On Jul 3, 10:34 am, Charlie Hulme 
wrote:
> Mortimer wrote:
> > I loathe the use of green cycle lanes close to junctions: they encourage
> > cyclists to do exactly what they should be banned from doing, namely
> > overtaking left-turning cars on the left. A vehicle that is turning left
> > should be positioned as close to the kerb as possible, not six feet away
> > with a lane of cyclists on the left who expect you to wait for them even
> > though your are indicating and are in front of them (whatever happened about
> > obeying the HC rule about never overtaking a vehicle that is indicating to
> > turn on the side that you are about to pass them?).
>
> The idea is to be able to reach the advanced stop area while
> traffic is stopped, not that the lane should be used while
> vehicles are moving. As such, they are quite useful.
> Misused, they can, like many things in life, be dangerous.

This is exactly it.  I use them to get to the front to get out of the
way of anything turning left.  There is usually no other realistic way
of getting past the queue, nor of joining it (unless one wants the
queue to be lengthened by every bicyle and surrounding empty space,
but I still don't see how it's possible to get into such a position).