Of course, trikes are goofy and don't corner, so there is no real solution here except bike paths designed like interstate highways. One can dream.
I wish more cyclists and drivers actually believed that. As a driver, I'm willing to give a full lane to a biker if they ask for it. (If they're going "too slow", you can always pass in the adjoining lane.) As a biker, sometimes I need that lane; having a several ton car buzzing me on the side is not my idea of fun.
The way I see it is that people are — in general — sloppy, both in their driving and their biking. They think that "cutting corners" is okay.
> which pedestrians never do, they just go for it
(note: grandparent's comment) the problem with this is on a bike is that you're apt to hit a pedestrian. I've seen plenty of bikers on the Embarcadero in SF nearly collide with pedestrians, because the road is a T, and they're on the through road, and mistakenly believe they have no conflicts (they have both the aforementioned pedestrians, as well as any left-turning bikers).
Being on a bike doesn't have the same risk "feeling" AFAICT as a car. A quick glance around to determine "will a car probably hit me if I do this technically illegal thing?" seems to be all it takes.
(Car drivers are just as sloppy, too, just in different ways. I spend about equal time biking and driving, and the number of illegal maneuvers I see in a car on a daily basis is appalling too.)
Most people seem to exemplify Louis C.K.'s "My Favorite Way" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAsiC5a02U)
Issues that are probably bigger than "balancing" when you're commuting by bike are: access to safe cycle paths, getting sweaty before work and the weather.
There are a couple of techniques, but both actually require a small amount of forward movement so if it's a long delay then you do creep closer to the car ahead.
But neither is actually necessary; I generally prefer to declip one foot and stick it on the ground as that is quicker and safer particularly when wearing a backpack or conveying a child-seat, since that puts the CoG quite high. But the fact that I had to come to a halt indicates that I didn't correctly manage the approach and I thereby wasted energy.
And please change-down gears as you approach the light. As a fellow cyclist it's frustrating to be stuck behind other cyclists moving-off slowly as they "pedal through molasses" because they're still in a high gear. It annoys drivers, too.