Originally Posted by jralbert

I've argued this argument til' I can argue no more. I know what's right for me, where I live, which is to follow the law (bicycles are regulated the same as cars here, with a few notable exceptions), and to avoid situations that put me in conflict with either the law or other road users. OP says his video shows a road-legal manoeuvre in his jurisdiction, which it very well might - I surely don't know the details of road law everywhere else - but the five seconds he spends pulling up between the two lines of traffic and turning left alongside the line of vehicles puts the absolute fear of a wrathful cosmos into me.

If Jimmy in the truck on the right decides suddenly to open his door to check something in the truck bed, as I've seen happen many a time at intersections, I'm dead. If Davey in the Camry at the head of the line on the right has a sudden change of heart and decides he wants to turn left after all and maybe he can beat the left line by pinning it when the light changes - also a common if badly-behaved technique - I'm dead. If any of the fine upstanding citizens in the left turn line wander from the center of the lane during the turn, or make a sudden right into a driveway coming out of the turn - I'm dead. None of those drivers would expect me to be where the video's example would put me, so I can't expect them to keep me safe, and I just can't see taking a risk that big for at most a few minutes of time savings. Aren't we always making fun of motorists for being impatient?

For me, I would join the line of cars and turn as a full-lane occupant before resuming my position on the right. I'm fast enough from a standing start to stay with traffic through an intersection - cars are surprisingly slow to get going from a full stop - so I don't see I'd be inconveniencing anybody, and at worst it'd only be for a few seconds before I'm out of their way. Doing it that way, with proper lights and reflectors, means no one's going to be surprised I'm there, and that oughta keep me relatively safe. If the intersection is so crazy that there's no safe way for me to completely take the lane, I'd dismount and cross both ways as a pedestrian - probably beating the left-turn lane anyway. Totally legal, minimally inconvenient, near-zero risk - which is exactly how I want to ride.