Yeah, I've been fed that insurance BS before. Somebody somewhere up the food chain would rather not have cyclists in their drive thrus. Really sucked for me back in the 90s because after work there was NOWHERE to get food at that hour. Grocery stores were all closed and Taco Bell drive thru was the only option, but they hated bikes so screw Taco Bell.

Like another poster, I'm more afraid of riding past a drive thru exit than being in a drive thru. People exiting a drive thru don't look where they're going and usually just cruise right across the sidewalk and into the bike lane before possibly slowing and looking for traffic coming from the left.

There is at least one fast food restaurant that likes bikes in their drive thrus, however:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting...ille_offi.html