[kenjackson]

I do behave differently with some bicyclists than others and it might be correlated with helmet use.

If I see a bicyclist that looks like a bicyclist I tend to drive closer to them because I expect they are going to stay in their lane. Conversely, people who look like they aren't regular bike riders or teenagers just screwing around -- I will give a much wider berth... in some cases even going a completely different route to avoid them.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> If I see a bicyclist that looks like a bicyclist

I recall a coworker explaining the duality of cycling in full kit vs. cycling in "street" clothes with his children. In the former case, he appears as a pro or semi-pro cyclist and in the latter, as a dad spending time with his children.

It's not hard to guess which get-up gets him honked at, coal rolled[0], etc. It's also not hard speculate that a driver is more likely to give the dad spending time with his children more room on the road. (Of course, in either case the cyclists should all be wearing helmets, but we're only even having this discussion because not all are so responsible.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_coal

[Quillbert182]

Yeah, I know someone who has no issue seeing people biking who look like they are going somewhere, but he absolutely hates people who look like they are biking for exercise. His logic is that roads are built for transportation, and people shouldn’t be blocking parts of the road to get a workout in.