Originally Posted by grolby
Solutions include taking the lane, and... well, mostly taking the lane. Filtering forward is a reasonably safe alternative, but only in a straight only lane. You should always observe destination positioning - even if you filter, keep to the right of the center lane, stay OUT of the right turn lane if you are going straight. The better bike lanes position you correctly (but also require cars to merge through them in order to turn right, which causes a lot of problems). The really bad ones put you in the right turn lane. That's worse, but like I said, there are serious problems with lanes that position you appropriately as well. Bike lanes bring up confusing right-of-way issues at and near intersections, no matter what. The other solutions (taking the lane or filtering up on the right side of the center lane) require the cyclist to merge into traffic. The right-of-way unambiguously belongs to the motor vehicles in this situation, and that's actually a good thing for cyclists.
That's kind of the way I ride anyway. Actually, a lot of bike lanes around here do position you correctly, with the left turn lane (we drive on the left down here remember), on your left, although as you said, it can be tricky getting across the lanes at this point.