I started thinking about this today, after a couple of encounters that were slightly too close for comfort.

A lot of my commute is on a bike path, but I still have to deal with busy roads and city traffic. I try to be visible and ride decisively with clear signals, and use my right of way when appropriate. Not least because riding like a car gives the signal that I expect to be treated like one as well. But I still try to ride so that if someone doesn't yield when they should, I won't end up under half a ton of steel... That can sometimes be a fine line to draw.

I often experience the opposite too - in situations where I'm supposed to yield and am already slowing down, a crossing driver will slow down to a stop and presumably want me to pass first. I don't know why, maybe because drivers often experience kamikaze cyclists who don't respect traffic rules at all, or maybe they're unsure of the rules when, for example, a bike path crosses a road, but whatever the reason it's a little confusing. Geonz wrote once about perfecting the "pre-emptory wave", which means "No, YOU first!" This is great if you can time it right, but too often I forget about it or am too busy braking, and we just end up hovering at each other. It's not easy to see a driver waving you on when it's dark and wet out.

So does anybody else feel they often have to or should yield when they have the right of way, or conversely are given the right of way when they're supposed to be yielding?