Are you better than average?

baloo_the_bear

My wifes a clinical psychologist (or clinical mentalist as far as I am concerned) and she was giving me stick last night for complaining about other road users. She mentioned Illusory Superiority and a study where 80% of drivers said they were better than the average driver. She suggested that maybe I am not as great a road user as I think I am.

Where do you think you rate in relation to other cycle commuters? In terms of safety, awareness and general use of your bike. Are you a good road user?

lost_in_thought

Your wife has a point, we all think we're great, of course we do!

However, it's also about how you judge what a 'good cyclist' is - for me it'd be someone who behaves considerately, as I try to, whereas others might think differently.

bigmat

I'm a better than average cyclist but a s**t driver!

gtvlusso

MatHammond wrote:

I'm a better than average cyclist but a s**t driver!

+1

I am in a +1 mood today.

I rock, on:

Bicycle (in my yoof)
Motorbike (high powered)

I don't rock, on:

Car (rubbish, slow driver)
Snowboard (broken back and left arm)
Daughter's tricycle (broken wrist)
Tree's (broken ankle)
Surfboards (tend to fall in allot)

cee

I think its comparing apples and pears.

the 'average' cycle commuter has some disadvantages that the 'average' driver does not...

All drivers have had lessons and passed a test saying that they have been taught how to position themselves and all that....

even if only10% of cycle commuters have never done a driving lesson, it still brings down the other 90%.

Some cycle commuters are not even all that competent cyclists....wobbling around, hugging the kerb etc etc....

So now that I have caveated the life out of it.....i believe I am above average compared to the average cycle commuter...in terms of thinkng in advance, being considerate, getting out of problems by not putting myself in them, being aware of what is going on around me.

I can also trackstand for at least a couple of minutes, ride no-handed for as long as you like, wheely for 100 metres and bunnyhop about 2 feet off the ground at speed. I am also the current Lothian and Borders on road skid champion.

In seriousness though....

I am by no means perfect and make mistakes like everyone else....I think that this realisation alone makes me better than the average commuter (cyclist or car driver). If everyone went about their business being really critical about themselves, then there woul dbe far less argybargy on the roads we share.

Aidy

baloo_the_bear wrote:

My wifes a clinical psychologist (or clinical mentalist as far as I am concerned)

Gosh, that must be fun for you.

deptfordmarmoset

I actually ticked average but when I think about it I've had 3 no-fault accidents in a car, several no-fault accidents on a bike and have caused no accidents either in a car or on a bike. So if I'm only average, I seem to have met more than my fair share of below average drivers.

EDIT: Well, of course I've had accidental offs but I've only managed to injure myself so far...

PedalPedant

Anyone reading this forum is likely to be a cyclist that commutes rather than someone that just uses a BSO to get to work IYSWIM.

It is therefore not that surprising that most consider themselves above average, they probably are.


PP

greg66_tri_v2.0

I am better than average at everything, with the sole exception of humility.

rjsterry

Average for the Commuting Forum I'd say.

Jay dubbleU

Greg66 wrote:

I am better than average at everything, with the sole exception of humility.

I am the most modest person in the universe

Levi_501

As Bret 'Hitman' Hart said, The best there was, is and ever will be 8)

gaz545

My ego is so big i have to take two bikes with me to work, the other i hold with my hand and cycle with it along side me. i am the best

vorsprung

"How does your cycling compare to other commuters?"

I'm usually a little bit faster uphill but apart from that I've not noticed much difference

A few have stupid road positioning in the gutter but most don't

Not sure what you mean by "better", not sure you know either

shm_uk

Eh?

How can 60+% of respondees be better than average?

Me thinks there's a lot of liars here :-)

bartimaeus

"A fool who knows he is a fool, is a wise man."

WesternWay

baloo_the_bear wrote:

Where do you think you rate in relation to other cycle commuters? In terms of safety, awareness and general use of your bike. Are you a good road user?

