Living dangerously

I ride my bike most days and only make use of my car one or two days a week, weather and distance dependent. Probably the only downsides of riding are influenced by these two variables. Fairly obviously riding in the rain means you WILL get wet to some degree, and YES cycling is exercise which is a definite positive until you need to find a shower or face the risk of losing friends.

These are some of the reasons I'm given for not riding but by far the most common is "riding in Auckland is dangerous?" and I'd be lying if I disagreed.  Symonds Street during rush hour isn't cycle friendly, the "Bus (and cycle lanes who knew?) are full of surprise surprise bus's, and ANYONE who has driven in Auckland let alone ridden knows that the drivers pay little regard to anything else on the road, I've seen wing mirrors taken off on the fly for goodness sake!

But it doesn't worry me to much extent, sure I get cut off at least once a day, and there have been countless close calls, but thankfully nothing that has put me off my bike. I guess I've come to expect it and after 8 years of road riding it's become the norm, I ride thinking "...that useless person is going to cut me off..." and try preempt cars movements. The old rule of treat everyone else on the road as an idiot applies well.

Should it be like that?
People claim to not be able to see cyclists and there have been numerous incidents involving such situations.
There have been various bikewise campaigns to increase the driving populations awareness of riders presence on the road, but still people are oblivious.

There has been a lot of talk involving moving people from their cars to other forms of transport with bikes being one of them, before this happens potential cyclists need to feel safe.
If the government/council/greeny's want more people out of their cars and on to their bikes, something has to give.Sure you can spend money on campaigns and little signs saying look out for cyclists, but until there are cycle lanes that are exclusively cycle lanes or the laws change I cannot see people caring any more.
In Amsterdam, the law actually puts the motorist at fault in any collision with a cyclist, hows that for motivation to look out for them? Too bad if you don't see a rider pulling out, here come insurance costs and careless driving charges.
Would this work in NZ? or even in Auckland? I can see it being contested by motorists but if people know they may face a cost with collecting a rider they will have no choice to pay attention.

There are things cyclists can do to be more noticeable, they are fairly obvious and straight forward; lights, reflectors, bright colours etc.

Just a few things that could happen more detail to follow.