Filtering nutters

Sewinman

Since someone kindly opened a van door in my face I have become pretty conservative when filtering through traffic. I was watching some guys this morning in awe at their bravery - travelling at a fair speed inbetween lanes of traffic. They must have much better brakes than me to be able to stop should someone cross the road, open a door, change lanes etc.

The question is - are they super skilled commuters, really fearless or just a bunch of loons!?

Big Red S

A bit of all three, really.

The longer they go without hitting anything, the more confident they're likely to get that they wont. And they're probably not really that aware of how quick they're going.

This summer I caught myself filtering at close to 40mph (on my motorbike, through (slow) moving traffic), which was a bit of a shock.

Greg T

You will have an accident filtering fast - it's just a matter of time.

I'm finding I'm getting increasingly careful around stationary traffic.

snooks

I'm finding myself breaking right and hoofing it down the outside more and more

Drivers don't tend to get out of their cars and I can see the traffic coming towards me...I'm always on the look out for bolt holes and wary of gaps in the on coming traffic that the queued traffic could turn out into.

lost_in_thought

Filtering through slow-moving or stationary traffic is one of the more dangerous aspects of my commute - people may open doors, suddenly decide they don't mind going in the bus lane, peds may wander through stopped traffic, people could grow impatient and turn across you... etc etc.

In slow traffic, the drivers and peds presume all the traffic is going at the pace of the cars etc. and often don't think about the fact that bikes can be travelling faster.

I never filter at speed, it scares me. And Big Red S is right, the longer people go without an accident the faster they go. And as Greg says, it's just a matter of time.

DonDaddyD

I am crap at filtering, it amounts to clipping out one leg and one leg pushing/pedalling my bike around the traffic. Even then I only filter on roads I absolutely know.

I've seen some amazing filterers going at it with speed. I'm not that lucky, brave, skillful or foolhardy.

Bassjunkieuk

I'd say all 3 of your options cover it! I quite enjoy the filtering aspect, flying past loads of cars is always very satisfying! There have been a few times where I have worried myself with some of the passes I have done, but I always have my brakes covered and try to ensure I have a way out if I do get into trouble. If all else fails I will wait, but as my balance is improving I'm finding it easier to manoeuvre around traffic and remain clipped in :-)

If I can I'll go out to the right, but always try to keep tight into the left lane so I don't obstruct any cars coming the other way. The normal problem with this approach is that cars turning from the left don't normally expect bikes coming down the outside of traffic so are normally busy looking the other way for a gap!

il_principe

I filter fairly quickly, but tend to prefer the outside these days. Ok so it's not the safest but if the alternative is sitting in traffic then I'm going to filter. One of the joys of the bike is not being held up by traffic so it'd be a bit pointless IMHO not to do it.

On the other hand I have good brakes and trust my experience, bike handling skills and "spidey" cycle sense to get me out of trouble! No trouble yet *touch wood, and long may that continue - the luck, not the wood touching that is.

greg66_tri_v2.0

The cardinal rule of riding in traffic:

The closer you are to the ambient speed of the traffic, the safer you are.

Filtering at speed is exhilarating and mildly addictive. As are most dangerous things. That's not to say I don't do it, or that I disapprove of it. But it is dangerous, and spidey sense goes to absolute max when I do it.

gradiric

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I always have my brakes covered

As I found to my cost nearly 2 years ago, brakes don't help much if you're filtering at speed when someone opens the door of a stationary car a couple of feet in front of you. As Greg says, it's only a matter of time. With all road users, speed should be appropriate to the conditions on the road (boring but true). I still filter every day, but with slighty less carefree abandon and at lower speeds than I did before.

Sewinman

gradiric wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I always have my brakes covered

As I found to my cost nearly 2 years ago, brakes don't help much if you're filtering at speed when someone opens the door of a stationary car a couple of feet in front of you. As Greg says, it's only a matter of time. With all road users, speed should be appropriate to the conditions on the road (boring but true). I still filter every day, but with slighty less carefree abandon and at lower speeds than I did before.

The only help covering the brakes will have in a severe door opening incident is that your fingers will slow you down as they hit the door.

Bassjunkieuk

gradiric wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I always have my brakes covered

As I found to my cost nearly 2 years ago, brakes don't help much if you're filtering at speed when someone opens the door of a stationary car a couple of feet in front of you. As Greg says, it's only a matter of time. With all road users, speed should be appropriate to the conditions on the road (boring but true). I still filter every day, but with slighty less carefree abandon and at lower speeds than I did before.

Thankfully the few times I have had a door opened in front of me I haven't been in grid-locked traffic. It's happened once or twice when the passengers confuse a zebra-crossing with a drop-off point (near my local train station) and a few in town. They haven't been opened as I'm going past and I usually have enough warning to avoid them.

As G66 said it is very much a case of using the spidey senses and I put my current success in filtering down just as much to luck as to judgement! It still beats sitting in a car in the queue hands down, even with all the hazards! which lets face it is half the fun, after all don't you think you need a bit of a thrill-seeker streak to cycle-commute in a busy city anyway :-D

Gussio

As road conditions get progressively worse as we head into winter, filtering becomes more of a hazard. For my money, the worst time of year is when salt goes on the roads and then on to drivers' windows. Couple this with low sun and there is no guarantee that you will be seen on the inside or outside - time to take extra special care.