Oh this is easy, I wear a helmet and don't RLJ. I am therefore top of upper quartile. I totally rock

Aidy

shm_uk wrote:

Eh?

How can 60+% of respondees be better than average?

Me thinks there's a lot of liars here :-)

This only applies if the forum dwellers are a representative sample.

Wallace1492

I don't RLJ, I don't wear a helmet. However I am ultra safety concious* My main aim while commuting is to get to destination without incident, accident or injury and I position myself accordingly. All else - SCR, getting record time etc are secondary.



* Except when I (once) foolishly filtered down between two buses, just as the lights changed and they started off. I flew out from between them like a cork out a bottle.

biondino

Considering that most of us, even the RLJers, have some knowledge of road sense and at the very least will have osmoted advice about safe commuting, it'd certainly be possible for 100% of respondents to think they're better. Unless you've invited a selection of nodders, hoodies and strange middle-aged men with carrier bags to contribute too.

Levi_501

Wallace1492 wrote:

I flew out from between them like a cork out a bottle.

ROFLMAO

jimmypippa

For those who put "worse than average", this paper (pdf) might be interesting

Basically: those who were incompetent, realised that they were a bit worse than average, but didn't realise by how much. Those who were skilled were able to judge their competence relative to others.



As has been mentioned before, most of us are regular commuters, so probably spend significantly more time cycling in rush hour traffic than other cyclists.

I know that where I am, I see more BSO pavement-riding ninjas than all other sorts of cyclists.

The average is probably pretty low...

snailracer

lost_in_thought wrote:

Your wife has a point, we all think we're great, of course we do!

However, it's also about how you judge what a 'good cyclist' is - for me it'd be someone who behaves considerately, as I try to, whereas others might think differently.

The thread title is, "How does your cycling compare to other commuters?".
I reckon those other commuters would only think we were behaving considerately if we got off the roads and out of their way

rolf_f

shm_uk wrote:

Eh?

How can 60+% of respondees be better than average?

By you not understanding stats - along with 99.9% of the rest of the population.

Actually, there appears to be nothing statistically wrong in the results of the OPs pole so far. The problem is rather in the pole itself. However, the 60% being better than average is fine in principle and, furthermore, to be expected.

Aidy

Aidy wrote:

shm_uk wrote:

Eh?

How can 60+% of respondees be better than average?

Me thinks there's a lot of liars here :-)

This only applies if the forum dwellers are a representative sample.

Also, depends on an even distribution, if a large number of people are significantly worse than normal, then this will drag the average point down - meaning more than half of the population will be better than average.

rolf_f

Aidy wrote:

Also, depends on an even distribution, if a large number of people are significantly worse than normal, then this will drag the average point down - meaning more than half of the population will be better than average.

Won't apply in this case; don't think it could work anyway - of course, it depends on how you define something as hard to define as this is but either way, you'd expect a fairly normal distribution if your sample set was truly representative with the mean and median being pretty close.

deptfordmarmoset

So the 7% who are below average, are they going around causing all the accidents then?

mtb-idle

Random statistic for the day:

If you think how stupid the average person is then 50% of the population are even more stupid than that!

baloo_the_bear

vorsprung wrote:

"How does your cycling compare to other commuters?"

I'm usually a little bit faster uphill but apart from that I've not noticed much difference

A few have stupid road positioning in the gutter but most don't

Not sure what you mean by "better", not sure you know either

I left the definition completely open.

Just an opportunity for people to say how awesome they are.

I think the questionaire, sample selection and stratifying factors all led to a complete lack of statistical significance.

rjeffroy

Depends on the distribution. In this sample:

1, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

90% are better then average (arithmetic mean)

SimonAH

I missed getting my right toe in my straps this morning cranking away from lights (not a good idea on a relatively high gear inch fixie) must have looked a complete knob stabbing away for it at speed. :oops:

Note to self, trackstanding practice required ASAFP