The only time I've made contact with a moving car as a cyclist was when I was going past an off-ramp.
The weird thing was that I thought the driver "saw me". It was late morning, no problem with visibility. From my POV, she was looking right at me. In fact, she was looking "through" me. She simply was expecting other cars and a person on a bike was not what she was looking for.
Not sure If I understand the exact traffic engineer definition of "off-ramp" but I was going straight on an urban street that the off-ramp exited onto.
Also, in my state at least, bicycles are completely legal to ride on the shoulder of the interstate and similar divided highways with the exception of about 20 miles of urban highway. Very few cyclists do so since it is still a dangerous and unpleasant experience. Personally, I have done so once when I made a couple of wrong turns on unfamiliar backroads. A 2 mile ride along the highway got me back to a spot I knew rather than risk getting even more lost farther from home.
The only time I've made contact with a moving car as a cyclist was when I was going past an off-ramp.
The weird thing was that I thought the driver "saw me". It was late morning, no problem with visibility. From my POV, she was looking right at me. In fact, she was looking "through" me. She simply was expecting other cars and a person on a bike was not what she was looking for.
Human attention is very much selective. Check out this shocking video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
After that, I ride with a bright flashing headlight at all times, even daylight. It gives some measure of protection, I think.