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@yoav
Although I agree with the general sentiment of the above posts, I am going to try and give you a sensible answer.
I don't think the average car driver pays any attention to whether the cyclist is pedalling or not. That would require them to specifically observe what the bottom half of the cyclist is doing, and they don't.
I don't have any specific evidence to disprove your theory but there are plenty of studies showing that car drivers are woefully bad at estimating the speed and direction of other road users, particularly those physically smaller than cars, i.e. cyclists and motorcyclists.