Quote Originally Posted by Ducatista
but, you can’t always avoid a vehicle pulling out in to your path
Ken, there is a lot you can do.
I'd claim that you can make sure that you are in the correct position (for avoidance, view and being seem), responsive gear, speed etc. most of the time if you took a systematic approach to hazard avoidance.
According to the police most accidents can be avoided by any party.
This is the problem though. If all roads had a 10mph limit and we all had hi viz, all give way junctions were stops and round-a-bouts were trafic light controlled there would be no fatalities on the road. There would also be no bikes as it would be boring as hell.

Yes we need to take responsibility for our actions but you can take all the precautions in the world, if someone doesn't look at a junction or during an overtake you are dead.
Everyone claims to have had a near miss and had to brake hard, but unless you've had one where you were doing everything right and it was so close you didn't even have chance to grab the brake then you don't know what a near miss is. I've had it happen once and playing it over and over in my mind came to the same conclusion. There was nothing within reason that I could've done to protect myself more.
These are the incidents that take lives.