An often forgotten aspect of cycling is that it takes significant energy to slow/stop and then speed up again. Traffic lights are often designed purely to stop motor traffic from colliding and very rarely take the needs of cyclists into account. A cycle lane that cedes priority at every side road is going to be next to useless for competent bike commuters and similarly, multiple sets of traffic lights will often be ignored by cyclists if they know the junction and can see that it is safe for them to proceed. Indeed, some places allow cyclists to treat red lights as "proceed with caution if safe to do so".
The most important thing to realise is that cyclists pose very little danger to others and will often come off worse in a simple collision with a pedestrian, whereas people in cars are shielded from collisions whilst also posing a much greater danger to others.
The most important thing to realise is that cyclists pose very little danger to others and will often come off worse in a simple collision with a pedestrian, whereas people in cars are shielded from collisions whilst also posing a much greater danger to others.