Yesterday’s BBC articles on cyclists and webcams brought on the normal diatribe of anti-cyclist comments from many punters (see Beeb website)

Some of the “red rag” issues have been debated to death on here (RLJs, pavements) and are clearly outside of the law.

But what about other cyclists’ behaviour?

Filtering seriously winds drivers up. I’ve been subject to verbal abuse and hostile coralling off the road just as a result of being able to make more rapid progress in slow / stationary traffic.

My understanding from motorcycle training is that filtering is legal in traffic – but becomes a grey area as the speed differential increases, and at some point would be regarded as “undertaking”.

So what’s the score? Legal, acceptable, part of normal cycling life, but just winds drivers up,
or
Illegal, irresponsible and likely to get a ticking off from a copper?

Legal. acceptable and correct.

You do hawever have to accept that there is an increased risk and that its up to you to manage this increased risk – you will often get insurance payouts reduced for filtering collisions although I believe there is recent case law that minimises this

you can fail your motorcycle test for not filtering. – or so I have been told – failure to make normal progress

I always ride up the outside of traffic – people expect and accept it – people squeezing up the inside against the kerb makes drivers think a) they’re car’ll get scratched and b) make them nervous of squeezing you into the kerb.

Between to lanes of traffic heading the same way is ok if it’s stationary, when it starts moving I just move into whichever lane I want to be in to make progress.

Some drivers just hate cyclists and will use any excuse to have a pop…

One thing I would say is never on the inside, always on the outside, left turns, nasty gutters are all hazards, especially at the moment with potholes.

Left can sometimes be safest. Don’t be dogmatic – use whatever is the safest for you and do the filter in a safe manner

No problem with filtering.

On a motorbike people generally try to make room. I suspect the hostility to cyclists is because they get in the way once traffic picks up again. Motorbikes tend to be long gone.

Friend was knocked off filtering on his scooter. Driver claimed he was at fault.

He found a case where a motorcyclist who had been knocked off, had been filtering at 40mph. This was deemed acceptable and the driver held liable.

I filter down whichever side I think is safest. I disagree that drivers expect other vehicvles to filter on the right – most drivers sitting in a queue don’t expect anyone to filter. They also assume that cyclists should always be on the left.

Some people just get angry and righteous at anything they perceive to be a slight on them. Cyclists are just one of many groups who will always wind them up.

never on the inside

so what about cycle lanes then? if there is a queue of traffic and a cycle lane you will filter on the outside or in between two lanes??

i have no issue with filtering through traffic, hopping on or off kerbs, going through red lights when it’s clear etc. i don’t enjoy riding on the roads and i just want to get to where i’m going in the quickest and safest way possible.

TandemJeremy – Member
Don’t be dogmatic

funniest thing ive read on here today.

I’ll filter on the left but only at walking speed and when I know the road/ traffic light setup etc and I know I’m not going to get squashed or caught up in traffic as it starts to move off. Otherwise I’m quite happy to wait in the queue along with the cars.

Yesterday I witnessed an absolute **** steaming at full speed up the left hand side of a line of cars at the traffic lights, where most cars were waiting to turn left, and blasted through the lights as they turned green forcing the car about to turn left into swerving and slamming on the brakes. That doesn’t do cyclists any favours.

Well, someone’s got to reference the Highway Code: 8)

151
In slow-moving traffic. You should

reduce the distance between you and the vehicle ahead to maintain traffic flow
never get so close to the vehicle in front that you cannot stop safely
leave enough space to be able to manoeuvre if the vehicle in front breaks down or an emergency vehicle needs to get past
not change lanes to the left to overtake
allow access into and from side roads, as blocking these will add to congestion
be aware of cyclists and motorcyclists who may be passing on either side

Legal. acceptable and correct.

…

you can fail your motorcycle test for not filtering. – or so I have been told – failure to make normal progress

That’s always been my take on it.

Some drivers just hate cyclists and will use any excuse to have a pop…

Yep, for something that is legal / aceptable (why else would there be ASLs?), it really does wind drivers up…

I think cyclists are mad to do it in moving traffic, even though in most situations it is legal.

