Exploring Drivers’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Bicyclists: The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes on Self-Reported Safety Behaviors | Transportation Research and Education Center

Exploring Drivers’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Bicyclists: The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes on Self-Reported Safety Behaviors | Transportation Research and Education Center



It's a complex read but basically, it suggests among other things



"Crashes between drivers and bicyclists are frequently attributed to a driver’s failure to see a bicyclist, due to inattention or "looked but failed to see (LBFTS)” (Wood et al., 2009), and there is ample evidence from psychology that “seeing” is not purely objective but is influenced by socially directed thoughts and beliefs." 



later 

"While the physical bodywork of a car essentially anonymizes drivers, bicyclists are visible in their variety of shapes, sizes, ages, gender, and “racialized bodies” (Urry, 2007, p.48). Drivers have shown bias in yielding behavior by the race, apparent disabled status, or age of a crossing pedestrian"

This pours cold water on the notion that car drivers will ever willingly 'share the road' safely with cyclists. Remember if you have 1000 good people and one bad one that's still enough danger to put enough people off cycling for good. 

While I'm still a big big big supporter of on road cycling I think it suggests that we won't get a significant shift without a big change in technology. Either from cycle monorails, ECLs  or possibly when self-driving-cars dominate the roads ( the machines can be legally enforced to drive safely near cyclists by having some test for software before release ).