i will admit that when i started bike commuting as a care-free bachelor nearly 10 years ago (and had a much longer one-way commute distance of ~15 miles) i used to take a lot more chances out there on the mean streets of chicago.

my commute was so damn long that i was always obsessed about "making good time", so i rolled the dice. a lot. i got lucky (except for that one time when i got hit by a bus, but the bus rolled a stop sign; that one actually wasn't my fault).

since becoming a husband and father and moving MUCH closer to my job (now only ~5 miles one-way), my attitude is vastly different. staying alive so that i can hug my wife and daughter at the end of the day is the name of the game for me now.

if slowing down, or coming to a full stop, or giving right of way to an aggressive motorist, or waiting to safely pass a bus, etc. adds some number of seconds to my commute, i don't really care anymore if it means avoiding unnecessary danger.