Originally Posted by
B. Carfree
The heavier the traffic, the easier it is for me to fight my way over to a left turn lane. In fact, the motorists seem to be much more cooperative in making room for me after I signal when it is stop-and-go than when they are going over 40 mph. On two-lane 55 mph highways I just make sure the car I am getting in front of has plenty of time to deal with that, just like I do when I'm driving 40 tons down the highway. If cyclists make a habit of doing some sort of funky pedestrian turn, then that will become what is expected and those of us who are riding according to the law will have more unpleasant encounters.
Yeah, this is my thinking and way, too. I just move like a car, like I'm supposed to. Sure, there have been times when, on multiple lane, one way streets, traffic was too heavy and fast moving for me to cross 3 lanes (not at intersection, so no turn light) to make the left when I decided to just pull to the right curb or corner and wait for traffic to clear, but generally, and especially at lights, getting left is really not a problem.
Maybe the trick is planning ahead enough (i.e. check behind) so that you adjust your speed to match the gap coming up from behind so that you can take the lane and complete the merge before traffic and you start jamming up at the intersection and have to stop.