The problem is the guy who wants to turn left into your path. On a bike, you have no idea whether or not he sees you. Even eye contact isn’t a good indicator.

The problem is the guy who wants to turn left into your path. On a bike, you have no idea whether or not he sees you. Even eye contact isn’t a good indicator. It can seem like a non-issue, but it really isn’t. Drivers’ eyes are trained by experience to recognize other cars. From a driver’s point of view, an approaching bike (motor or otherwise) is a narrow vertical line that has very little apparent motion. Even if they see you, it’s really hard for an oncoming driver to gauge your speed. There are things you can do to make yourself more visible, like swerve a little in your lane. This gives you some lateral motion that makes you pop out of the background. The point is that on two wheels you face situations that four wheel drivers don’t think about or understand because they take their visibility for granted.