpret as a situation of tension. This could lead to a situation of ‘fear’ or anticipation of conflict – and when there are media reports (often not well-balanced) the reports serve to confirm the hypothesis.

Further investigation is clearly needed in this area if actions are to be taken.

Conclusions

It is concluded that while there are clearly some tensions evident between cyclists and drivers, these occur in the context of an increasing tense and stressed world.

The underlying factors that are likely to precipitate tensions are impatience, fear and fright, levels of expectation and differing levels of awareness between cyclists and drivers.

We believe that this report has set out the basis on which to take further steps to address the issue of tension between drivers and cyclists.