Originally Posted by B. Carfree

I'm not so sure that motorists don't see bikes when there are very few of them. When I ride in places where I am the only cyclist that has been seen in forty years, the motorists seem to go out of their way to give the "novelty" space and consideration. I think the curve is biphasic, where a huge number of cyclists get great treatment (majority rules) and novel cyclists get good treatment (everyone sees you because you are an unusual sight), but when there is a middling number of cyclists things get rough. At times I've dealt with that middling issue by riding something outlandish that becomes a "one and only" experience for the motorists (tall bike, ordinary, box trike, quad, rear-steer tandem with a child captain), which puts me back on that good part of the curve.