This is fantastic advice. The only thing I can really add is you should be keeping track of what’s around you, don’t look just before a lane change. Having good situational awareness is the most important thing when driving.
But newer cars have such poor visibility that it takes too much effort to track movement such that it becomes a diversion. In my '93 Civic any kind of movement in my peripheral--direct or in the mirror--registered immediately; and that peripheral was wide and tall and clear. It was also easier to hear the road and traffic, which also helped. Newer cars make you feel like you're entombed and deaden the senses, compounding the problem.
I know part of my degraded situational awareness is getting older, but since we keep a '98 Civic for when I have to commute by car, I have an idea about which changes are more objective than subjective. The sight lines in the '98 Civic aren't as great as the '93, but still incomparable to the post-2010 cars I've leased or rented. I drive both our family car (new lease every 2-3 years) and the '98 in roughly equal proportion and pretty much all of my unforced traffic errs have been in newer cars. (The most egregious of which are not noticing pedestrians about to cross at a four-way intersection. Modern A pillars seem deviously sized and placed to perfectly obscure the far corners of an intersection. Though I suppose these are the errs I'm most likely to notice as the pedestrians are revealed the moment you begin to enter the intersection from a stop. Most other potential collisions probably go unnoticed.)
Thankfully this year we finally leased a car with lane departure warning. It hasn't actually prevented an unforced err, yet, but I'm glad it's there. (I know it's there because it'll beep if there's an adjacent car when I initiate signaling, even if I'm not moving into the lane. If a car sneaks up after signaling it only warns when you begin the lane change.)
It will probably take a lot of lawsuits to turn the trend around. We might not get there before driving your car is outlawed, obviating the whole problem.
that said, there are plenty of affordable cars with great visibility (e.g., a vw golf). if you pick a car with bad visibility, it's kinda on you.
I have to say though, the design of that intersection seems crazy. do I understand correctly that vehicles traveling on either road can just go straight across without stopping if they don't see anyone? where I live, at least one of those roads would need a stop sign. I can't think of a single time where I've been surprised by someone moving perpendicular to me.
They could be lying, I suppose. I don't know why they would, but that doesn't mean they're not (after all their lips are moving), but I like to have some evidence.
In Europe the smallest car typically does not fit in the blind spot, in the US a pick up truck fits in there.
The worst case is when they expect to turn right soon; I consistently have drivers half-overtake me and then start moving towards me, or turn right across a bike lane without looking.
I don't think I've ever forgotten about a biker I've passed, but I also like to avoid situations where I might forget, which put the biker in a position to surprise me, or which impede my maneuverability if something else happens.
But while I'm okay poking along for a block, if there's traffic behind me then that could result in an impatient driver overtaking both of us, which could be far worse. It's a tricky balancing act.
I will admit to having a mildly "political" motive, in that I would like drivers to have a positive experience dealing with cyclists. So I'm probably more courteous than the bare minimum required by the traffic laws. I get out of the way if I'm backing up traffic, whether driving a car or riding my bike.
My general preference is to find routes where there's minimal car traffic.
Me too, except the other way around. I will make sure there is a ton of room before merging in front of a bicyclist, and I will give them the full lane on a two lane road when passing them even if they're hugging the curb.
When riding on the streets, they are given the same legal protection as any other vehicle. I just wish that every bicyclist also knew that they have to follow every law a car does too - including stopping at red lights and stop signs.
Either way, it sounds like you've given it a lot of thought so you're likely the least of my worries. Just imagine it would be your child on the bicycle and you'll probably do the right thing. (Short of picking them up -- don't do that.)
When I took my driving test in Ireland the examiner marked me down for checking for cyclists and simply said "there won't be any cyclists doing 20kph" - which of course is a very normal cycling speed.