Quote Originally Posted by bikerHen
I don't know if I'm committing a major cycling faux pas, but . . . if I have to cross a really busy road/highway without a stop light I find it much safer to get off and walk/run across when there is a break in traffic. I just feel like I have better timing and more control when I'm on my own two feet. BikerHen
I personally don't think this is a faux pas. There are many times where I need to make a left hand turn at a light on a busy 6 lane road (3 in each direction not including the turn lane) from a bicycle lane. If I can do this safely, I signal and do this early enough that I'm not having to suddenly weave to get to the turn lane.

However, if it is unsafe or if I think it is even remotely unsafe I'll do one of several things.

1) I'll stay in the bike lane past the intersection I wanted to turn at. If there's a gas station or a parking lot that also connects the perpendicular road I'll go into the lot and use it like a big 270 turn so I can end up in the correct facing bike lane.
2) if there is nothing at the corner but there's a crosswalk I'll signal I'm stopping and stop just after I pass the intersection and get off the bike. I'll then walk the bike across the intersection in the crosswalk.
3) if there is no safe method of crossing at this intersection, I'll pass it and go onto the next looking for a safe way to get across.

What I personally try to do is act like a car as much as I can, signaling, turning correctly, waiting behind other cars who are turning, etc. I use bike lanes if they're provided but if not and the lane isn't safe enough to be in with a car I'll take up the whole lane. If the lane is wide enough where cars can pass safely, I'll move over to the right as close as I can be to the curb without compromising my safety.

This means that in situations where there's cars parked along the curb, I don't duck close to the curb between cars but will instead stay farther away from the curb alongside the parked cars so people see me.

It does mean that at times I don't make as good of a time commuting as I could by taking short cuts but those short cuts are meaning less if they get me killed.

Mel