You can't avoid every situation, but you can mitigate a lot of them. You have to know where you can go as you approach someone who is looking to turn left. You _have_ to be actively dealing with the situation as you approach.

Also, this time of year (equinox), you have to be really on guard when you're traveling east-west in the morning and the evening because the Sun is right behind you and someone turning left is looking into the Sun.