Jesus ffing Christ. I never even heard the term (coal rolling), apparently not a thing where I live. We do have pick-ups but very few and mostly in the rural areas.
As for the bicycles, I live in Holland, so everyone bikes. It’s the first thing we learn after walking. Actually with us a lot of times it’s the cyclists being the asshole when it comes to dangerous moves. Especially teenagers and students. I defied death many times riding when I was that age, I’ve become a lot more careful since I’ve become a driver myself. What can be annoying are large vehicles driving partially on the bikelane because there’s not enough room, but biking in Holland is not a political statement. It’s just more practical a lot of times, especially in the city, so not necessarily a cause for annoyance. With the exception of groups of foreign tourists on bikes who really can be a menace, particularly when they’re trying their luck in the city of Amsterdam, mostly stoned out of their minds and never been on a bike before.
What irritates me to no end are hobby cyclists going full speed on a cycling path in weekends when it’s crowded and expect everyone to jump out of their way. No, you’re not Mathieu Van Der Poel you fuckwit, you’re on a public road. Behave accordingly.
Coal rolling is definitely an American-only thing. While it was around before then, it became much, much more common about 5-6 years ago.
It’s not in the US either, at least not for most cyclists. However, coal rolling is. Consider what was happening in US politics 5-6 years ago. (Hint: a certain person with a cult-following was running for president.)
He has a video of him shooting an AR-15 on his Facebook page. And apparently the Irish Civil War is still raging in his head.
I fear his response may go beyond posting a polite rebuttal.
It’s human nature to hate. There’s even a forum in SDMB tailored to the effort.
I bike everywhere I go. And I’ve certainly had my share of rude drivers. But I don’t think I remember a single incident of rude driving by pickup drivers. The folks who get mad at me for stopping at red lights? Sedans. The folks who threw a bag of trash at me? Sedan. The ones who shout obscenities as they pass? Mostly sedans.
Part of this, I’m sure, is that I’m in an urban area, where pickup trucks are rare to begin with. And after all, right-handed people commit 90% of base-rate errors. But then again, some of my specific memories of unusually polite drivers have also been large pickup trucks.
What city do you live in that pickup trucks are rare in?