How to position youself when wait for light

The driver's hand book suggests that motorists should expect a cyclist to be close to the curb beside you, waiting to proceed.

As always, cyclists are allowed to "take the lane". So, if you feel your safety is improved by stopping in the middle of the lane at the light, then do so. ie) I wish I had taken the lane at an intersection with construction today. There was no room for me to proceed, and was forced to merge with traffic and take the lane, in the middle of an intersection, all from a dead stop.

What are the actual rules? Not sure. A lot of cycling rules are conflicting anyway (ie, you can be ticketed for taking one or both of your hands off the bars, and can also be ticketed for not signaling). General rule of thumb - follow the rules of the road the best you can, and adjust them whenever it is in the best interest of your safety and the safety of others around you.

The #1 cause of death an injury for cyclists in Toronto is intersection crashes. A lane less than 5.6 metres wide is too narrow to safely share with passing cars, Very few lanes in Toronto are that wide, so we should ALWAYS take the lane - particularly at traffic lights.

On a congested street we should be very careful filtering up to the stop line - dooring is the #2 cause of death in Toronto.

Proper bike boxes would help, and I understand that we are going to be getting some soon. Until then, I am always very careful when filtering through stopped cars. And I always exercise proper lane control to position myself in the centre of the lane directly in front of the first motor vehicle at the stop line.

If the car traffic is very congested and the traffic light changes before reaching the intersection's stop line, I always move to the primary lane position well before the cars next to me start moving.

If there are only a few cars stopped at a traffic light and the light has been red for a long time before I get there, I'll often just stay at the end of the car queue.

I hope my little safety tips have been helpful! Exercising proper lane control is essential for safety in Toronto traffic to prevent motor vehicles from passing unsafely. This safety techique is most important at intersections because they are so dangerous.

Typically I stop 1-meter from the curb in the right lane(same distance i was cycling from the curb), I then wait for the light to turn green.

I don't squeeze myself over into the curb to let drivers turn right as some "polite" cyclist do. It's proven to me to be an unsafe practice(too many drivers cut too close and you'll have to get back into traffic to cross the intersection). I guess this is what you're really asking, don't feel bad about people waiting behind you. You are traffic also! Drivers always push to make their right turn on reds, even other cars.

I'll also line myself up so I can proceed straight across the intersection to an appropriate space in the lane on the opposite side. Many intersections are offset, cars parked on the other side and etc. No changing direction in the intersection.

If you want some better guidelines about how to behave as a small vehicle read the MTO motorcycle handbook, they always recommend you control your lane at an intersection. In fact the testers will fail you if you don't position yourself appropriately.

Be seen to be safe.

For me it depends on if cars will be turning right, if so I position myself on their left. Sometimes a car behind them will be going straight through, in that case I'm often trapped if I'm not careful.
Assert yourself and try to get eye contact as well, drivers need to know your intentions.

Bike boxes would help in this regard, more "no right turns on a red light" intersections would be great as well.

especially at the intersections where there is a lot of space for right-turning cars. Although some drivers pass me on the right if I'm over too far to the left, then swerve left, right back in front of me - cutting me off mid-intersection. Although, alternatively some people will pull around on your left to turn right on red. If you're not over far enough left(i.e. weren't in control of the lane), leading to a dangerous situation with them turning right(across two lanes) and traffic coming at them from their blind spot and you right in the crash zone! Beck taxi, i'm talking to you here.

Sometimes being courteous can come back and bite ya.

Long time ago a wise cyclist told me,when speaking of traffic, that everything to their right is a kill zone, everything to your right is a buffer. Control is what keeps you between the two.

I think I identify most with electric's approach. Though I find not making eye contact is good too because making eye contact is often misconstrued by drivers. Too often they think making eye contact is a signal that you acknowledge that they are there and are telling them to proceed. Some even see it as aggression.

I have become convinced that cyclists who hug the curb and blow the lights suffer a lot less stress. Been stopped at way too many lights taking crap from drivers while cyclists ride by me through the light and they do not get crapped on.

You need to figure out what works best for you in any given situation. What is good advice for Danforth might not be so good on Eglinton west of the 427.

Note- There is one bike box in Toronto. It is in the southbound lane of Sherbourne at Bloor. It has suffered a lot of neglect so it is barely visible.

I don't have one approach to lane positions in intersections. Lane positioning in intersections requires an assessment of the situation you see in front of you. And different strategies apply if the light is red vs green vs no light vs motor vehicles turning right, or parked cars blocking the way, if there is debris on the road, what the road conditions are like, weather, day vs night, etc...

But as a rule of thumb, at a red light and where there are right turning motor vehicles, I avoid passing on the right and will either wait in queue (if there's only a few cars) try to jostle up the queue (where there are many cars) and will "lane split" between the lanes/cars (ie pass those queued cars on their left to avoid the right tuning ones).

Where the light is green and there are no cars waiting to turn right at the intersection, as much as practical I move towards the middle of the lane if I'm in the front of the queue, (and I have room,) especially when approaching a red light. I do this in order to avoid the right hook. I move back to the right of the lane to allow faster traffic to pass -- but only once I've cleared the intersection.

Things change again if I'm in a bike lane. As much as practical I stay in the bike lane, but I will pass right turning cars on their left, especially if they cannot be quick about their manoeuvre because they are waiting for pedestrians to clear the intersection, or are encountering other interference.

I have other strategies, but I use them less often as each of those I may employ at only one or two intersections.

http://sockpuppet.ca/blogsplat/?q=node/294

I know that you've had bad luck in the past with the police, but you should have reported this guy. They should at least do a follow-up about these issues.

So here's one I'm not sure of about stopping at a light..

When I come up to a light and see that there are a bunch of cars are waiting to turn right, I'll go to the left side of the right lane.. passing a car turning right on the right is retarded.. especially if they were there first.

I see other cyclists do this, so I assume that this is common practice if not a rule..

But what about when there's a bike lane? It's technically illegal to cross a solid white line, but the line will break right before an intersection for cars to turn. So when I'm coming up to a red light in a bike lane, and I can see that all the cars in the line (who were all there before me), what do I do? Do I stay in the bike lane and go once they're all done turning, or do I cross the solid white (it only breaks a meter or so before the light in the case I'm thinking of) and go to the left of the right lane to pass the cars turning right without being in their way (or in their blind spots).

When turning right across a bike lane, motorists should first merge into the bike lane.

When this happens in front of me, I will either:
1) Slow down and wait behind the car until the motorists moves out of the way
2) If it's safe and clear, pass the motorist on the left. If the entire non-bike-lane is already filled with cars to my left, then I'm outta luck on that....

I try to anticipate when this might happen. If I'm approaching an intersection and there are motorists ahead that may be turning right, I will move left out of the bike lane and prepare to pass the right-turners. Better than trying to do it at the last minute.

http://sockpuppet.ca/blogsplat/?q=node/294

that ip is telling.