Originally Posted by oboeguy
[....] But on topic... the margin of error is in fact the problem, IMO. For practical purposes, I couldn't care less if the driver who passed me with 6' or 6" of clearance doesn't like me or bikes or thinks my legs are too hairy. However, eventually enough of the 6" drivers will cause an accident which likely wouldn't happen with the 6' drivers. In other words, I fail to see the point of the OP posting at all. 
I guess this is why so many of us shave our legs! A little extra clearance is good. Getting rid of the love handles helps too.
6 inches, as the OP said, is way too close. But on a good road I feel comfortable with 2 feet, as long as I've given myself enough room on the
right to swerve if I need to. I'd rather have more room on the right and less room on the left, than the other way around.