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