These issues have been solved from the proper protected lanes I've ridden on.
>Tell me how I'm supposed to safely take a left
You pull up and stop in front of the cars to your right on the perpendicular road. You turn your bike 90 degrees. You wait until they get a green light, and you ride straight ahead. This is painted on the road for you to follow sometimes.
>Also how do they expect me to safely go straight
I've seen a light for the bike lanes and a light for the right turn lane. When the bike lane is green, the right turn lane is red.
>It seems they think all cyclists need to dismount
Not the case, you just need to learn what the bike lane asks of you, which is pretty simple when you figure out what you need to do for left turns, and if there are bike onlyu lights for you to follow.
> You pull up and stop in front of the cars to your right on the perpendicular road. You turn your bike 90 degrees. You wait until they get a green light, and you ride straight ahead.
So now, if you have a red light in the direction of the road you're going in and it changes to green, you now just have to cross the intersection and wait for the full duration of another red light before you can effectively make a left (all while watching left turning traffic from the road you were originally on proceed with a protected left turn phase.
> I've seen a light for the bike lanes and a light for the right turn lane. When the bike lane is green, the right turn lane is red.
I've also seen videos[1] where drivers don't comply with the red light prohibiting right turns. The problem is that drivers will see that through traffic has a green light and will assume that it's okay to make a right turn because that's how most intersections work. Introducing a brand new configuration leads to issues where motorists will make mistakes to the detriment of cyclists.
> Not the case, you just need to learn what the bike lane asks of you
This seems to be inconsistent from intersection to intersection. As a driver, it's just easier to follow the rules of the road for drivers of vehicles when I need to make a turn at an intersection.
>Tell me how I'm supposed to safely take a left
You pull up and stop in front of the cars to your right on the perpendicular road. You turn your bike 90 degrees. You wait until they get a green light, and you ride straight ahead. This is painted on the road for you to follow sometimes.
>Also how do they expect me to safely go straight
I've seen a light for the bike lanes and a light for the right turn lane. When the bike lane is green, the right turn lane is red.
>It seems they think all cyclists need to dismount
Not the case, you just need to learn what the bike lane asks of you, which is pretty simple when you figure out what you need to do for left turns, and if there are bike onlyu lights for you to follow.