SvdSinner

Defensive riding is your big thing, and I'll make a few suggestions:
1) Hog the road. DO NOT attempt to hug the white line on the right. Cars will not give you enough room, and will try to pass you without pulling over to the left. You should ride 18-40 inches from the white line, or about 1/3 of the way into the lane. Don't get into the center of the lane either, as drivers will mistake you for a motorcyclist and not expect that they need to slow down for you. (Sounds dumb, I know, but some drivers drive with very few active brain cells.) There are lots of studies to back this up, but too many cyclists still think hugging the right line is safest. It isn't. People may occasionally get offended that you are hogging the road, but a driver who is offended is a driver who saw you. I'll take an annoyed driver who saw me over a spaced-out cell phone talker who never saw me as they passed me with their mirror 2 inches from our handlebars ANYDAY.
2) Make eye contact with drivers at intersections BEFORE you assume they aren't going to drive out in front of you. This is much easier on a tandem, since people tend to stare at tandems anyway. Assume that any driver who hasn't given you eye contact is completely oblivious to your presence.
3) In conjunction with #2, train your stoker to wave to cars that you are passing. It helps get eye contact, and increases the probability they will see you.