Post by Nicole of Bike Thoughts From A Broad
Last week I mentioned something called the ‘Mary Poppins Effect’. (LovelyBicycle first mentions it here.) This is a syndrome encountered only, in my limited observation, by women (or those dressed as women) while riding a bicycle and it means that traffics treat you differently while looking like Mary Poppins (i.e, while wearing a skirt). It really does!
I’ve tried it in all guises. I’ve ridden my Wilier in full-on Lycra with a helmet or only a cap. I’ve ridden my Wilier in a skirt. I’ve ridden my Raleigh Wisp in Lycra and a helmet or just a hat, a skirt or in jeans. I’ve ridden my Globe Vienna in a skirt with helmet or no helmet, with panniers, skirts, jeans the lot. And lastly, the Boris bike, straight from the office this lunchtime, in the sunshine, with a skirt and shirt, no helmet and my handbag on the front.
How Does It Work?
After much careful observation it seems that the ‘MPE’ only takes effect while riding an upright bike, with no helmet, hair flowing in the breeze, skirt on and maybe a little heel. And then the road is your own. Traffic gives way, allows you room, even stops while you manoeuvre into a space. It slows down, allows you to pass and while stopped at traffic lights, delays while you get yourself off when the lights turn green. It doesn’t get cross if you weave in and out. On the contrary, it slows down if you make a small error and the traffic starts to move faster then you can. It lets you back in and it never shouts at you or raises a fist. Amazing!
It must be something about the style of bike because it doesn’t happen on the Raleigh or the Wilier, which have drop bars. Maybe traffic assumes a modicum of experience on a drop bar? Maybe it assumes that if you’re riding a drop bar, you an handle yourself and don’t therefore need a polite distance between you and it? Maybe traffic assumes that if you’re riding a dutch-style bike, you need all the help you can get, ‘cos you’re a woman and we all know about women drivers? But why does traffic think that you can’t ride a dutch bike but that you can ride a drop bar? I just don’t get it. And maybe I never will.
Riding Styles
Maybe it’s because my riding style changes depending on which bike I’m on. Maybe I’m more aggressive on a drop bar and more passive on an upright? I don’t think so. I’m more confident cycling through the traffic on an upright because my body position is upright and I think I can see more. I’m leaning forward on a drop bar, feel like I can see less and I’m less confident, which think is reflected in my riding style. But I now know this much, if I ride without a helmet, traffic seems to give me a wide berth.
Does It Work For You?
Does this happen to guys on dutch bikes, without helmets? Does traffic change when you ride a Boris bike from the office? Life must be hell for you in Lycra on a drop bar? Am I way off the mark here or does anybody else notice the change?
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As seen on The Guardian, BBC and The Independent.
Interesting post. Changing tack slightly, I feel that drivers are less considerate now that the days are getting longer. Possibly because they cannot weigh up the cyclist in front of them at night and err on the side of caution. It is also less easy to judge distance at night.
Slightly concerned about this desire from some to ‘throw off the shackles’ of wearing a helmet, and trust the traffic will steer clear.
It’s not all about traffic in London – a couple of times I’ve come off the bike after a pedestrian has ran out in front without looking, luckily I wasn’t going so fast as to fall on the ground too hard.
Go out on the roads as protected as you can.
I posted on this thread on Lovely Bicycle. Please don’t construe this as a Helmet Police stand (I ride in New York where potholes magically appear underfoot).
The MPE Effect doesn’t require flowing hair (which is better left to movies. After three minutes the blissful feeling disppears as my hair becomes a stringy mess and I want to take a shower.) I have a Yakkay helmet, which so resembles a fetching hat that I’ve been reprimanded for riding without a helmet. That’s the closest I’ve come to an actual nasty encounter. I get lots of compliments, questions, reminiscences about foreign countries and childhood bikes. I am thus frequently late.
On my Oma, in dresses and skirts and the Yakkay, the shouts of “Yo, Mary Poppins” from my Bed-Stuy neighbors are amusing, though my amusement is waning. It’s rather like listening to a child repeat a joke ad infinitum. This may give me the creative kick in the butt I need. Maybe, in an attempt to create an iconic character with a different name I’ll pen a best-seller whose protagonist is a bicyclist in a dress . She may have to have multiple personalities and names. Or maybe it should fashionable, bicycling octuplets.
