From the years between 1990 to 2013, the amount of people who used a
bike to commute to work quadrupled. At this rate there will be even
more in the coming future. This is more people that this problem
applies to.
A major part of the problem that has appeared in all
sources that I have used, and that has caused the loss of lives, is
that there are people parking in the bike lane causing bikers to weave
around them and have to merge with traffic to get around them.
Others could argue that it is the bikers fault for not following
street rules, but either way bikers have the right of way. It is very
rare for bikers to just hit a car unless it is clearly their fault.
Majority of the time, it is the person in control of the two ton or
more piece of metal that gets in the way or hits the bikers.