Also, there is a (large) subset of the population that reflexively hate what they don't understand. A lot of the problem drivers just can't/won't understand the fact that a person would want to get out on a bike on a lovely day and just cruise - or go to lunch, or commute to work, or, well, whatever we are doing right then. It makes no sense to them, so they hate, and thus we are fair game, or at least fun to scare off the road (which belongs to them, doncha know ).

I'm not sure there is an answer to this problem, but we need to be aware and ride defensively.