Wow, thanks for all the posts!
For the road rage/confidence, I have some pretty severe social anxiety so I'm pretty nervous about instigating something inadvertently, more than being flattened
Here's the biggest intersection:
http://goo.gl/maps/HvZlW
Most of the intersections have a dedicated turning or straight lanes, so I'm not in those unless I'm actually turning. Most of the ride I'm in the right-most center lane, but as you can see, there's a lot of lanes going on
I do not have to cross any lanes, because the lane to my right terminates in the intersection. The only point I cross a lane, is to stay IN the straight lane, and it's marked as "where bikes should be" on the road.
If I am filtering, nobody should be turning into me unless they're cutting across/into a lane where they shouldn't be. I only make 2 turns on this road, a left to get onto it from a designated left turn lane, and a right to exit, also in a dedicated turn lane.
I'm worried that by not filtering, someone's going to lean on their horn or something because they can't pass me and I'm slowing their progress through the intersection. Pretty aggressive drivers at that point, and it's always congested really badly. I will usually get there faster than any car if I am filtering, or taking the sidewalk.