[panglott]

There's cyclist safety-consciousness and then there's driver perception of cyclist safety consciousness. These are separate things.

I never wear spandex, almost never wear a helmet, but I always have lights and mirrors, and I never, never run a red light (unless it is sensor-driven and won't change for me). Plenty of spandex'ed and helmeted cyclists will run a red light after checking to make sure there's no oncoming traffic. Yet drivers are almost certain to assume that the spandex'ed and helmeted cyclist is more safety-conscious than me. Even if helmets are much lower down on the list of what keeps cyclists safe than traffic norms and behavior, road choice (arterial vs. nonarterial), lights, mirrors, &c.

Meanwhile passing too closely is very dangerous. =/