Easy Peasy, I understand your concern. But I'd prefer the solution to not be that we encase our children in heavy SUVs, which threaten everyone. We've been using the trailer with our two kids for almost two years now and have never had a close call when towing it. Trailers and tagalongs are common in our neighborhood and are given wide berth by drivers who approach from the rear. My current concern is about side visibility when crossing intersections at twilight. And, as I noted upthread, I'm in the city (i.e., a traffic light or stop sign on *every corner*) and traffic is far more controlled than in the burbs. (All the close calls mentioned in this thread relate to my commute to work, after I've dropped the kids at preschool and ditched the trailer.)

Re bright clothes, I alternate between a bright (but not screaming) neon green and hot pink shirts. I think I really need to add a vest to get in the screaming neon tarwheel suggests. I don't see other cyclists round here wearing them but this has been a bad week (perhaps for the reasons Giro mentions).

I should have also specified in my original post that about 35% of my close calls lately are pedestrians who are watching just the car traffic and then step directly in front of me mid-block or cross against my green. There are not people busy texting, just people who apparently don't see me. Or misjudge my speed. If the latter, I'm not sure what to do about this.