Most cyclist deaths are caused by being side swiped by passing vehicles. Bike lanes are often not setup in a safe or usable way so the road has to be used.

It's safer for the cyclist to own their lane by riding in the middle.

I rarely see cyclists doing that. And when I cycle and there's an unobstructed bike lane, I'd certainly rather use it.

Usually, when I see a cyclist in the road when there's a bike lane, it's because there's a car blocking the bike lane. I mean, they can't do anything about that.

I can give a laundry list of obnoxious things that I've seen cyclists do (e.g. ignoring red lights, cycling the wrong direction on the road, not signaling, trying to squeeze by cars that are turning and have already merged to the right), but sitting in the road for no reason is not one I've seen.

How do you think they turn left?

stupid cyclists not wanting to be a quadriplegic when a car door is opened on them and they then get run over.

I find that the bike lane doesn't exist most of the time, actually.

Like, the lane is just a white line against the edge of the road, and it's just drop off/tall grass on the other side.

There's a lot of rubbish, glass, small stones etc. on the edge of the road so it's often not a suitable place to ride in.

true for road cyclist ;)