From his article:

Nothing can change peoples’ reactions, but we can change what they’re reacting to. I know that hostility towards bicycling is irrational, but towards cyclists it’s more understandable. Cycling is a purposefully esoteric subculture, populated by rich, fit white people who wear tight, expensive regalia, and feel morally superior. What could be more hateable?

The problem with bicyclists in America is not that motorists are simply unaware of them. It's that bicyclists are seemingly unaware of traffic laws.

But you know what? That is being too kind. I do not believe for a second that bicyclists are simply unaware of traffic laws. How could they be: the majority of them, aged 16 and over, have driver's licenses, and had to pass a driver's test. So they've been taught the rules of the road.

No, they know full well what they're doing when they break the law.

If there is hostility towards cycling and cyclists, I'll bet a significant contributor is driven by the universal, daily witnessing of cyclists' relentless, brazen, and flagrant violation of basic driving laws enacted in every state in the union.

Are you driving on a public road? Are you approaching a STOP sign or a red light? Then you slow down and you bring your vehicle to a FULL STOP. That means motor vehicles. AND it means bicycles. It is the law. Stop signs and red lights mean STOP. It's that simple.

I challenge you to go outside to view any intersection in America and count the next ten cyclists who approach the intersection. How many stop if they have a stop sign or red light? My experience is that usually all ten will run right through.

Martens claims hostility towards bicycling is "irrational." I would argue that cyclists are irrational. They wear helmets, and then they sail right through stop signs and red lights, even in busy traffic!

When you point this out to the cyclists, their response is usually a raised middle finger, some obscene phrase shouted at you in a gutteral, deeply animalistic tone, or, most odd of all, they smile, wave, and utter some nonsequitur such as "have a nice day" or "good morning".

You could say that someone who repeatedly, habitually breaks the law is a "scofflaw." Cyclists who routinely break traffic laws are certainly that. But surely something else is going on in the pea-brains inside those slick, aerodynamic helmets. Is it a belief system whose mantras are "cops don't ticket cyclists" and "this is my way of getting back at motorists"? I haven't figured out the mind of a habitual lawbreaking cyclist yet.

I'm not sure I want to: madness surely dwells there.