At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, I'll say that it's a bit pointless arguing hypotheticals when the situation imagined by each participant differs. "Single lane, traffic ahead blocked by right-turning van, traffic island and railings in middle of road preventing oncoming traffic from turning across my path, all pedestrians in country led off to a hollow mountain by the Pied Piper the week previous, and the only vehicles in front of me are dukes of hazzard replica cars with the doors welded shut. Safe to undertake?""NO! YOU FOOL! WHAT ABOUT THE ORBITAL LASERS?"There are a few places I'll undertake: when I know the road and what's likely to happen and I have an escape route in case it really horribly doesn't (those giant banana skins dropping from the sky are so damn unpredictable) . I know it's a risk, but so is crossing the road - the point is not to eliminate the risk (stay in bed if that's the idea) but to manage it.