OuterWorldVoice said:
Lots of riders ride assertively, or even aggressively. Which can be MAXIMUM STUPID because while they do have the right of way, car drivers are assholes, idiots, drunks, road ragers, telephone callers, makeup appliers and all sorts of shit that a militant riding style isn't going to have any effect whatsoever on.
I get especially incensed watching "cool" dads ride through dangerous streets with their kids on the back. I GET that you are an awesome rider dude, but drivers are fucking idiots and drunks and retards and you should be super careful with your own life, but especially a freaking toddler's.
CAVEAT: I am probably a huge hypocrite and ride city streets, occasionally run (empty) reds and scoot around carefully, politely, but I am not always mister safety.
This isn't about rights, or right of way, just common sense and physics.
/rant
Having not ridden on the road since, man, back in high school, I have a new-found respect for cyclers on the road.
The key is actually to be non-random, advertising where you are and what you are doing/going to do at all times. There are a lot of situations as a cyclist where you're SUPPOSED to be further out than necessary just to be visible and make sure cars are aware you're there. For example (not sure if this is the case in US), there are a bunch of cyclist strips at traffic light-controlled intersections in FRONT of the cars - this is so a cyclist can ride up at a red light an be in front of the lead vehicle for visibility.
Basically, assertiveness is for the safety of themselves to remain visible.
Also, our road code (drivers manual) states that you aren't supposed to weave in and out of parked cars, but rather just ride out and straight. As a motorist it's often easy to just blame the cyclist for riding too far out from the curb, but it's for safety, because parked cars may not see a bike in the parking lane.
Lastly, something I've discovered as a cyclist, sometimes there are a lot of things on the road that you have to swerve to avoid. Bottles, litter, deep drains, holes, cracks etc all cause you to swerve out, yet none of them you'd ever notice in a car, so it's again easy for a motorist for blaming a cyclist for being random.