Things cyclists should know … POV driver who's incapable of cycling

On visibility

[]I can identify cyclists in bright/reflective clothing at a much greater distance than cyclists in dark clothing. The further away you are when I first notice you the better for us all.
[]One dim light on the front and rear of your bike means that I am a lot closer to you when it becomes apparent that you are a cyclist. Flashing front and rear lights with a decent amount of brightness immediately trigger the 'cyclist' response in my head

I'm interested by these points and have been wondering about this for a little while now myself. Why is it so important to 'identify' cyclists (or any other road user for that matter.). I'd certainly never argue against good lights and light coloured clothes, but the insistence on identification over 'mere' observation and anticipation seems really strange, is it only once something has been identified ("That's a tree in the road!") that action can be taken? Do people not slow down if they don't know what that thing in front of them is?

Anecdotally I've found it to be a common complaint, that it's hard to tell if a blinky red light is a cyclist or not. I have to wonder why it matters though, if you see something and have to think "What's that?" you should be slowing down or taking steps to mitigate any potential issue that may arise. It doesn't matter if that light is a cyclist, pedestrian or simply nailed to a piece of wood on someone's drive. (I regularly slow down whilst driving on country lanes for lights that turn out to be security lights or similar.)

If I am driving down a country lane and a single headlight heads towards us, do we wait until we recognise it as a motorbike or a broken light on a car before moderating my driving?!