[ellenhp]

Sibling commenter covered most of what I have to say but the other reason this is wrong is because many bicycles can go 20-30mph, and I'm just going to leapfrog you anyway at the red light you're racing me to wait at.

Other times cars try to kill me to save themselves a few seconds:

1. turning right into a parking lot ahead of me

2. turning right out of the parking lot ahead of me

3. rushing to open their driver's side door right in front of me so they can get out and get to their destination faster

I've had a crash for #1 and #3, so this isn't theoretical. Watch for bicycles.

[gruez]

>Sibling commenter covered most of what I have to say but the other reason this is wrong is because many bicycles can go 20-30mph, and I'm just going to leapfrog you anyway at the red light you're racing me to wait at.

Right, but the whole premise of this thread is that the lights only turn green after a car approaches. If you overtake the bicycle so you can get there 5s faster, then the light will turn green 5s faster. Sure, whether risking an overtake to save 5s might be questionable, but is at least a more understandable reason than "Some people apparently just can't stand to have anyone driving before them", which makes it sound like the driver can't stand being #2.