Originally Posted by
Lanovran
What I personally consider safer and more polite towards my fellow road users is to accept the notion that we're all bound by the same set of rules, and following those rules makes it easier to interact with one another on the road.
Following all the rules of the road and following every letter of the law doesn't guarantee that a cyclist will not run into a conflict with some jackass driver who is having a bad day or a driver who thinks it's a sport and fun to use their 4000 pound steel box to harass cyclists.
There are some people out there who just don't like to see bicycles on the road and it makes absolutely no difference to them if a cyclist is following rules or not.