Originally Posted by
kiwigem
This is why I can't bring myself to make the leap into vehicular cycling.
I agree. There are many reasons why vehicular cycling doesn't work except for a small minority. Most bike users simple do not feel comfortable taking the lane and for very good reasons. A bike is slower and much more vulnerable then a motor vehicle. Asking someone on a 20 or 30 lb. bike to take the lane with 2000+ lb. motor vehicles traveling at higher speeds is foolish. The subjective safety level is very low. It works fine in slow moving residential areas, but not feeder and arterial roads. One bad driver and it's a disaster.
You will never advance the cause of bike commuting and get more people on bikes by pushing the idea of vehicular cycling. We need our own protected bike paths, and where that is not possible traffic has to be slowed down.