The PONYTAIL HYPOTHESIS
IronWoman and I usually ride together two or three days per week, depending on our respective schedules. Back when we first started riding together, she had the nerve to take an extended summer vacation with her family, leaving me to cycle to work alone. During those solitary morning rides along narrow Old Dewdney Trunk Road in Pitt Meadows, I noticed that drivers were passing me a lot closer than normal, often coming within inches of my handlebars. I couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation at the time, so, being a good engineer, I filed those observations away for future reference.
After IronWoman had returned from vacation, I noticed that drivers were giving us more room. We chatted about this trend for a while, and I proposed that the reason for the extra distance was her presence – specifically the presence of a woman cyclist. My theory was that most drivers were male and were consciously or unconsciously being chivalrous since they see her first (when we ride together along a narrow stretch of road, I invariably ride in front).
Since IronWoman has long-ish blonde hair, I came up with The Ponytail Hypothesis: drivers will give female cyclists more room when they pass. I noticed a similar response when riding with other women, so, over the years, I’ve accepted this hypothesis as fact. It turns out I was right…
* * *
In 2006, Dr. Ian Walker (University of Bath’s psychology department), wanted to know what affected the distance at which drivers pass cyclists. A bicycle was outfitted with an ultrasonic distance sensor, and the bike was ridden on nearby roads to simulate typical cycle-commuting, all the while recording the distance at which drivers passed. After crunching the numbers, his findings were that drivers pass closer in the following situations:
Walker collectively called these findings the “helmet effect” – “… likely the result of drivers judging a cyclist’s ability from their appearance and adjusting their overtaking accordingly.” He also discovered another fascinating fact: when he wore a wig (to appear feminine from behind), drivers passed significantly further away.
In 2014, a study commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation confirmed some of Walker’s findings – that a cyclist’s gender and appearance affects how much room drivers give them. That is useful information for cyclists. Unfortunately, a follow-up study done by one of Dr. Walker’s research team discovered that 1-2% of drivers will pass dangerously close when overtaking, regardless of a cyclist’s appearance.
After reading these studies, it got me thinking – is there anything cyclists could do, short of wearing a dress or growing a ponytail, to persuade drivers to give them more room? Two ideas have presented themselves…
1. A co-worker, who also cycles to work and is an avid baseball player, arrived one morning at the same time I did, with his favourite baseball bat stuffed into his backpack. I thought that looked pretty bad-ass, so I asked him if he’d had any unusual responses from drivers. He chuckled. “Actually, yeah. I had a Mountie pull up beside me at a stop sign. He rolled his window down and suggested that I don’t ride with a bat. I asked him ‘why not?’” and he said, 'It might give drivers the wrong impression.'” Hmm…
2. Even though it rarely gets cold here on the Wet Coast, the past two winters have seen the temperature drop close to -10ºC. When it’s that cold, frostbite is a real concern when cycling at 30 km/h. IronWoman and I still rode on those cold days, her sporting a stylish fleece neck warmer pulled up just below her eyes while I went old-school, opting for a black wool balaclava I’d picked up working in the high Arctic. “You look like a bank robber,” she said the first time she saw me wearing it. No, I thought. Bad-ass. Those cold spells didn’t last long enough for me to collect much data, but I made a point of staring at drivers when we stopped at intersections – I saw some uncomfortable body language in response.
So, to support the Ponytail Hypothesis and Walker’s “helmet effect,” I’d like to propose the Balaclava Conjecture: the more bad-ass, unpredictable, or dangerous a cyclist looks, the more room drivers will give him. Hmm… I wonder if there’s a market for fake ponytails that attach to bike helmets?
After IronWoman had returned from vacation, I noticed that drivers were giving us more room. We chatted about this trend for a while, and I proposed that the reason for the extra distance was her presence – specifically the presence of a woman cyclist. My theory was that most drivers were male and were consciously or unconsciously being chivalrous since they see her first (when we ride together along a narrow stretch of road, I invariably ride in front).
Since IronWoman has long-ish blonde hair, I came up with The Ponytail Hypothesis: drivers will give female cyclists more room when they pass. I noticed a similar response when riding with other women, so, over the years, I’ve accepted this hypothesis as fact. It turns out I was right…
* * *
In 2006, Dr. Ian Walker (University of Bath’s psychology department), wanted to know what affected the distance at which drivers pass cyclists. A bicycle was outfitted with an ultrasonic distance sensor, and the bike was ridden on nearby roads to simulate typical cycle-commuting, all the while recording the distance at which drivers passed. After crunching the numbers, his findings were that drivers pass closer in the following situations:
- When the cyclist is riding more towards the centre of the lane
- Earlier in the day
- When they’re driving heavy vehicles and buses
- When the cyclist is wearing a helmet
Walker collectively called these findings the “helmet effect” – “… likely the result of drivers judging a cyclist’s ability from their appearance and adjusting their overtaking accordingly.” He also discovered another fascinating fact: when he wore a wig (to appear feminine from behind), drivers passed significantly further away.
In 2014, a study commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation confirmed some of Walker’s findings – that a cyclist’s gender and appearance affects how much room drivers give them. That is useful information for cyclists. Unfortunately, a follow-up study done by one of Dr. Walker’s research team discovered that 1-2% of drivers will pass dangerously close when overtaking, regardless of a cyclist’s appearance.
After reading these studies, it got me thinking – is there anything cyclists could do, short of wearing a dress or growing a ponytail, to persuade drivers to give them more room? Two ideas have presented themselves…
1. A co-worker, who also cycles to work and is an avid baseball player, arrived one morning at the same time I did, with his favourite baseball bat stuffed into his backpack. I thought that looked pretty bad-ass, so I asked him if he’d had any unusual responses from drivers. He chuckled. “Actually, yeah. I had a Mountie pull up beside me at a stop sign. He rolled his window down and suggested that I don’t ride with a bat. I asked him ‘why not?’” and he said, 'It might give drivers the wrong impression.'” Hmm…
2. Even though it rarely gets cold here on the Wet Coast, the past two winters have seen the temperature drop close to -10ºC. When it’s that cold, frostbite is a real concern when cycling at 30 km/h. IronWoman and I still rode on those cold days, her sporting a stylish fleece neck warmer pulled up just below her eyes while I went old-school, opting for a black wool balaclava I’d picked up working in the high Arctic. “You look like a bank robber,” she said the first time she saw me wearing it. No, I thought. Bad-ass. Those cold spells didn’t last long enough for me to collect much data, but I made a point of staring at drivers when we stopped at intersections – I saw some uncomfortable body language in response.
So, to support the Ponytail Hypothesis and Walker’s “helmet effect,” I’d like to propose the Balaclava Conjecture: the more bad-ass, unpredictable, or dangerous a cyclist looks, the more room drivers will give him. Hmm… I wonder if there’s a market for fake ponytails that attach to bike helmets?
Excerpt from "Letters to a Driving Nation" by Bruce Butler copyright (c) 2016. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without written permission from the author.