Originally Posted by Daily Commute
Do you chose the way you ride because of the truly rare homocidal driver, or to pretect yourself against the much more common merely negligent driver? If you stay more visible (farther to the left) you will protect yourself better from the negligent. You can't plan your life around the false assumption that everyone else is a homocidal maniac.
I ride based on the group think of people... people generally obey the rules, people generally want to get along. However, it is the individual that makes life difficult... they do and think what whatever suits them at the moment.
To make claims that a particular system works in all cases is not real.
While I depend on what works most of the time, I watch for the deviations, as they individually can cause me the most harm.
If in any given day only 1-2% of the individuals you meet are deviant, then in encountering 200 people on a commute, you have 2-4 individuals of whom you must be extra vigilant. Tell me which 2-4. I also am aware that certain times of day can bring out the bad side of folks... stressed in traffic, and later in the day after consumption of alcohol... these issues compound any commuting situation.
To put it in perspective... Riding beside parked cars along the road, most of them will be empty and pose no threat... yet it is taught, touted and I bet you ride as if all parked cars all the time can be a threat.
Think about it.