It is very common sensical. The faster a cyclist can get safely through intersections, the less pissed motorists are at us! 
Tiny hijack - I am now going to try using the word “overlong” in an email this week at work. Okay, back to the thread…
I’ve done most of my adult driving as in Boston, New York City, and New Jersey. So I would say consider yourself fortunate that the cars stop for you at all while you are in the crosswalk (not that it seems to stop people from just walking into the crosswalk without looking anyway).