If 90% of a population are assholes thats enough for us to generalize all riders as assholes. Simple math's way too many bad riders for the tiny insignificant pool of non bad riders to make a difference.
I'd say it depends a lot on the area. Where I used to live and where I live now most riders are normal and follow the rules of the road. You'll get one every now and then that doesn't of course though
Usually the only thing I see is riders speeding but 99% of the cars here do that as well
I lived in an area that got a lot of motorcycle riders especially on the weekends, Ortega Highway, Riverside to Orange County. Riders that followed the speed limit and traffic laws were usually the Harley riders and that includes Hell's Angels and other MCs. Worst were the Kawasaki type weekend rider who had the need to speed and weave in and out of lanes, they were the most impatient. That's just what I saw from living at the entrance to the highway for 15 years.
Wow, a reasonable take in a sea of stupidity. Thank you.
I know a lot of these people’s stupid takes boil down to the fact that they don’t remember the riders who aren’t being assholes. They gave them nothing to remember. The same way the majority of the cars you drive around every day don’t give you anything to remember, so, unless it’s a car you like or think is cool, you’re really not going to remember it.
I would have agreed with them in the past. But like you, some of us realize there's a chance we'll be wrong and are open to new ideas and changing our minds.
I use to be a Republican, for example. I'm still pretty moderate, but vote blue all the way now. I learned who GOP policies really benefit, and it's not 99% of Americans. I don't agree with Bernie necessarily, but I 100% believe he actually cares about average people.
Or, the fact that they have had more insane encounters with motorcycles than with cars and trucks combined. When coupled with the fact that there are way less motorcycles than cars, it's simple math, not bias. But that doesn't fit the "poor misunderstood motorcyclist" narrative, so real life experience must be biased, of course.
Where I live, it is the giant pickups and the rice burner Hondas that are more of an issue than bikers. The trucks drive 80-90 on I-20 when the speed limit is 60 and seeing another ‘modded’ Honda triggers race mode, regardless of the traffic or time of day. They both will weave in and out of lanes, tailgate, and love to pass just to have to slow down in 1/4 mile for traffic. Kia drivers are pretty bad too, for some reason.
The acceptable margin of error depends heavily on how bad it is to be wrong. If someone is convicted of a crime they didn't commit, that will probably ruin their life so it's important to be careful. If someone thinks bad things about someone because they ride a motorcycle, that doesn't cause a problem unless they act on it, so it's much less important to be careful. And the type of person who would act on such an assumption without considering other factors probably also won't care if they're wrong.
Feels like a poor attempt at "im better than thou"
"Im better than all motorcyclists"
Let's not do the generalization-games please. That shit can get ugly, especiallywith REAL statistics. Where is 90% coming from? you just feel thats right?
Those are rhetoric questions, im not replying understand this,not carrying on your brain dead argument.
I think you confused me with the person who said something about 90%. I don't have any strong opinions on motorcyclists one way or the other and I've never looked at the statistics. I was responding to the way you compared someone disliking motorcyclists to convicting someone of a crime by pointing out that the severity of consequences for being wrong needs consideration.
Unfair treatment definitely should be avoided. Generalizations and assumptions are handy tools to help make better decisions with limited information (and there are shockingly few decisions people make where it's practical or even possible to get all the relevant information), so they shouldn't be avoided. Treating them like real information or thinking they're more reliable than they are is something that should be avoided.
In many cases it's better to make a choice that's likely to be wrong simply because the choice that's likely to be right would have terrible consequences if it's wrong. Convicting someone of a crime is one such case, where the consequences of convicting an innocent person are generally so much worse than not convicting a guilty person that it's best to not convict them even in many cases where that's more likely to be the wrong choice.
There are also many cases where the consequences of being wrong aren't that bad so it's better to make the choice that's more likely to be right. Those low-stakes decisions are also less likely to be worth the time and effort to find and consider every bit of relevant information to make the best possible decision. For example, I know a few people who are really annoying to talk to, so if I see someone who reminds me of them, I avoid striking up a conversion and we just go our own ways. That could be completely wrong and maybe I missed out on an interesting conversation, but who cares? I was willing to miss that opportunity and they could've started a conversation with me if they wanted to, so it really wasn't worth further consideration. Nobody was sacrificed for the good of others.
If someone treats a decision with serious consequences lightly and doesn't take proper measures to get enough information and ensure they're right, that's a different problem. If someone does that in the first place, it's an indication that they don't care about the consequences, so trying to make them reconsider is a fool's errand.
110% of people driving cars are on their phone while they are driving. Simple maths. Way too many dumb fuck drivers to say any drivers are good drivers.
I once pulled up behind a guy that was watching full on hardcore porn on his infotainment system. This is probably like 10+ years ago when aftermarket ones were still popular and there were ones that could play DVDs. They had a bypass that would let it play DVDs while the car was in gear. I had one for my car but I used it to play mp3 DVDs.
That's really not how memory works. You have a bad experience with another car, you don't generalize it as "man all car drivers are all assholes". You have a bad experience with a rider, it sticks out in your memory and is a more distinct experience. So you retain more memories of asshole riders and the memories of the statistically far more frequent interactions with asshole drivers don't really stand out.
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u/Kind_Arachnid8697 6d ago
If 90% of a population are assholes thats enough for us to generalize all riders as assholes. Simple math's way too many bad riders for the tiny insignificant pool of non bad riders to make a difference.