> The risks you describe are all true, but mostly apply at traffic lights as well: a cyclist still has to navigate into the right-hand lane at a junction if turning right from a two-lane (or more) entry road.
No, they don't - as a cyclist, you can do a hook turn: http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/05/the-hook-turn/. Even if this is technically illegal in your jurisdiction, I'd still do it, since it's much safer than trusting car drivers to do the right thing.
Solid islands are also dangerous, since they narrow the road and most drivers will try and push past rather than slow down to cyclist speeds. Neat fact: the handlebars on my old bike are higher than the wing mirror on a VW Golf. How do I know this? They passed me on a roundabout, and the wing mirror passed under my handlebars. Lucky I ride a bike with flat bars, and not a racer.
May I ask where you cycle? What you're describing is very different to my experience here in Cambridge, and I can honestly say that I have never seen any cyclist of any standard pull what you call a "hook turn" here.
Given that we have a vocal (to put it mildly) local pro-cycling campaign and there is another one down the road in London, while I'm not questioning your own experience, I am a little surprised that no-one has been talking about and promoting such an alternative cycling technique if it really is safer in general.
In fairness, drivers around here are also very familiar with and aware of cyclists. While some drivers pass too close, and some cyclists complain at any driver passing less than an absurd distance away, for the most part the two groups do actually get along. I've never had any problem waiting to turn right on a normal line in mid-junction, nor with drivers passing as close as you describe while going around a roundabout.
No, they don't - as a cyclist, you can do a hook turn: http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2009/05/the-hook-turn/. Even if this is technically illegal in your jurisdiction, I'd still do it, since it's much safer than trusting car drivers to do the right thing.
Solid islands are also dangerous, since they narrow the road and most drivers will try and push past rather than slow down to cyclist speeds. Neat fact: the handlebars on my old bike are higher than the wing mirror on a VW Golf. How do I know this? They passed me on a roundabout, and the wing mirror passed under my handlebars. Lucky I ride a bike with flat bars, and not a racer.