"how it should be" ? welcome to real world, where london has narrow roads, loads of traffic and 10% of infrastructure that NL has.
Come over here, start riding at the pace I do and see how long you last on the roads while sticking to "cycle lanes only"
on that note, feel free to plot me a route that allows me to use 1m wide/segregated cycle lanes to cycle from Croydon to Hyde park, once you do that can you also pop another one in for the way back please?
you literally have got no idea of infrastructure available here and you're bashing me for doing nothing wrong, unless doing what I am legally allowed/advised is now wrong? and all of that is coming from you, basing your opinion on infrastructure from ANOTHER country.
brilliant.
Regardless of the infrastructure, I'd keep to the side like I was taught when I was a kid and rode to school on my bike... I've been cycling by myself on the roads since the age of 10 or so (and since 4 yrs old or so with parents) and not once did it ever spring to mind to hog a whole car lane.
If you have wide/clean cycle lanes in the Netherlands - great - what about the cyclists who wan to travel >25km/h though ?
They can, on the cycle path, if traffic allows.
If there's a blue sign with a bicycle on it, you are required to use them and are not allowed to use parallel roads. Same goes for blue plated mopeds (slower that don't require helmets).:
Then there's also some paths where faster (yellow plated, ones that require helmets) mopeds are forced to go:
So even on your 45/50km/h moped you're forced to go on them, to not hinder car traffic.
drivers aren't required to stay out of them
Neither here, if it's a dashed line, you're even allowed to stop on them (to load/unload or allow a passenger in/out) if you want to as a car driver. Hell we have some bus stops on them in some places.
Most people (both drivers and cyclists) know to stay out of each others space though and cyclists know they belong by the side of the road.
The only ones that don't (and are universally hated by normal cyclists and drivers alike) are the ones on racing bikes, you know the types who wear spandex and helmets and think they're Armstrong on the public roads, shouting all the time instead of using their bells (as they lack em), no lights on their bikes, no reflectors, refuse to go on mandatory cycle paths, race past pedestrians or pets at fullspeed, etc...
Regardless what state your roads are in, cycling in het middle of a car lane is not going to help cyclist acceptance. It's a blatant disregard for faster traffic and unnecessary.
My last visit to London I saw cyclists waiting in queue behind cars in the middle of the lane, I was amazed at the stupidity of that. There was more than enough space to pass near the kerb.
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