Been riding for the past 40 + years, and still do. A friend wanted to start riding a few years back, told him that the only way to stay alive is to treat half the people on the road as if you are invisible to them, and the other half as if they intentionally want to kill you. I used to blame car/truck drivers for most of the problem, but over the years I have seen way to many people on bikes that create their own problems.
That's pretty much what I was told when I was young. "They either don't see you or they're actively hostile." Those words of wisdom kept me alive long enough to get bike riding out of my system.
