Man

Get off the road! Nice bike, hipster (!)

Woman

Bloody cyclists!

Man

BLOODY CYCLISTS!

NARRATION

If dodgy TV recreations are any guide...

Simon Pampena

Whooooaaaa!

NARRATION

..bike rage is a big problem.

Simon Pampena

Even more compelling, over 70% of cyclists get harassed once every two weeks!

Wendy

I don't.

Simon Pampena

Get lost! That's while your average car driver might only cop it a few times a year. So why are we so angry with cyclists so often, and why do they all deserve it?

Wendy

You mean do we deserve it'?

Simon Pampena

Yeah. That's what I said.

NARRATION

Studies into the topic are alarming, especially when delivered by a silhouette representing all bike rager statistics.

Silhouetted Man

Yeah, sure. We bike ragers harass about 70% of cyclists. But we are creative. Of those, we scare the life out of 66% of them by driving really close, and we shout abuse at about 63% of them. So the lucky ones got both. But, for a special 45%, we save the best.

Man

Nice basket, sunshine!

Silhouetted Man

A little bit of sexual harassment or an obscene gesture or two, if you know what I mean. Do you? Do you?

NARRATION

And if you'd like to increase your chance of being targeted, wearing lycra is a good start. But why all the abuse?

Simon Pampena

It must be because they cause so many accidents.

Dr Jan Garrard

That's actually not correct. And a large study that was done in Queensland which looked at all crashes between cyclists and motor vehicles between 2000 and 2008, found that in only 44% of those cases was the cyclist deemed to be at fault. So that means that the majority of those crashes were actually caused by motorists.

Simon Pampena

Aah.

NARRATION

And the majority of the time, the cyclists at fault were under 16 or over 80 years old. Not middle-aged men in lycra.

Simon Pampena

So, if anything, we're abusing the wrong people, right?

Dr Jan Garrard

Um, Simon, I'm not quite sure of your logic there...

Simon Pampena

What are you talking about?

Dr Jan Garrard

I don't think I'd be interpreting it that way.

Silhouetted Man

Whatever. None of them have any regard for road rules. They're constantly running red lights, they're a menace.

Simon Pampena

He's got a point.

Dr Marilyn Johnson

Well, no, not really. We used a covert video camera at ten signalised intersections across Melbourne. We looked at over 4,000 cyclists who rode up to the red light, and only 6.9% went through.

Silhouetted Man

Almost 7%. Now you know why we're so angry.

Simon Pampena

Another good point.

Dr Marilyn Johnson

Well, no, not really. If you look at the AAMI index, in 2009 about a quarter of drivers were booked for speeding, and 5% for going through red lights. So drivers are lawless too.

Simon Pampena

What do you make of that?

Silhouetted Man

I don't know.

Dr Marilyn Johnson

But, Simon, I think this story is an example of one of the problems - how people don't take this issue seriously. With your dodgy re-enactment and your shouty silhouette man, I mean, this is a serious issue. People can get really hurt on the roads. But, for some reason, on social media, on any social forum, it seems OK to attack cyclists, when they're just people on their bikes trying to get where they need to go.

NARRATION

Erg. I'm regretting this next piece to camera already.

Simon Pampena

So why do cyclists get so much abuse? Well, some theories have been put forward by... psychologists? Well, then we're going to need...

Barista

A latte.

Dr Cameron Munro

So it's all about out-group homogeneity bias.

Simon Pampena

You sure you don't want a latte?

Dr Cameron Munro

Quite sure. It's about making generalisations about a group of people with whom we don't empathise. So some people would say that all Gen-Yers are slack. But, of course, it's not true. So, similarly with bike riders, there's an assumption out there that some bike riders all behave in a certain way, and that is generalised whenever we see a bike rider on the road. In a different way, we look at motorists as being part of us, one of us, the in-group. And so when we see a motorist breaking through a red light, or travelling at a high speed, we see that as a trait that's attributable to the individual, rather than to the whole group.

NARRATION

But while our brains seem biased, our eyes aren't helping either. Studies suggest car drivers have difficulties seeing bicycles, particularly if they aren't expecting them. And when we don't see the bike until the last minute, we see rage.

Simon Pampena

Bloody cyclists! A study that analysed 500 'looked, but failed to see' crashes concluded that drivers failed to see a two-wheeled vehicle because they were looking for other cars, not bikes!

NARRATION

And because cyclists sit between half and one metre higher than drivers, with 180 degrees unimpeded vision, what seems reasonable to them, might seem dangerous to drivers.

Simon Pampena

What's the matter with you people?!

Dr Cameron Munro

One of my studies found that.

Simon Pampena

(Groans) Bloody spatially-aware observant cyclists!