Originally Posted by
base2
Geographic knowledge of how/where to ride for the least car conflicting route.
This one is key. If you take roughly the same route every day you should know where all the places to escape are where a car can't follow you.
I don't fear someone getting out of their car and coming at me. At least the odds are even, 1 human against 1 human, not 1 human against a car. I can't overpower a guy intent on hitting me with his car. The car is faster than I am and I can't punch a car back. My only escape is being able to get the bike to a place where the car can't follow me.
For example there is one spot on my route that runs parallel to the back of a parking lot. (meaning the road I'm on doesn't access the lot, you'd have to go around the block and approach the lot from the other side) But the divider is a bunch of big rocks, not a fence. A car can't go between the, but a bike fits through easily. So if someone was about to run me over on that road intentionally or otherwise, I can easily cut into that parking lot. If the car tries to follow me it's going to smash into a 2 ton boulder buried in the ground that isn't going to budge.
I know every inch of my normal route and where any such escape options are. You should also know which sections of your route do not have any escape options. And most importantly you should know spots that look like an escape route that will lead you to a dead end where you are trapped so you can avoid those.
If you ride a road next to a sidewalk that has driveways you can easily jump off the road onto the sidewalk using a driveway. (Or if you know how to hop a curb, but I never could get that right). A car could follow you up a driveway and turn onto the sidewalk to follow you but they probably won't.
It doesn't even have to be paved. If there are trees along the side of your route and you need to get away from a car, dart between the trees. You don't have to go deep into the forest, just get behind 1 good size tree.
Again, if the driver gets out of the car to continue pursuing you, you now choose between a 1 on 1 fight which is a big improvement over being run down by a car or you can ride you bike to a better escape route in the time it'll take the guy to get back into his car and start pursuing you again. And honestly...at that point they probably won't.