No, the commute would be a lot faster. Drivers wouldn't be slowed down to 10mph because a biker is taking too much room and with on coming traffic you can't go around the obstacle. Traffic patterns at intersections would be better because you wouldn't have bikers running lights, or stop signs.
I asked a friend who is a biker why bikers don't follow the rules of the road at intersections. His response was, "because we would never get anywhere if we stopped with traffic". Every year there are 5-6 bikers killed in Chicago. It's not a good activity in a large urban environment. Bikers should go back to the suburbs.
Take 10% of the drivers that now drive 15 miles or less to work on main highways and freeways. Put them on bikes that naturally gravitate to low traffic residential roads, and roads with wide shoulders. Does traffic on the freeway and major highways improve or get worse for motorists? When I commute to work I impede no traffic in any way. I'm on carefully selected roads where my interaction with motorists is negligible. I leave the often congested freeway I usually drive on free to other people. You may occasionally find yourself behind me in a left turn lane, and it may take you 1.5 more seconds to get through that intersection than if I was in a car. Other than that, I impede you in no way whatsoever. If I was in front of you on the freeway in my car however...
Drivers wouldn't be slowed down to 10mph because a biker is taking too much room and with on coming traffic you can't go around the obstacle.
I don't know where you live, but I encounter this situation in the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs maybe once every two years, usually on country roads with no shoulder on a Sunday afternoon. Nearly every urban road with a curb is easily capable of providing enough space for motorists to whiz past cyclists unimpeded.
Traffic patterns at intersections would be better because you wouldn't have bikers running lights, or stop signs.
Even assuming your life is filled with cyclists running lights left and right, how exactly does that impede traffic? Illegal, very foolish on the cyclists part, and annoying, but if there's no accident, how is traffic impeded?
Every year there are 5-6 bikers killed in Chicago.
That number seems kind of low for a city that size. I bet that's less than the number of pedestrians killed. Should they be banned?
It's not a good activity in a large urban environment. Bikers should go back to the suburbs.
Actually urban and suburban streets are perfectly designed for cyclists and motorists to peacefully coexist. There's plenty of room along the side of the road. It's single lane highways without a paved shoulder that are a problem. Most cyclists avoid those types of roads. Apart from the antics of the "Critical Mass" idiots, and the occasional red light runner and lane hogger, I think most of the objecting to cyclists existing is simply curmudgeonism. Curmudgeons hold an honored place in my mind, but they get silly about bikes sometimes.
I stop at stop signs and traffic lights. Most cyclists I know do so as well.