‘I’m a Normal Person’¹

Abstract

This paper analyses 41 qualitative interviews with utilitarian cyclists in Charleston South Carolina to explore their understanding of cycling-related risks. The utilitarian cyclists list a number of risks related to motorist behaviour, such as cars passing too closely, which make them feel unsafe. Thirty-nine out of 41 of the respondents reveal the sentiment that often the risky behaviour of motorists is part of an anti-bicycle culture. This paper concludes that cyclists, in their attempt to make sense of these risks, perceive that the anti- bicycle culture is based on a system of exclusion in which drivers are insiders who belong on the road and treat cyclists as outsiders who do not belong.