Even when the bike lane is clear, around here it's just not safe to ride in the bike lane. I can't count how many times I've almost been hit by cars who turn out in front of me without looking, by cars who put on their turn signals 3 inches from the intersection. By cars who think that the rules of a 2 or 4 way stop don't apply to cyclists: just run them over!

Nothing in the driving test I took said that pedestrians and cyclists are second class citizens; you're not supposed to go running them over. Yet, it seems that many drivers apparently took an entirely different test.

At least on the wonderfully well-kept and underused sidewalks here, I'm safe from those drivers who drift entirely too close to the bike lane.

And there are at least a few drivers out there who have the decency to give cyclists the right of way, even when they aren't required to do so.