I'm astonished at how ignorant otherwise intelligent bicyclists often are of the rule common in most US states that they can and should take the traffic lane (and should take the center of the lane to block cars from edging around to their left) when they are stopped at a red light where there is a shared right turn/bike lane.
I often see bikers who have helmets, lights, visibility vests, etc., all signs of being clear thinking riders, parking themselves squat in the middle of the shared turn lane at a red, when they should be in the main stream of traffic for the duration of the wait (in fact the recommendation is to ride with traffic if your speed matches it, absent bike lanes).
When the light turns green, cars are stationary, and bikes accelerate plenty fast in the first few seconds. One or two turns of the pedal gets you over back into the right side, and onward into the continuing bike lane as you cross the street. This can happen in a couple of seconds without significantly slowing down any cars (unless it's a Tesla P85D, maybe).
Joining the main stream of traffic in front of a car at a red light (assuming you beat that car to the red) may miff some ignorant drivers (ignorance all around, right?) but they'll be pleasantly surprised that you are out of their way in no time when the light turns green. Obviously this doesn't apply if you're a super slow rider... in which case, people just need to be patient for a few seconds. The point is, if you are blocking a shared right turn lane, you are doing it wrong.
I had to educate my wife on this one while we were living in the UK. If you are going the speed of the traffic, use the lane just like any other vehicle. Doing anything else is dangerous. A good example is when turning right (in the UK, left in most of the world). Get into the proper position before your turn so that you don't have to cut over a whole line of traffic in order to turn.
We've returned to Japan now, but unfortunately the laws here are different. You must be in the left side of the lane and they even encourage you to ride on the sidewalk :-P. If you want to turn right, you have to wait at the left side of the road until there is a break in traffic and then cut across all the lanes of traffic. I wish someone would update the laws here...
On the other hand, scooters are have a speed limit of 30 km/h where as push bikes have no speed limit :-) I'm a bit afraid of the day that the powers that be realize that cyclists often go faster than 30...
This varies a lot by country even in Europe. In Denmark it is not legal for a cyclist to enter the car lanes to make a left turn (unless it's a road with no bike lanes at all). The standard left-turn method is to stay in the bike lane on the right, continue straight across the intersection, then stop on the other side, turn your bike 90º to the left, and line up to go straight across in the other direction when the light changes. This is sometimes called a "Copenhagen left" or a "box turn" [1]. It feels a lot safer to me than having to merge across car lanes to make a turn.
Maybe safer but also a way to tell cyclists to be very patient and don't think of going anywhere quickly. Cycling on sidewalks is only a little worse than that.
I prefer doing like cars, waiting in the middle of the road. There are usually cars waiting there too and they act as a sort of shield. Obviously on large roads it can be difficult to make it to the center of the road and in that case I do a Copenaghen left myself.
In Belgium, you are allowed to do this. When I moved to Copenhagen I was seriously annoyed for the reasons you mentioned when I realized I had to first cross, wait and only then go on with my ride. However, I started realizing that the Copenhagen way actually works very well, and it is a LOT safer, and so much more relaxed (not slower). Merging into traffic and crossing the street to get to the lane to turn left can be a stressful affair. I used to bike in Brussels and I can assure you that is a jungle over there: you have to be reckless as a biker (and so I was) if you want to get anywhere at all. On the upside: a fast morning ride through Brussels from home to work was one big adrenaline shot. Once behind my desk, I was awake, sharp and ready to start working :-)
Additionally, cars going for a left turn usually have a separate traffic light which is red when the main direction has green. The time you gain using that lane compared to the "box turn" is minimal as such.
A lot is also context: Copenhagen has a very extensive bicycle lane network that does not involve any cars that is constantly expanding. Cykelslangen is a nice example of such a bike only short cut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmKXYZZy6dI, http://www.dw.dk/cykelslangen/, http://classiccopenhagen.blogspot.dk/2014/06/cykelslangen.ht.... When going around the city, you are just faster with a bike because you take more direct routes (away from car lanes) with less traffic lights. If I have to take a left turn on big busy car street, I couldn't car less if I had to wait for making a box turn: I am faster anyway, and the properly tuned and fast switching red-green lights minimize the wait.
