Originally Posted by
BarracksSi
The most painless treatment of bikes I've seen yet is when bikes, cars, and peds get separate facilities, not only in terms of lanes or sidewalk markings, but also with separate signal lights at intersections and separate routes through large, multi-street intersections.
That's a nice idea in theory, but the cost of retro-fitting entire cities (or at least creating a transport network large enough that it actually becomes usable) is prohibitive in most places, and most cities don't have the space for such a network anyway. Yes, I know someone will chime in here with a single exception where it's worked for them in some obscure part of the world, but in most places it's just not practical to build it.
Fact is, if you're gonna get around on a bike, sooner or later you're going to have to share the road with someone else. Get used to it.