I've also found that being respectful towards drivers tends to make them more respectful towards you, at least in my area. There have actually been quite a few occasions when a driver has waved me through an intersection first or allowed me to cross/turn in front of him/her even though they technically had the right-of-way. I'm not sure if their mentality is that they're not sure how to act around cyclists so they just let me go on about my way and get out of their way so they don't have to worry about hitting me or what. I've also noticed that when they pass me on a 2-lane road, they tend to give me most of the entire right-hand lane as cushion. I'm not really complaining or anything; I just find it amusing since all I REALLY need is a couple of feet of space. It's not like I"m just going to randomly swerve out into the middle of the lane or anything.