Another flip turn question

Hey all, I recently relearned how to do a flip turn--had been scared of them for about ten years, and finally summoned the courage to work with a coach and overcome my fear. Now I'm doing them pretty happily when I'm on my own or in an uncrowded lane in masters practice (latter doesn't happen often). But when there are more than two people in a lane, I get uneasy and only flip turn if no one is close. When 4-5 people are in my lane, I'm pretty much not doing them, yet I see others easily doing flip turns in the same conditions. I'm uncomfortable doing flip turns if I can't see where lane mates are and whether they're close by, and I don't want to hammer someone (or be hammered) in mid-turn. How do you negotiate this? Or do you? Or do you switch to open turns if there are more than a certain number of people in a lane? I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I typically swim in the "beginner" lane (i.e. those of us with less experience and/or speed). Our speed varies a lot. I can lead the lane sometimes... until there are kick sets (though I'm improving the kicking, so there's that). Anyway, it's hard b/c of that to know who's where at any given time so I hardly dare initiate a flip turn. Thoughts/suggestions appreciated!