You make vary valid points and put them across well. I particularly like the 6th sense explanation.You may have done everything 'correctly' and I am in no way blaming you for either of these incidents but we can always do things better, nobody is perfect!
There has already been mention of 'sixth sense' in this thread and it is nothing magical or mysterious. It's hard to explain but it is a mixture of experience, anticipation and suspicion. In the case with the taxi driver there may have been clues that you missed, maybe he never quite came to a stop, maybe he was chatting with his fare or glancing at the meter instead of looking at the road? The idiot in the Astra sound pretty random and other than listening to the road and engine noise of the traffic around you there is not a lot you can do about jerks like him.
It's not The Matrix, and we are not Keanu Reeves but by staying alert and using ALL the information available to us we can hope to get close
The taxi driver's explanation was the stock "sorry mate I didn't see you." He didn't have a fare and was at complete standstill as I crossed the junction. I normally try to make eye contact with any driver at a junction but being honest, I'm not sure I did or even tried in this instance.
I guess I'll have to be even more vigilant in future.
