I'd like to think that we can use our best judgement about when to dive for the hedge
I'd honestly rather irritate a driver who has to *slow* suddenly to pass me safely than have him/her try to squeeze past me going too fast.
I won't say that I have never had a scary encounter with a motor vehicle on a single track lane, but the few that I've had have been entirely down to the driver of a motor vehicle going too fast for conditions.
I learned the lesson about position, more than anything, by pulling a trailer around on the back lanes. I was amazed by how much space drivers gave me. I thought it was solely down to the trailer, but I found that when I rode in the same position on a solo bike without a trailer, I had results that were nearly as good.
The only negative is that I did have one altercation with a motorist whom I scared when he came round a blind bend at silly mph (note that I don't know how fast he was going, but I'd guess more than 40, and it was a bend that I slowed for on my bike, let alone the car). He came to screeching halt in the road, as I dived for hedge. Then he rolled down his window to scream profanities at me. I attempted to point out that the outcome would have been no different if I'd been riding a horse (of which there are plenty in the area), or pushing a baby buggy. But of course, once he was onto screaming profanities, he wasn't seeing any sense. I can imagine that if I'd been on the side, like he imagined I should have been, either the outcome would have been the same, or he'd have clipped me at silly mph, and it would have been much worse than just getting stuck with wild plum thorns from the hedge.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom