Rant - Should bicycles really be on the road??

So today Hubby, baby and I were driving back from dinner at Zaks in Ballard and there was quite a lot of traffic on 15th/Holman Road. As we came upon a bicyclist we had to slow way down because we could not go around him without getting into the lane next to us, which was packed. So we along with other cars had to slow down and wait to pass him.
This got us talking about how there is not enough room to pass a bicyclist on the roads safely. But if we were to come to a stop light or sign the bicyclist usually always pass the cars and go right beside the car first at the stop light/sign. Which makes it hard to pass them, and I'm sorry but the car will be faster than the bicycle. They should have to stop where ever the last car is.

I'm sure you have all seen the signs on mountain roads that say slow vehicles with so many cars behind them must use the turnout to let them pass. Could we not apply this to our city roads also???

Continuing on our way our light was red as we came to the intersection of Holman & Greenwood Ave. In front of us was another bicyclist, who decided not to obey the light and proceeded to go through it. This is something that is very common among bicyclist I see while driving around town. Seriously I wonder why there aren't MORE accidents between cars and bicycles. I myself have almost hit 2. Neither one would have been my fault but that is small consolation knowing how much damage the bicyclist would have received.

So I ask the question:
So how safe really is it to have bicycles on our roadways which were designed for motor vehicles?

This is a two-fer Rant.
As we were making are way east through the light on Holman across Greenwood a Police Car with it's lights on was traveling west. Due to the cars and lights he decided to drive west on the outside east bound lane. Which is fine for them to do. But as he passed us we noticed he was holding the steering wheel with his left hand while his right arm was across the back of the seat. Is this really the safe driving position especially when you are driving in the oncoming lane at a high speed????