Perspectives on switching to recumbents

Regarding visibility, I am not convinced that changing your profile or gear makes a difference when it comes to a driver's attention. If a car does not see a group of thirty cyclists, a single rider is likely to be hit regardless of what they are wearing or how they are positioned. It is more about the driver's lack of awareness than the rider's profile.

While driver inattention is often the primary cause of a crash, attributing risk solely to the motorist ignores the practical utility of defensive positioning. The goal of maintaining a visible and predictable profile is not to solve the driver's lack of awareness, but to lessen the odds of not being seen. Even experienced riders who follow every rule are vulnerable, but positioning that preserves escape space and forces a driver to acknowledge the rider's presence creates a necessary layer of risk reduction. It is not about immunity, but about narrowing the window of opportunity for a driver's mistake to become a collision.

That is a spot on assessment. It is not about trying to control the driver's brain, but about managing the physics and psychology of the road. Taking the full lane when necessary or maintaining a predictable line forces the driver to actually acknowledge you as a vehicle rather than an obstacle to be squeezed. Reducing that window of opportunity is the only way to stay sane in city traffic; it turns a potential disaster into a non event by making the cyclist too obvious to ignore.

Precisely. When a rider takes the full lane or maintains a predictable line, they are effectively communicating their presence as a legitimate road user. This shifts the dynamic from being a peripheral object to a focal point of the driver's attention. While this does not guarantee a driver will behave perfectly, it eliminates the ambiguity that often leads to those dangerous squeeze plays. By managing that space, a rider makes the requirement for a safe pass explicit rather than optional.

This is the only systematic way to handle urban traffic. Taking the lane early, especially at narrow intersections, prevents those dangerous close passes by removing the invitation for a driver to squeeze through a gap. When the rider controls the lane, the requirement for a safe pass becomes explicit; it forces the motorist to treat the bicycle as a legitimate vehicle rather than a peripheral object.