Those in cars getting angry at cyclists are most often doing it because they believe the cyclist to be slowing them down. There are plenty of valid reasons as well, but by and large, this is the reason when you boil it down. We have an unrealistic expectation of speed on city streets because our highway speed limits are so disproportionately high compared to urban ones, that travelling at the true speed limit is frustrating if one doesn't constantly do it.
Yield to those at greater risk than you, and never assume your travel time is more important than anothers safety, and all other laws/rules enforcement arguments go out the window, in my book.
If there was one thing that would greatly improve cyclist-pedestrian incidents, in my mind, it would be heavily enforcing the stop sign parking distance laws. Too often I see cars (especially delivery vehicles) parked in such a way that a cyclist doesn't even see a pedestrian about to cross or vice versa until the last minute, because the pedestrian side of the crosswalk is obstructed from view by an illegally parked vehicle upon approach. This stops the "Idaho Stop" philosophy from working well here in Chicago.
I think it depends heavily on the city and the way the roads have been planned. There are places where cyclists most definitely do slow down traffic, and that can be pretty unsafe for the cars.
Houston, where I live, is an example. I don't dislike cyclists at all, but when a long string of cars encounters a single cyclist going at half the speed, at most, it really does cause problems. There are no bike lanes here and it's illegal to bike on sidewalks, so cyclists have no choice but to ride in the middle of the lane.
What happens is, if there's enough traffic, a single cyclist can cause a mini traffic jam, because every car will try to switch lanes so they can pass, but there are too many cars for everybody to safely switch lanes. So one lane basically comes to a stop behind the cyclist and the other doesn't go much faster because of people trying to merge into it (which isn't safe due to the volume of cars).
This is far from the worst situation that can happen on the road, but this is what happens with probably 90% of the cyclists I encounter in Houston while driving. In a city like Houston where everything is spread out, it is truly not practical to reduce all car speeds down to bike speeds.
Ah Houston. I spent a month there for work a few years ago, and brought my bike only to find the stretch I was staying at it was incredibly difficult to find a good road to ride on. Of course, in 105 degrees and 90% humidity I rarely felt like riding my bike :)
That's a real tough place to find a happy medium. Many of the places people go to are long fast stretches with few alternate routes. As much as I love riding, my bike barely saw any use other than driving it in my rental car miles north on the weekends to find somewhere to go.
"parked in such a way that a cyclist doesn't even see a pedestrian about to cross or vice versa until the last minute"
As an (old?) driver Ive had some pretty terrifying moments with school kids in the same situation. Bikers and drivers should be working together to fix that not turn it into a biker only or driver only (or pedestrian only?) issue.
I agree - cars (and running children) are just as much affected by it. Thing is, most cities have laws on the books about it (many of chicago's list it as tow zone with an arrow pointing towards the stop sign). It's just rarely if ever enforced, especially in daylight hours when it's the biggest problem. Overnight though I've seen them towed.
Yield to those at greater risk than you, and never assume your travel time is more important than anothers safety, and all other laws/rules enforcement arguments go out the window, in my book.
If there was one thing that would greatly improve cyclist-pedestrian incidents, in my mind, it would be heavily enforcing the stop sign parking distance laws. Too often I see cars (especially delivery vehicles) parked in such a way that a cyclist doesn't even see a pedestrian about to cross or vice versa until the last minute, because the pedestrian side of the crosswalk is obstructed from view by an illegally parked vehicle upon approach. This stops the "Idaho Stop" philosophy from working well here in Chicago.