Now, I ride safely with the traffic. I can't see the
traffic coming up behind me, so if somebody isn't
paying attention or is drunk or whatever, I'm roadkill.
But somehow, I'm not scared.


The problem of drivers failing to notice cyclists has more to do with turning
and crossing vehicles than vehicles coming up behind. These passing drivers
have more time to notice the cyclist, and the cyclist is right where they would
be looking anyway. For the sake of practicality we must often assume they see
us. I don't like ceding to drivers any little bit of responsibility for my own
safety. Although the chance of getting hit from behind is statistically
miniscule, especially inside the city, I try to reduce this risk still further
by, as you say, riding wider and quieter streets if possible, and by keeping an
ear out. You can hear some bad drivers coming from blocks away.

The hit-from-behind wrecks are more of a problem on country roads and high
speed-limit roads in the suburbs, where they are still rare, but are
inordinately deadly. Probably the deadliest variety of bike accident in terms
of deaths-per-incident.

Robert