Originally Posted by
holytrousers
the law should give cyclists the right to use the whole lane. no car can safely overtake a bike on the same lane. vehicular cycling is so obvious i don't understand what are the other approaches.. and bike lanes should simply be considered narrower lanes..
Last point first, VC advocates didn't want bike lanes at all, and that was probably the final nail in the coffin of VC.
As to the rest of your post, given the skills of the average rider in the US, that would put an effective speed limit of about 15 mph on most roads in the US. I do a lot of my riding in a state where bicyclists have the right to take the lane at any time, and you almost never see anyone do it outside of the turn lane situations. Basically, no one seems to want to ride with a bunch of angry drivers piling up behind them.