sggoodri

The trouble with bike boxes is that bicyclists who are trying to pass on the right to reach the box must cross in front of car traffic with a different destination. Without the Dutch bike-only signals, the car traffic can start up suddenly as the cyclists try to cut in front of them. Left-turning cyclists can collide with straight-traffic and straight-traveling cyclists can collide with right-turning traffic.

I prefer to merge with other traffic when approaching intersections so that we can sort ourselves by destination, and thus no surprises occur. Also, since most of the urban travel lanes where I live are narrow, I don't frustrate other drivers by requiring them to overtake me more than once. Personally, when on a bike I prefer to be the last person through a green light, not the first, since being the first results in a lot more drivers trying to overtake in dense traffic conditions that makes it harder for them to change lanes to the left.

I find that a driver who is sitting behind me waiting at a red light is highly cognizant of my being there and is no threat to me as we proceed -and he or she effectively protects me through the intersection if I'm taking the lane. I'd be more worried about overtaking on the right as I get to the intersection and traffic may be about to move, since those drivers I'm passing may not see me soon enough.