In my particular situation, there has never been a "bad incident". When approached by strangers, she pancakes to the pavement and is visibly fearful and anxiou

In my particular situation, there has never been a "bad incident". When approached by strangers, she pancakes to the pavement and is visibly fearful and anxious. She'll even stray away when people she doesn't know are walking on the sidewalk within 30 feet or so. It's not just a warning, but also communication that being approached scares her (I always use the word "bite", because apparently when I say "my dog is terrified of strangers", some people think a sane response is "Oh, dogs love me! Come here, pooch, gimme a smooch!"). I don't take her to dog parks or places with lots of people. Avoiding any possibility of the situation would mean not taking her for daily walks around the neighborhood; this is just the reaction when somebody who is not familiar in the neighborhood sees her for the first time (often people just walking down their driveways toward me). I don't think that fully isolating her from ever seeing a person she doesn't know is necessarily the best choice for her either. For somebody to suddenly pet her, there would have to be a person who is hiding behind a hedge or car waiting to jump out and pet a strange dog, which would be a bad idea regardless of the dog's disposition to strangers. I understand your point, but I think you're making the assumption that I'm putting her into avoidable situations that are higher risk, rather than the bare minimum necessary proximity to people in order for her to get her exercise and the psychological necessity for anxious dogs to scope out their surroundings regularly.