I totally believe in the MPE effect, but I do wear a helmet, but I also wear fancy gloves, faux frames and bright lipstick typically.
I wore one outfit that made me feel like I looked like a delivery GUY and I noticed aggressiveness from cars and actually gave away the jacket I felt so yuck about that ride.
(I ride an upright vintage-look schwinn bike with bern skater-style helmets)
On the back of some research that showed that drivers give girls more room when over taking, we produced ‘The Hair Helmet’ – a cycle helmet, which incorporates a long, flowing blonde wig.
http://www.eta.co.uk/2011/04/01/safest-bicycle-helmet-has-built-wig.
This was of course a April Fool prank – but it draws light on the notion that drivers react differently to different types of cyclist.
I have no doubt the MPE exists. I’ve seen a car that’s almost written me off give a pretty female cyclist on a classic bike wearing a skirt a wider berth many times.
The study into this examined the psychology of drivers, but how does this impact on the psychology of the cyclist. As the majority of fatalities involve female cyclists (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8296971.stm) I wonder if the MPE has a side effect of making female rider less cautious in traffic, as they are used to a larger safety margin. It’s much easier for a sedan, or even a white van to give an undertaking cyclist a bit more room, as they’l be right there beside them as they glance to the left. Much harder for a lorry driver when you’re in their blind spots.
I was thinking about all of this after seeing the aftermath of this accident on the way home: http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/breaking_news_woman_killed_in_camden_road_horror_crash_1_855791
I’m not trying to place blame for this or any accident, but it did make me think…
I believe that there was a study carried out by Bath Universtity that discovred hat if you didn’t wear a helmet then cars were more likely to give you more room (6″) than if you were all lycraed up. I would say that the theory is the same with the upright bike/normal clothes v road bike and lycra. If people think that you are a novice rider (wearing your own clothes) then you may be more likely to wobble into their path… rather than lyra when you expect them to be steady on their wheels and so cut closer to them. I’m all for wearing normal clothes on a bike!!
It does work for men also. Dress as normally as possible and dont wear a helmet. If you are Australian it is very frightening at first as we have this idiotic law. Importantly, I have found, ride an older style of upright bike. It does make a difference I have noticed.
Usually I just wear a hat but bareheaded is definitely better if you want a little consideration from the drivers.
The only concession I make is a flouro jacket. Partly for visibility. Partly so that the average working bloke driving behind might just think I could be of his own ilk and thereby not want to behave as dangerously towards me. Not sure yet it works.
But mostly because it might help to demonstrate to policeman or magistrate that I was in fact considering my own safety to which I would add that I believe, in fact know, that the helmet makes me less safe in traffic, not to mention increased likelyhood of Diffuse Axonal Injury if I do hit the deck.
This is the only defence that has worked in Australia.
If you are reading this from another country take my advice and dont let helmet law into your country.
There was a study measuring distances of overtaking cars from bicycles using video camers and ultrasonic sensors. They found cars were more courteous to female cyclists.
http://www.drianwalker.com/overtaking/overtakingprobrief.pdf
I think road and to some extent mtb/hybrid bike positions encourage tight, fast “jumpy” manoeuvres and these combined with a riding position that is coincidentally quite like the human aggressive stance (shoulders up, arms forward, face forward, glaring from under the eyebrows) cause a subconscious response in other humans so that the road cyclist is perceived as an aggressor, a threat, whatever the actual cyclist is doing.
An upright bike puts the cyclist in a less aggressive physical position which allows more time for eye contact. Plus the lack of nippiness encourages the cyclist to make larger, slower manoeuvres which don’t trigger the same “uh-oh, watch out” response.
The MPE effect isn’t that drivers behave better to people on uprights than they normally would, it’s that they behave normally to humans on upright bikes but badly to humans on more aggressive bikes
If you really want a lot of room on the road, ride with a kid! When I’m out riding on the street with my nine-year-old daughter, drivers treat us like kryptonite. I guess they’re OK with running me over, but don’t want my adorable child on their conscience …