The Gov. don't want to spend money.
You are right as to why people get annoyed with cyclists, because they hold up the traffic and create potentially dangerous situations where drivers have to be careful in regards to overtaking.
I think cycling is great fun and I enjoy it, I hate riding on the roads though it makes me very stressed, I would also never go out for a 'pleasure ride' during rush hours.
The same time when I approach a cyclist in my car I groan, but at least as I have experience of both I understand how they feel when I pass them, a car is intimidating and stressful so I try and give them plenty of room. The roads are very narrow here which doesn't help. Not everyone understands this and just whizzes by.
Normally I'd read the whole thread to see what others had replied, but I'm going to make an exception here, and probably repeat other posters, but meh. Anything I write is from the perspective of someone who doesn't live/drive in a city, but on more rural roads, which are either single carriageway A roads or B roads/wide enough for 2 cars *just* or have passing places.
I am a mid-30s, overweight car driver, who owns a few bicycles of various types (Road/Mountain) and doesn't ride any of them as much as I should/want to. The reason for this is because I'm lazy, hence why I'm fat.
To your first point: Cyclists do hold up drivers, but the speed they're going, you can overtake them as soon as there's any kind of gap. They may hold you up for up to 30 seconds, but usually it's a lot less than this.
MOST cyclists I encounter are riding at between 10 and 20 mph. Usually at the lower end of that. Cars on the other hand are a lot harder to pass, and are far more annoying. They slow down for corners when they don't need to, and speed up to at or near the speed limit when there's an otherwise convenient/safe place to overtake. Car drivers are idiots when you're stuck behind one. Cyclists generally stay the same (slow) speed. I can be stuck behind the same idiot car for about 15 miles if the roads are a bit more busy than I'd like (deserted).
The only people that create dangerous overtaking scenarios is the people doing the overtaking. I.E. the cars. You may get held up for a few seconds behind a bike, but then you'll get held up by some other idiot round the corner. Or a set of traffic lights or whatever. You're not in THAT much of a rush. Ever, surely.
Groups of riders can be different, even though they're allowed to ride two abreast (and should) on a normal road... doing so on a narrower road means I can't overtake and they
**** me off. It's just rude. I have no time for such riders. If they're really holding someone up I think they should go back to single file and split the pack a bit so cars can leapfrog them a few at a time. That's what my club does, anyway.
I'm lucky; I've never really had a problem with other road users when out on my bike. But then I show courtesy/gratitude to them when I can and get the same back. Maybe things are different in Yorkshire (not sure where you are, actually).
I make sure I'm well-visible in all conditions which really helps, I think.
But I agree with Fishfluff. I wish the gov. would actually spend some money, sensibly on this huge remedy to the health and other problems that it would solve. The main cause for there being a lot of traffic problems on the roads, is that there's a lot of traffic on the roads.
Make it easier/more attractive (safer) for people to cycle everywhere that they'd otherwise drive (within reason) and I'm sure they'd do so.