I try and filter on the outside where ever possible. It definitely feels safer. Down the middle of two lanes is also fine if they are very slow or stationary

I will filter on the inside but its not my preference.

Its definitley not illegal, its perfectly normal when on two wheels to filter.

As for winding up motorists, sod them. Its not like bikes are some sort of top secret invention only available to the chosen few. If they think cyclists have some sort of massive priveleged advantage then they can always join us and see what its like cycling in traffic.

You would fail your advanced test for not filtering but you are not expected to filter for the L test.

The only reason it winds drivers up is because you’re making better progress than they are.

Legal. acceptable and correct.

You do hawever have to accept that there is an increased risk and that its up to you to manage this increased risk – you will often get insurance payouts reduced for filtering collisions although I believe there is recent case law that minimises this

you can fail your motorcycle test for not filtering. – or so I have been told – failure to make normal progress

100% spot on. Couldn’t have said it better myself. 🙂

As for winding up motorists, sod them. Its not like bikes are some sort of top secret invention only available to the chosen few. If they think cyclists have some sort of massive priveleged advantage then they can always join us and see what its like cycling in traffic.

Nice! Hadn’t looked at it in quite that way before!

expedited progress all fine by me, as long as I’m relatively safe and not inconveniencing others.

You could certainly argue that by halving your journey time, you’re doubling your safety – depending on what you’re doing when you get there!

I think cyclists are mad to do it in moving traffic

Why? – from a safety perspective?

The main road through the centre of Cardiff has been closed off, so my commute in now runs through Westgate Street, along with all the City Centre busses (lots of the bus stops have also been moved to this street).

So, its a solid line of traffic, either stationary or at walking pace, because 3 out of five vehicles is a bus, and they all want to drop off / pick up pasengers – and in normal street design excellence, the bus stops are “on-lane”.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a one way street. Occasional pulses of traffic in opposite direction are light controlled – so multi-choice cycling proficiency test…

Do you:

a) stay in the middle of your lane, stopped / slow and invisible because of the busses,

b) Filter on the left (no cycle lane and busses pulling in / out, passengers alighting), or:

c) Filter / overtake on the almost empty oncoming lane, occasionally pulling in to avoid oncoming traffic, and inspiring mass hatred from all the stationary drivers??

You can tell which one I go for 😉

The only reason it winds drivers up is because you’re making better progress than they are.

Especially when the car has just overtaken the bike I suspect 🙁

When car drivers get mad with you for filtering I find a big smile and a nice cheery wave helps greatly 🙂

EQUally up both sides here, but the second the traffic hints at picking up and moving off i take a central lane position wherever I may be in the column in order to stop impatient people pushing past and left turning. Hold the lane until I am comfortable I’m clear of a risky area. Finally give a cheery wave of thanks as the first car passes.

i filter on the left but I always key any car that is too close to the kerb. if they happen to have left enough room of kick the mirror as a matter of principle.

thanks for that great exercise in public relations there mrchrispy…

clipclopclipcop

Nowt wrong with filtering.

Probably not a great idea to do it if the traffic’s moving at a decent pace (‘a decent pace’ being dependant on your speed, skill, reactions and a million other things too, of course), but it is perfectly legal and taught on some cycle training courses.

I wouldn’t worry too much about people getting wound up by it – people get wound up about anything and everything they can nowadays!

I only filter when I *know* I’m:

a) Able to get out of the way first, fast and wont subsequently require overtaking again and
b) not going to get caught out mid-mingle.

These rarely happen together.

The way I see it, filtering to the front puts me in danger. More danger than if I stay where I am. I can accelerate to 20 as fast as the cars, if not faster, but then I’m slower again, meaning they need to overtake me AGAIN, putting everyone at risk AGAIN by being in the way of angry motorists every time. I know it’s their fault for not overtaking safely, but as a driver too I can see the irritation and I regularly watch cars shove past bikes that filter. It’s far more sense IME to just stick in your own position on the road unless it’s clear to blast by or the bit of road after the junction is wide enough to allow overtaking with ease.

