Riding in the middle of the lane as if you were a car. If you are more in the middle of the lane, drivers won't have the (completely mistaken) idea that they can just squeeze in between you and traffic in the other lanes - they will realize "wow, he's so far out there I have to actually change lanes to pass." Which they will do and not think about again, as it's not really a big deal for them to do. The fact of the matter is that when you check clearances and such, even if you're right by the sidewalk, cars still will have to go into the opposite lane to pass you by a bit - that creates a hazard, and they'll tend to pass you unsafely close to try to get away with it. If you "take the lane" and ride far enough toward the center that it's very obvious that there will be no such squeezing, they will have to treat you like a slow moving car and thus, make sure there isn't anything in the lane they will have to pass by going into.

If you're riding decently fast, cars generally won't give it a second thought when you're doing that; if you're slow they'll be more irritable, but you'll still be safer than if they were squeezing past you or turning in front of you with you off the road.