I do think motorists are more polite because they see I am a woman. Especially when I am slogging up one of the mammoth sized hills around here and am up out of my saddle, the skort is extremely visible to motorists. So either they are just more polite to women or they think I am nuts riding a bike in a skirt. Either way, they do give me wide berth! However, I too am longing for the day when we have a more bike aware motoring population. Either that, or bike trails that actually go where I want to go. I'll let you know the end results of my experiment.