Motoring website's video looks at attitudes of drivers & cyclists... but misses point they're often the same (+ video)

The website Motoring.co.uk has released a video that summarises the findings of research conducted among cyclists and motorists regarding their perceptions of each other – but misses the point that many people who drive cars also ride bikes, and vice-versa.

The short film – it clocks in at a little over a minute – does a reasonably good job of clearly presenting some of the survey findings in a way that’s perhaps more engaging than setting them out in a few paragraphs of text.

It goes by the title, Cyclists vs Motorists, A Difference in Perception, and while your view of the road and experience of using it may vary depending on the mode of transpotr you're using, it strikes us the website has missed a crucial point – namely, that motorists and cyclists are more often than not one and the same person.

The vast majority of adult cyclists hold a driving licence, and research shows that car ownership is actually higher than average among those who cycle regularly.

Nevertheless, after the video, Motoring.co.uk invites site users to “Please comment below and tell us what annoys you about cyclists.”

Here’s what the website says in its introduction to the video:

Motoring.co.uk recently surveyed two specific road-using tribes, who at times, don’t always see eye-to-eye. The tribes were motorists and cyclists. More than 500 people’s perceptions of other road users were logged, with questions ranging from the most annoying cycling habits to how safe cyclists feel when they are on the road.

The use of the word “tribes” is particularly worthy of note, since it’s the same one AA president Edmund King used last year when he called for an end to the “two tribes mentality” that often sees cyclists and motorists viewed as distinct, mutually inclusive groups.

Writing in the AA Magazine in November, Mr King said: “We really must get past the dangerous ‘them and us’ mentality that sours interactions between different groups (and even sub-groups) of road users – be they pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or drivers of vehicles large and small.

The AA may be the UK’s largest motoring organisation, but it seems that Motoring.co.uk wasn’t paying attention to the man who runs it…