to be seen (an obvious goal) one has to assume the car / truck / semi driver is always looking out, instead of occasionally at their cell phone / map / sandwich etc.
We all should ride the ride that seems to work for us.
I don't assume anything, and to keep my emotions in balance, I no longer think of drivers of other vehicles as being human. I think of them as vehicle parts. They either function well or are defective so there is no purpose served by honking at them. After all, there are plenty of videos showing drivers pulling into lanes occupied by eighteen wheelers that are both tall and wide and whose dual air horns are being blasted at them, or riding onto railroad tracks with dual diesel engines and horns roaring away at them; dual Fiamms don't seem like the solution. Plus, using them to lecture vehicles that have occupied space that seems rightfully to belong to somebody else seems downright dimwitted. I usually honk my horn when a synapse derailment causes me to use its button as a turn indicator cancel. I haven't removed it like johnny has because I use it to attract moose.
The most important abilities I practice periodically are threshold braking with swerving and elimination of target fixation. Luckily, there are plenty of defunct shopping malls to use as practice fields and backroad straightaways can be handy, also. Watch a hundred hours of vehicle accidents on YouTube; you're likely to see a trend or two.
My focus is not only on enjoying the ride but keeping ever-foremost in my mind that other drivers and riders are likely to act unskilled, unaware, selfish, preoccupied or generally fecked, and that I've crossed into those territories too. When somebody is courteous, it increases the pleasure of riding and I always acknowledge it when I can—with a nod or wave.
