Originally Posted by
CrankyOne
Bicycles do not need stop signs or lights nor do they need the queuing space and turn lanes necessary for cars to improve the efficiency of stopped traffic at junctions. These are only needed when bicycles intersect with cars.
Much snipped
This has been a major point in bicycle traffic engineering from the very beginning. Consider the points of a diamond labelled, for ease in visualization, N, E, S, W as in the points of a compass. A cyclist who wishes to travel from N to S has to cross all traffic between E and W. As long as travel is limited to one plane, call it the ground plane, that has to be so, regardless of what route the cyclist takes. No matter what bikeways get built, the traffic between E and W still exists. And crossing and turning movements cause about 95% of car-bike collisions. The trouble spots are where motor and bicycle traffic intersect, just as CrankyOne stated. So what gets done about these?