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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

Seems like TFA is an opinion piece and cites no research on actual safety. It alludes to one reason this is good: getting the cyclist out of the intersection, and therefore greater danger, sooner. Another good reason might be to make cyclists' behavior more predictable. As is, you never know which type of rider you are going to get, so you can't make assumptions.

I think an actually safer thing to do would be to give cyclists the right of way. Then drivers could at least take for granted that cyclists are going to not stop for red lights or stop signs.

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One aspect of safety which wasn't mentioned in the article is the moment when lights turn green and cars and bikes begin to move forward. There's a noticeable tendency for some riders to want to stay in front of the cars and this engenders an equally fierce desire in the drivers to overtake said cyclists. Road rage is almost unavoidable at this point.

I usually stop behind the lead car at traffic lights to avoid this; I can usually keep pace with cars (in London) but flaunting this by trying to race them away from the lights is just asking for trouble, not to mention more physically taxing.

So... if I'm on the front of a queue and can safely move away before the lights turn green, I'll do it because it puts distance between myself and the lead car, giving the driver more time to line up a safe manoeuvre around me once the traffic starts moving.

This has to be weighed up against the very real danger that the drivers will be fuming with rage at the arrogant cyclist in front and thus losing the senses of calm and serenity that I'm trying to spread :-)

IME drivers fume with rage no matter what I do. They'll shout abuse at me as they pass even if I'm in a bike lane, completely out of their way.

I agree it's a real problem. I mean it's important to remember that not every driver is an asshole, just like not every cyclist is a crazy law breaker, but there is enough of a critical mass of both to make sharing the road really dangerous, and cyclists come out worse out of it because physics.

Ideally, I think larger cities could do well with removing the ability to drive cars there without some hefty taxes/tolls and instead provide moving walkways and better public transit. Then cycling becomes much safer and a better option.

I've also had the idea to run a "shower truck" some place like NYC: basically park it in front of an office building between 8 and 9am and for $1/minute you get to shower in there. Lack of showers has always been the reason I didn't commute by bike.

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