Harry Hurt once said, if someone turns left in front of you, it's your fault. Might be true in some circumstances. High speed mind reading might help but then again.
I don't pipe up too often on these discussions because that's pretty much how I feel. I've yet to personally witness, or even see video of a crash where the biker couldn't have been operating more safely. Note: I didn't say not at fault. But I'm reminded of my high school drivers ed instructor saying that being DEAD right was small consolation.
If I'm honest, every close call or scrape I've had, there was good component of my not paying enough attention or just riding like a numbskull. Like somebody else said, I never trust the blinkers on another vehicle. I'll believe you're turning when I see the wheels cut over. I assume every car in position to do so will turn in front of me. I also assume that every cager pulling up behind me at a signal light isn't going to stop. I try to always have an escape route picked out. And the biggest thing of all, is simply LEAVE ENOUGH ROOM BETWEEN YOU AND THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU. Almost nobody does that.
Having said all of that, I have caught myself zoning out, tailgating, getting frustrated, and generally not riding safely. I try to stay conscious of it and improve. If I ever do get creamed, even if the other driver is clearly at fault, there's a better than even chance that I could have done something to prevented it.