I wouldn’t worry too much about people getting wound up by it – people get wound up about anything and everything they can nowadays!

I’ve seen wound up people do some scary things. REALLY scary.

fi;lter either side both risky imho but legal
Outside cars can drift out ot the hit eline leaving you no room and pushing you into the flow of oncoming traffic. Inside they cand do the same but into the kerb so it just depends which one I do.
Car drivers get angry that seems odd as they seem such placid considerate paragons of virtue upholding all that is good about polite british society

I came across this YouTube video on another site. A few years old but an eyeopener nonetheless

London Messengers Race

Random anecdote… I had a very strange experience of ‘cyclist hatred’ yesterday…

I was travelling in someone elses car in the morning rush and a ‘proper cyclist’ was doing his thing, making progress. The bloke driving was enraged by this and drove very agressively at the cyclist shouting ‘get some road tax’ and other shite… Thankfully the roadie seemed oblivious to this (I hope) and I, errm, highlighted the drivers errors to him.

I’ve never been so close to such blind and dangerous ignorance and thought it was a very strange encounter… God help us if that’s ‘normal’.

Those London messengers in the video have a death wish and ride like complete retards. Selfish ignorant people like them shouldn’t be allowed to ride bikes in public.

No wonder so many drivers hate us. Not a good advert for cyclists.

The one that always amuses me is when you mention to someone that you cycle, there’s always some non-cyclist who feels the need to mention that they saw a cyclist with out a lights, or someone jump a light. Nowadays I just mention all the car drivers I’ve seen break laws in the last week and ask them what are they going to do about it.

If I know my presence (on a bike) on the road has held up others (in cars) that have patiently waited for a safe place to pass me I think it’s the height of bad manners to filter back past them again if they do get slowed down just after they do get past you. Otherwise I’m ambivalent and just very glad that my road riding rarely goes anywhere near built up areas and am never in a big hurry when I am.

There are a couple of folk here who have said they don’t filter if it might hold a car up afterwards. I don’t get this. Bikes are faster thru cities than cars – you are then allowing the cars to hold you up?

You will not hold a car up at all – if they sit behind you they will end up in exactly the same place at the next traffic jam – behind the same car if you were there or if you weren’t.

I do try to co operate and make sure that cars are signalled to come past when its possible but 99% of the time you just sail past them in another 50 yards. It would be better if they just stayed behind yo rather than overtaking,being overtaken and overtaking again.

20 mph urban limit – thats what is needed.

TJ, you are making the rather large assumption that everybody’s experience of riding and the roads they ride on is exactly like yours. What you have just described is not what would happen for me where I live. There are a few spots where I ride that are too narrow for comfortable passing of a bike (for cyclist and driver) without a gap in the traffic in the opposite direction (all travelling at just under the 40mph limit thanks to those nice yellow boxes) so the good ones hang back – this could be for a couple of miles. You then get to a set of traffic lights that might have a set of 15 to 20 cars waiting for green. There will then be another 2 miles of unimpeded but narrow roads ahead. I could filter past the lot of them to the front of the line and give them another 2 miles of frustration or hang back causing me no time delay and a little thank you to them for being considerate to me earlier. For me a little consideration works both ways and it’s not all about “cyclists’ rights”.

I’ve seen wound up people do some scary things. REALLY scary.

Don’t hide in the gutter just in case someone gets angry!

Everyone’s trying to get somewhere; your journey’s no less important than anyone elses. (Sorry, that sounds a little sanctamonious!)

Plus, everyone will still get to wait at some red lights at some point – even if you don’t rush to them as fast as you posibly can 🙂

I think it all depends upon the situation, sometimes on the right and others on the left, it really depends on the road conditions and the level of traffic, but I always try to make myself visible and drivers aware of what I am doing in regard to filtering in traffic, however I am always ready to pull back into the left when the speed and flow of the traffic increases, after all falling off hurts, and never looks cool.

fair enough convert.