safety tips

Today and tomorrow are Ozone Red alert days for the Atlanta area, highlighted in various news reports. We've already had a number of “Yellow” alerts, that warn people with sensitive respiratory conditions not to spend time outside. With the Red alert, everyone is warned to stay inside, and asked to avoid pumping gas until the evening hours, and (ideally) to carpool or avoid driving as much as possible. Being Americans, most of our citizens pay not attention.

You may have seen or heard the little news item this week; aggressive drivers are more likely to have bumper stickers on their vehicles.

Why is that? The theory is that these people are more territorial than average (or possessive about their private spaces). By putting stickers on their car, they proclaim it as Mine Mine Mine! Regardless, those with bumper stickers blew their horns an average of two seconds faster than those without such claims of ownership. (To get them to honk, researchers put a driver in a turn lane who stayed stopped after the light turned.)

What does this mean for cyclists? Well, it's useful for us to have a clue about who might be more aggressive. But we can assume all drivers can be aggressive, and position ourselves accordingly.