Let me guess, you don't regularly ride a bicycle...
Not since I stopped BMX racing at 13, and at that age I still knew to ride properly on the road!
Right, so you were young and fit had plenty of energy to spare, so starting and stopping repeatedly wasn't so much of a problem. But efficient cycling (especially when you're a bit older) means you don't want to waste energy, so you want to minimise the number of times this happens.
(And please note, by the way, that I am *NOT* advocating jumping red lights and all that sort of crap. I despite cyclists who do that sort of thing because it allows people in internet discussion forums to tar all cyclists with the same brush, even when we ride sensibly)
But the point is that if a council is going to provide cycle lanes, they should actually be *useful* to cyclists, instead of just being a box-ticking exercise or designed to keep bicycles out of the way of cars.