[QUOTE=VTBike;17207503]I agree that this "bikes takes less space" demonstration is somewhat silly. It does't really prove anything. As mentioned earlier, a bicycle sharing the road with motor vehicles is going to want more space than they are illustrating.
Gridlock occurs when you have lots of people competing for limited space and/or when you have factors working against the flow of traffic. The reality is that adding lots of bicycles to a shared-use (non-segregated) highway will likely result in even more gridlock. This isn't just theory.
No, it's not even theory, it's only a hypothesis, bearing in mind that "adding lots of bicycles to a shared-use (non-segregated) highway" is one of the less likely possibilities out there.
Take a look at the recent study showing how a bicycle lane speeds up traffic overall
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IIRC, study ofthe introduction of bicycle lanes(NY?) discovered that these led to an increase in the numbers of people cycling (for any purpose). So for every rider not using that "silly" (so-called) space is freeing up that amount of space for the remaining motor vehicles the more cyclists the bike lane attracts, the greater the reduction in motor traffic flow. there's also the possibility that the hypothetical gridlock caused by drivers speeding up and then slowing down because of cyclists may well be caused by the well known "concertina" effect where a slowing down of a car ahead leads to drivers slowing even more car by car down the chain of traffic. A hypothesis, I agree, but the concertina effect is a proven fact
Frankly, vehicular cyclists are somewhat glib in the fact that there aren't too many vehicular cyclists. If significantly more cyclists start using the middle of the lane, just wait and see how quickly anti-cycling laws will be put into effect.
Vehicular cyclists, of whom I was one in my commuting days, do not block the middle of the lane, except where the traffic environment requires, e.g. the lane is too narrow for cars to overtake safely within the lane, the side of the road is dnagerous (surface, drain covers, rubbish, etc.), all of which are mentioned in all of the FRAP legislation that I've read.