has anyone else experienced the situation where cagers are 'looking' at you but not 'seeing' you?
I *never* assume that they've seen me, even if they appear to be looking right at me! If I'm approaching a junction and there's someone that could pull out, I'll slow down, cover the horn button and front brake and look for options to swerve out of their way if necessary.
There is an effect known as "looming", where, because the driver only sees a shape, but with no clues (eg two headlights on a car) to give them an accurate judgement of distance, they may think that you're further back than you are and that it's safe to pull out.
There's a nice animation here which shows the effect:
https://tomroelandts.com/articles/the-looming-effectAlso, if you have your headlight on and there's a car behind you, it can appear that your light belongs to the car behind and the driver fixates on the car, rather than noticing you.
What you can also do is introduce a little "weave" to the left and right as you approach, that gets their attention because the eye spots lateral movement more easily than something coming directly at the viewer and you avoid the "motion camouflage" effect.
See here for more information:
https://motoress.com/ride/motion-camouflage-riding-your-motorcycle/