Commuting - Multiple lane intersections

I have noticed that my most dangerous and frustrating altercations with motorists come when there are multiple lane intersections. Here are two scenarios and some questions:

This morning:

A three lane intersection. The left and center lan are left turn only. The right lane is straight only. I am positioned in the right hand portion of the center lane (because I am turning left) approaching cars stopped at the light, and I hear Beep Beep Beep Beep . . . you get the idea. I just kept riding because it was the safest thing to do. When I got to the stopped cars a small truck (Chevy Luv) passed by in the left lane and glared at me the whole time we were at the light. He was too far away to talk to him about what happened, but he definitely thought I did not belong there.

Last summer:

A two lane intersection. The left lane goes straight the right lane turns right only. I am going straight so I am in the right hand portion of the left lane. I hear the incessant beeping again. I also hear an engine rev, so I look over my shoulder and there is a 20something in a jetta fuming at me. I turned around and kept riding. He gunned it around me on the left and glared at me in his rear view mirror while moving back to the right trying to clip my front wheel. I through my hands up and he sped on to the light (about 20 feet away) just as it turned red. I had the opportunity to talk to this one when I pulled up next to him at the light. I politely asked him what that was all about ( I was thinking I should drag him out through the window as he is ignoring me). He told me to get out of the middle of the road. I explained lane position and where I was going (I avoided the comment about where he should go). He told me to get out of the fing road and turned right on red.

What is the solution? Do they make traffic signs that say Left turning cyclists use center lane or cyclist please use left lane to go straight? Less for cyclists, but more for a reference for drivers. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

I do enter the lane I am going to be traveling in well before the intersection to avoid crossing in front of cars trying to gun it through yellows.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I would just ignore them. They are only trying to get your attention/intimidate.

But as far as taking the lane goes, be careul about being in the right side of a left turn lane, you don't want to have folks pass you while you are making the left turn - take the center of the lane and merge to the right during the completion of the turn.

Al

These idiots are everywhere. They are insecure and dangerous and apparently never learned basic courtesy or how to drive safely, and no, they don't own the road... :rolleyes:

But you can bet your ass that the traffic engineers who designed these intersections never gave one minute's thought to how a bicyclist might safely negotiate their motor vehicle first, last and only design...except by riding somewhere else... :eek:

I have a multi-lane roundabout (traffic circle) that I deal with everyday on my commute (well, actually I have a couple, but only one where I have to make a turn opposite to the side of the road I'm riding on). I just claim the lane after picking a gap in the traffic early on in the approach. If there isn't a gap there, I'll just stop and wait for one.

The road engineering is not the problem. The ignorance of the drivers wrt. the road engineering, or the apparent incapacity of them to understand that it applies to everyone, is the problem. IOW, it's a driver problem, not a road problem. Unfortunately, that makes it a much bigger and more complicated problem. Asphalt and colored lights are much more manageable than the human brain (esp. millions of malfunctioning ones).

check this website for safety rules and issues:

www.bicyclinglife.com

Corsaire :)