I agree the quick light cycles are a big help, also for pedestrians. You rarely wait more than 15-30 seconds on the other side for the light to change, so it's not really much of a delay. I do find the really long light cycles in many American cities annoying as a pedestrian.
Another reason few people in Copenhagen mind the "Copenhagen left" is that since cycle lanes are usually physically separated from the car lanes, it doesn't even occur to anyone that entering the car lanes to turn would be an option. You'd have to physically cross the barrier separating the bike and the car lanes (sometimes a row of parked cars, sometimes a curb, occasionally bollards), which would not be an obvious or convenient thing to do. That part of the arrangement also seems much safer to me. I don't like riding in a bike lane that is essentially just a repainted shoulder, lacking any means to physically exclude cars from the lane.
That's the way cars turn right in some major intersections in the CBD of Melbourne, Australia. In this application it's called a hook turn[2]. They're used in Melbourne because the city streets are unusually wide and it stops trams from being blocked.
Do you even bike? I don't want to cross over a lane of traffic right out of an intersection. That sounds like the most dangerous thing I could do. I'll happily sit in the turn lane during a red light. If someone wants to turn, they can wait to till it's green. I'm not going to risk my life so that someone can get to their destination 1.5 seconds sooner. If someone has an issue, they can get out of their car and confront me about it.
Ultimately, this is the fault of whoever planned the streets so badly.
What? No one said anything about “crossing over a lane of traffic”. You start in front of the cars in the regular go-straight lane, and then when the light turns green, you ride straight across the intersection. If there’s a bike lane on the other side of the intersection, you aim for the bike lane.
This is safer for everyone involved than your suggestion of parking your bike in the turn lane.
I think you misunderstand him, he saying if you are proceeding straight then you shouldn't wait in the right turn lane to proceed straight. which makes sense
I worry that by the time you merge back in, a car from the right could take you down. Merging is terrifying as a bicyclist.
Those "shared lanes" are a disaster, and even the non-physically separated bike lanes are dangerous, since you can both get door'd by a parked car from the right, and you can hit on the left by a car.
I've noticed that they've been adding physical separation on Market st, but most of the bike lanes here are still incredibly dangerous.
Why would there be a car on the right? When you are in the go-straight main traffic lane (or the rightmost main traffic non-turn lane) then any car on the right is in the right turn lane, and is therefore, by definition, turning right, away from you. How would that take you down? I think you are misunderstanding the scenario.
In the UK we quite often have a designated cyclist area across all lanes in front of the cars at traffic lights. This makes things much safer since you can position yourself correctly for the turn and most drivers are sensible enough not to attempt an overtake as you turn.
Yea, you're not wrong - there's a very real issue around respecting cyclist spaces on roads and this is just another example. It's probably just another example of people considering themselves exempt from the rules though, you see it when drivers stop carelessly at box junctions or cyclists ignore a red light because nobody's crossing.
I often see bikers who have helmets, lights, visibility vests, etc., all signs of being clear thinking riders, parking themselves squat in the middle of the shared turn lane at a red, when they should be in the main stream of traffic for the duration of the wait (in fact the recommendation is to ride with traffic if your speed matches it, absent bike lanes).
When the light turns green, cars are stationary, and bikes accelerate plenty fast in the first few seconds. One or two turns of the pedal gets you over back into the right side, and onward into the continuing bike lane as you cross the street. This can happen in a couple of seconds without significantly slowing down any cars (unless it's a Tesla P85D, maybe).
Joining the main stream of traffic in front of a car at a red light (assuming you beat that car to the red) may miff some ignorant drivers (ignorance all around, right?) but they'll be pleasantly surprised that you are out of their way in no time when the light turns green. Obviously this doesn't apply if you're a super slow rider... in which case, people just need to be patient for a few seconds. The point is, if you are blocking a shared right turn lane, you are doing it wrong.