Sitting Behind Cars In Traffic
Discussion
Depends on my mood really
This morning took the bike to work, central London commute bit of filtering bit of queuing.
Generally if there is a few cars I will que, if if won’t get through on the cycle of lights I will filter. Some bikers literally have to go through every gap available to them that makes it almost as stressful as being in traffic in the car for me.
This morning took the bike to work, central London commute bit of filtering bit of queuing.
Generally if there is a few cars I will que, if if won’t get through on the cycle of lights I will filter. Some bikers literally have to go through every gap available to them that makes it almost as stressful as being in traffic in the car for me.
Only if there's advantage to. If lights are due to change at roundabout or at certain places I'll hold back and queue with the rest. This morning I filtered quite a bit to the front at a light for it to change as I got there so was perfect timing. Cut a good 5-10mins off this mornings commute.
I will normally filter, but only ever go up as far as the first car in the queue (ie, i tuck into position second in the queue). Had too many incidents at lights/roundabouts where the guy pulling away in front is looking elsewhere or not expecting anything alongside them so ends up as a bit too tight for comfort.
On a bimble i only filter past a long queue. Two or three cars isn't worth it, and i appreciate a chance to stretch/wipe visor.
On a bimble i only filter past a long queue. Two or three cars isn't worth it, and i appreciate a chance to stretch/wipe visor.
For me it depends how roomy the lights are and where the cars are positioned - if there's space I'll filter up, but at a lot of lights (or rather, the ones I use) they tend to have 2x lanes squeezed together which doesn't leave a great deal of room.
I'm sure a filtering hero would do it differently, but when I'm off for a leisure bimble there's always another overtaking opportunity up the road.
I'm sure a filtering hero would do it differently, but when I'm off for a leisure bimble there's always another overtaking opportunity up the road.
Depends. Filtering is all about risk vs reward.
On a sunny Sunday ride out I might sit behind a few cars at the traffic lights. I'm not in a rush, no need to squeeze through to the front for the sake of waiting an extra few seconds. When the road opens up there will be plenty of overtaking opportunities. If I come upon queues of stationary traffic with filtering opportunities, I will do so.
Overtaking at speed between lanes of moving traffic is really a different subject there are no special laws for bikes "filtering" you are just overtaking, its up to you if doing 80mph between 2 lanes of 70mph traffic whilst dodging wing mirrors with your knees is "acceptable"
On a sunny Sunday ride out I might sit behind a few cars at the traffic lights. I'm not in a rush, no need to squeeze through to the front for the sake of waiting an extra few seconds. When the road opens up there will be plenty of overtaking opportunities. If I come upon queues of stationary traffic with filtering opportunities, I will do so.
Overtaking at speed between lanes of moving traffic is really a different subject there are no special laws for bikes "filtering" you are just overtaking, its up to you if doing 80mph between 2 lanes of 70mph traffic whilst dodging wing mirrors with your knees is "acceptable"
Pothole said:
bogie said:
you if doing 80mph between 2 lanes of 70mph traffic whilst dodging wing mirrors with your knees is "acceptable"
We don't all ride ridiculously tall "adventure" bikes, you know.Filtering is illegal in Canada, so I don't do it, nor do I expect it when driving.
So when I was back in the UK last (2019), bikes coming between the lanes on the motorway scared the sh!t out of me. It was lucky I had that wake up call before changing lanes and not looking/expecting it. Otherwise I might have hit someone.
P.S. I was going about 70mph ish, not sure what the norm is for filtering on a motorway that is not going slowly.
So when I was back in the UK last (2019), bikes coming between the lanes on the motorway scared the sh!t out of me. It was lucky I had that wake up call before changing lanes and not looking/expecting it. Otherwise I might have hit someone.
P.S. I was going about 70mph ish, not sure what the norm is for filtering on a motorway that is not going slowly.
bogie said:
Overtaking at speed between lanes of moving traffic is really a different subject there are no special laws for bikes "filtering" you are just overtaking, its up to you if doing 80mph between 2 lanes of 70mph traffic whilst dodging wing mirrors with your knees is "acceptable"
Only done that once, and that was with traffic at about 40mph on the M4 so at least we were all going in the same direction.There's a guy i see occasionally on my commute who "filters" down the middle of a single carriageway A-road. He's going past traffic doing 60-65mph with similar-speed traffic coming towards him. No thanks. One driver not spotting him against the oncoming traffic and he's history.
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