[LittleBigMan]

What do you think.

On approaching a red light in very busy traffic with narrow lanes, instead of waiting in line with traffic, move all the way to the front, then pull over to the side out of the way. When the light changes to green, walk across in the crosswalk. Then, when the light changes to red again, take that clearing in traffic to head off again.

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[mechBgon]

I wait in line and accelerate with traffic. The more cars in the line ahead of me, the slower the acceleration required. If I'm in front, then it's cheetah time :D

[ItsJustMe]

Nope, I'm VC. I get in line.

[noisebeam]

What do you think.

On approaching a red light in very busy traffic with narrow lanes, instead of waiting in line with traffic, move all the way to the front, then pull over to the side out of the way. When the light changes to green, walk across in the crosswalk. Then, when the light changes to red again, take that clearing in traffic to head off again.
I'd stay in the lane the whole time. Sounds like you are concerned wiht holding up traffic, if you want to pull over I'd estimate there would be safer places to do so than an intersection with multidirectional traffic.
The part that concerns me most is getting back into the flow of fast traffic after the x-walk, your gonna have to negotiate a merge back in front of cars that are now at full speed, not ones that are getting up to speed - and once cyclists is in x-walk I 'expect' them to stay there and go onto sidewalk - so jumping back in the lane could be viewed as 'unpredictable'

Al

[mechBgon]

I thought I'd add that if best judgement seemed to dictate the "walkie-then-rejoin-traffic" approach, I'd certainly consider it. You gotta do what you gotta do :) and the scenarios that play back in my head may be a lot different than the ones you face on your ride.

[Brad M]

You must be regularly late for work.

[John C. Ratliff]

To my mind, it depends...on my mood and on the mood of the traffic. If it's a day where the traffic is doing wild things, then I think LittleBigMan's idea would be very good. If driving conditions are like they were today (driving rain, 35 mph wind gusts), then that would be another good time to use this tactic.

John

[eubi]

This is a viable alternative.

Just be sure that you don't get hit by a car in the right hand turn lane after you move to the front of the line and them move to the sidewalk!

[Jalopy]

Although I have never used that strategy, I don't see anything wrong with it provided that the merge back into traffic is done safely and appropriately.

I have considered a similar approach where I am required to merge across several lanes of traffic to make a left hand turn at a signalized intersection. I haven't done it yet but I don't think I would lose much time (seconds only, if anything) and it seems safer than merging with moderate to heavy traffic moving at good speed when everybody is impatient to get home. The only thing that stops me is my misguided perception that a "real" cyclist wouldn't need to :(

Jalopy

[lyledriver]

Its kind of funny standing in the middle of the intersection, signalling left and waiting, while all the other cyclists are walking their bikes across the cross walks.

I regularly encounter this at one intersection of my commute (Victoria/Broadway for those familiar with Vancouver).

[Dchiefransom]

This is similar to a suggestion by someone on the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition site. If a busy freeway onramp is just after an intersection, push the walk button for cross traffic while waiting at the light, then time your ride for the break in traffic after the light turns red. The crosswalk light will make the gap longer.

[chocula]

This is similar to a suggestion by someone on the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition site. If a busy freeway onramp is just after an intersection, push the walk button for cross traffic while waiting at the light, then time your ride for the break in traffic after the light turns red. The crosswalk light will make the gap longer.

And another similar suggestion appears in Robert Hurst's "The Art of Urban Cycling," which I read recently and enjoyed a great deal.