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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

> and found that cars tend to be more dangerous with cyclists if the cyclists are wearing a helmet

I know that when I'm driving a car, I specifically behave differently when I see a bicyclist with a helmet vs without. /s

This just sounds so preposterous. First off, I doubt the average driver notices bicyclists at all. Of those that do, I'd seriously doubt if they even consider that they are wearing a helmet or not and just express frustration at the bicycle being there in the first place. The suggestion that a driver notices a helmet and acts more aggressively towards the rider or that they give a wider berth to the rider when not wearing a helmet is just "trying too hard" for lack of better words to describe my incredulity.

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> I doubt the average driver notices bicyclists at all.

This seems like an issue. The average driver should absolutely notice the environment they're operating in.

This includes noticing those around them. This should be especially true for the more vulnerable road users.

Um, that's the point of it being THE issue.

If you are riding a bicycle in an area (like mine) where biking is just not at all that common in the majority of areas, then the drivers of motor vehicles are just out of practice of noticing bicycles. It is not in their muscle memory of needing to look out for them. Other cars, sure. Pedestrians, maybe (but that's probably pretty low as well).

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.

> 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

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.

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