I used to blast through downtown traffic and with a high degree of situational awareness, lots of riding experience, and a front brake that allowed me to stop on a dime and give me back a nickel's change kept me from being road kill.

You have to ride with the philosophy that no-one can see you and the ones that do want to kill you... especially people in white BMW's.

You can't mosey about when riding fast is how you made your living and while some messengers here don't use a front brake the majority do because it isn't about looking pretty but having your bike perform at it's maximum capability.

If you lay down a lot of miles in a day having a front brake saves your energy... if you ride a few miles a day it's no big deal but if you are knocking down 30-40 miles a day it really helps.

Like Tejano, I use a lowish gear on the road and spin faster rather than try and mash a big gear all day... my working bikes were geared at around 70 GI.

One thing I have noticed is that many fixed gear riders are younger and have limited riding experience and like younger drivers of cars have a much higher chance of being in accidents... rate for this is about 10x the rest of the population and it just stems from a lack of experience.

The riding skills might be solid... it is the road skills that need to be developed.