When I used to cycle I had little sympathy for the 'holding up cars' argument. If a car was 'stuck behind' an equally slow moving bus or truck they'd patiently accept the situation until it was safe to overtake, so they should do the same for a slow moving cyclist. The idea that cyclists should 'move out of the way' and end up in the gutter or up against the kerb so traffic can squeeze past isn't a particularly safe option. There's a school of thought that suggests that cyclists should position themselves on the road where they'd be if they were driving a car. That makes them far more visible to other drivers and they have to be overtaken with a clear manoeuvre. Equally, I resisted the cyclists' tendency to squeeze up the inside of traffic queues, as that takes you out of the drivers' line of sight and exposes you to being pushed into the kerb or a parked car or worse. I don't think there's any general legal obligation for cyclists to use dedicated cycle facilities and, whatever their advantages might be, one negative aspect is that drivers increasingly believe that cyclists shouldn't be on the road and in their way and cease to notice them when they are.
Peter Evans ● 2344d