Originally Posted by
Helmet Head
Good drivers and cyclists understand the underlying rules and principles upon which laws are based, and drive and ride accordingly. They don't follow the letter of the law like some kind of moron Nazi automatons unthinkingly following the letter of the law, no matter how unsafe or unreasonable doing so may be.
Once in a while the safe and reasonable thing to do is to drive or ride in the empty right turn lane for a while, perhaps to let a fast moving platoon of cars to pass that has just been released by a traffic light. Again, this is only when traffic volumes and speed differentials are high enough, and the right turn lane is relatively unoccupied.
The only times I can recall doing it is on uphills (thus causing the high speed differentials) and where the right turn lane is unusually long.
Your supposition is based on "Good Drivers;" I contend that most drivers are not good drivers, but good enough drivers... that they don't tend to think about what they or others are doing, but simply mechanically go through the motions and avoid near misses most of the time. There is after all little incentive for most drivers to become "Good Drivers." Good enough gets the job done. This is NOT to say that all motorists are good enough drivers, just most. There are exceptions... professionals, and folks that really love to drive, or for some reason may have more than basic knowledge.
Based on that, anything out of the ordinary may not register with "good enough" drivers. A classic example is the Clairemont Mesa Blvd bridge over 805, where the far right lane is a merging on and off ramp for the freeway. One may chose to ride in that lane... as you avoid the main flow of traffic, but soon enough you will have to merge back into the main flow... and in the mean time, you are in the path of motorists either accelerating or decelerating for the freeway. You will cause confusion somewhere.
Of course honestly, it confuses some motorists when you are in the straight through lane... they expect you to be somewhere on the sidewalk or in that dirty narrow strip of road beyond the fog line.
I suppose my bottom line point is, this violates destination positioning, therefore will cause confusion for even the Good Drivers.
And just to rub the point in... John Forester says that your speed doesn't matter much and you should be able to practice VC anytime, anywhere.