Even in bike-saturated Holland, they've found that the safety of cycling is correlated with the number of cyclists using the roads.

I find that whenever I get behind the (steering) wheel, sooner or later my mind goes into autopilot: it seeks out the lowest possible level of concentration presumed necessary to keep me alive, and stays there. (This level of concentration may be somewhat lower than what is necessary to actually keep me alive. Sooner of later, every driver gets into an accident.)

Even though I'm an avid cyclist, I still find that bikes are out-of-sight-out-of-mind when I'm driving. When the presence of a cyclist  on the road lulls me out of my complacency, I feel...well, guilty. But for most people the raction to such an inconvenience is probably that most common of progressions: annoyance leading to anger leading to flaming bags of fast food.

All I can say is: get on yer bike and put yourself in sight. Yay to Critical Mass.

I cycled in Montreal in the seventies and eighties.  Montreal is not a bicycle friendly city.  Like Seattle it is surrounded by freeways.  There are bike paths but they are mostly in out of the way places. The drivers in Montreal are agressive so I learned to cycle agressively.  It could be my imagination but it seemed to me that once I learned to cycle agressively I got more respect from the drivers.  I once spent a day on the snow-clogged downtown streets working as a bicycle courier.  I loved it! But the pay sucked.  Montreal is one of the few places in North America where you can cycle through an intersection against a red light and not get ticketed. I did it all the time.

I now live in a small BC town called Prince Rupert.  It has a population of about twelve thousand and because it is hemmed in by the coast mountains it has a small physical size.  You can cycle from one end of town to the other in twenty minutes.  You'd think there would be more adult cyclists like me but no. Some people walk but most people insist on using their cars.  I think the reason is it's hilly and people are not in shape.  There are no bicycle paths but traffic is comparatively slow and drivers are pretty courteous.  

In Sitka a town of similar population in Alaska  but more physically stretched out, there are many  more cyclists.  The reason I think so is  because a large portion of the town is close to sea level so you don't need to climb big hills to get from A to B.  People drive a lot faster in Sitka because there are more straitaways and the gravel is sharper so you need really skookum tires.

A few months ago an obese gentleman rode his car a few inches from my rear wheel while riding his clutch and racing his engine. He thought I had been tailgating him so after he waved me around he extracted his revenge. We insulted each other's mothers for a while. I got some digs in on his sister while I was at it.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

Bicyclists need to be alert to the hazards of motorists.  A very few motorists are aggressive, but it only takes a few.  Some years ago a driver "brushed" a bicyclist on a city street.  The cyclist caught the vehicle at a stop light and shot the motorist.  I don't believe it was fatal.  

I recognize that this is contrary to the GRIST policy against encouraging or advocating criminal or illegal actions.  

Then there was the teenage boy--also on a bike--who rode up to me, grabbed my breast, and told me to get out of his neighborhood.  I did.