How can I avoid crashes on my urban commute? Tramlines and CBD sections especially I live in Melbourne, Australia, a city famous for its compact, grid-like CBD (downtown area) and trams. Trams mean tram tracks and hook turns. And compulsory helmets. My daily ride is only 10 km but has 32 traffic lights and the second half is shared with trams. It's the second half that really concerns me because it's busy inner-city traffic with a lot going on. The grid is less than 100 m in Elizabeth St. 

I'm getting good with tram tracks. Unweighting wheels as they cross the tracks seems to be the main technique (and I haven't fallen yet). I have reasonable situational awareness, and I don't listen to music while riding, but I still have motorists "come out of nowhere" at least once a week.


What do others do about the "come out of nowhere" motorists? I'm already scanning and head-turning to look down side streets but obviously not well enough. Is there a technique I'm missing?
What's the best approach when the light is already green and there are hook turning motorists waiting? Go up the left so they don't turn right on top of me, or the right so I have space to move and am not fighting pedestrians?
How should I deal with "bicycle forward stop" boxes? They're contested by cars and I don't feel especially safe using them, and a lot of motorists seem offended that a cyclist would move over in front of them if they leave the box clear. So mostly I just use the bike lane part rather than the whole box.
3- How should I deal with "bicycle forward stop" boxes?


I deal with a "bicycle forward stop" box by using it (and being grateful that the city planners have started to arrange things for bikes). For example if cars are stopped where they should be (out of the box) and the light's red, I move into the box. It's there for me.

[I'm in Toronto where people drive on the right.]

A bike-specific stop box only happens on the roads that are designated bike routes. On the right of the box I'm in the designated bike lane (so not in any car's way, except if the lead car is hoping to turn right across the bike lane, in which case that is one scenario that the stop box is intended for, and I don't mind if they wait two or three seconds while I move off, they'd have to wait for any pedestrians anyway), and on the left of the box it's because I'll be turning left across the traffic (like any other vehicle turning left, and sometimes in a lane for left-hand-turning only).

My being in the stop box doesn't slow people behind me (on the right I'm in a bike lane, and on the left it's the on-coming traffic that's preventing the left turn; and fwiw my acceleration from a stand-still is no slower than a typical car's). The point of the stop box is to make me visible to people starting off. I like to think that (me being visible) is better for all of us: that even drivers don't want to participate in an accident with me.

I don't rarely see cars contesting them. My reaction to such a car (same as e.g. a car that's stopped in my pedestrian crossing) is to look at and make brief eye contact with the driver, looking through their windscreen. I want to see what they they look like, what/who the person is. I'd like them to see me too, to know that there's another person, outside their car. Hopefully when they're aware that it's people and not just vehicles on the road, they'll be a bit careful about their driving.

No more than that: no rude gestures, I don't want to anger people. Also my seeing who they are helps to keep me calm (and not e.g. demonize the car).

Most of my route (18 km near downtown) is bike lane, or lightly-trafficked residential street. I have two intersections though, where I need to make a left turn (across traffic) that I'm not happy with. One I don't like because it's turning across tram lines; another because it's 'arterial' roads, one without a bike lane, where cars hustle each other across a wide intersection, and I find it difficult to move across the curb-side traffic into the other left-turning lane. For those two intersections, I get off and walk across as a pedestrian. If that's what it takes to feel safe, then why not.