NGale

mmmm I'd go with nutters :roll:

You have to have an element of insanity to suddenly decide one day 'Humm you know I think I'll buy a bike and give up the warmth and comfort of my car with Terry Wogan first thing in the morning to instead experiance what it's like to be abused, driven at, forced off the road by anything with four wheels'

I'm sorry is that not the sign of a nutter

linsen

I have started filtering on the right and it is much better on the whole. I just get nervous when the speed picks up towards the front of a queue but I'v enever had trouble slipping back across to the left.

Yet...

Jen J

Must admit that although I'm mostly too scared to filter, the couple of times I have filtered on the right, it has been very easy to get back trhough the line of traffic. Before I did it I had a vision of me cycling endlessly and being unable to get back on teh other side, but it really was fine. That said, I'm still mostly too scared...

il_principe

NGale wrote:

mmmm I'd go with nutters :roll:

You have to have an element of insanity to suddenly decide one day 'Humm you know I think I'll buy a bike and give up the warmth and comfort of my car with Terry Wogan first thing in the morning to instead experiance what it's like to be abused, driven at, forced off the road by anything with four wheels'

I'm sorry is that not the sign of a nutter

I'd turn that on its head. I reckon you have to be mad to commute via car (well at least into central London). Spending an hour stuck in your car getting fat and angry every morning, fcuk that.

And Wogan, don't get me started on Wogan!

Bassjunkieuk

jashburnham wrote:

NGale wrote:

mmmm I'd go with nutters :roll:

You have to have an element of insanity to suddenly decide one day 'Humm you know I think I'll buy a bike and give up the warmth and comfort of my car with Terry Wogan first thing in the morning to instead experiance what it's like to be abused, driven at, forced off the road by anything with four wheels'

I'm sorry is that not the sign of a nutter

I'd turn that on its head. I reckon you have to be mad to commute via car (well at least into central London). Spending an hour stuck in your car getting fat and angry every morning, fcuk that.

And Wogan, don't get me started on Wogan!

My wife says exactly the same thing, why would anyone drive in central London unless they absolutely had to. I was in the un-fortunate position in my original role as a field engineer in that I had to carry computer parts and a toolkit around, hence I needed to drive. Thankfully I was only doing laptop repairs so the boxes weren't huge and most of my days in London where spent walking to and from a centrally positioned (for the sites I had to visit) car park, then moving only when I had to!

Me and my car where much happier out around the SW and W area either just inside or outside the M25 - no traffic, fabulous roads to drive on and on-site parking :-)

The first day I rode into London (WCC offices on Victoria Street) I based my journey time on what I'd expect to do it in with the car, I arrived 40 minutes early!

As for choice of radio I'm rather partial to LBC, although it's taking me a while to get used to hearing people talking rather then wind and engines, rather disconcerting as I didn't realize how much I relied on my ears to know what's going on around me when out on the roads........

Feltup

I had a van door opened on me once which sent me sprawling across the pavement into the entrance of Waitrose. All was fine except I had forgotten my bag for life.

AndyManc

I filter all the time , it's a legal manoeuvre and if I didn't do it , it would treble my commute time.

As long as you do it at a decent speed , then there is no problem.

In fact, those that don't do it are over cautious and mad enough to want to be stationary in c*** weather , one of the great advantages of cycling is that you don't have to wait in line.

chuckcork

Well, I got a motorbike licence in Queensland, then moved ot England and gained my first experience of riding one without an instructor in London, and had it for a few years before a knee injury (not m'cycling related) started me cycling.

I'd say that the all 3 is correct. I'm impatient for the traffic, fast enough on a road bike to move quickly between gaps, and fairly fearless. Doing so on a bigger heavier m'bike makes doing so on a road bike fairly simple by comparison, though I wouldn't want anyone to try and follow me.

For a better comparison I saw once a motorcycle cop filtering tyhrough traffic on a motorway. I was doing 35-40mph (tops) and mostly less, he was doing 60mph and making it seem easy, flicking between lanes with style. I didn't have that level of training so I wouldn't emulate it.

chaley

I stay way over to the right and just go, there's no point sitting in traffic, if I wanted to spend time looking at the car in front I'd get in the car, leave 15 minutes earlier and get to work 15 minutes latter. I don't use spider powers, just a double espresso and nutella on toast
Chaley

prj45

Nutters.

I got caught out a few months ago. I was filtering (slowly) down the right hand side of a parked truck in lane one and somebody in lane two flung their passenger door open ONTO my handlbars.

I was't going fast , 5mph maybe, but I still managed to go right over my bars and their door; the first thing the cyclist behind me said after I'd laid on my back checking myself out was "I'm going to buy a helmet today, you landed right on your head".

The passenger had flung the door open because his lane of traffic had stopped and he wanted to get out in a hurry to get on the tube before the lane started moving again.

jedster

nutters of course

You have got to travel at a speed that allows you time to react to sh1t happening. If you are in a narrow gap between traffic that is real slow.

I blast past traffic in two situations:

1. when the opposite lane is clear and I can put serious distance between me and the staionary traffic

2. when a car is stopped waiting to turn right off my road and I can go between it and the kerb AND I have a good view of empty passenger seats

TBH, I think the second is a bit dodgy.

J

rsquid

I commute in York, where some traffic is cycle aware, but others hate you. I will filter up the inside of standing traffic on the roads where I know the traffic light sequence and can predict when it will start moving. Or I go up the centre line when there is a gap in the oncoming traffic.
Filtering on the inside puts you at risk from the heedless pedestrians who blithely step off the kerb to overtake another walker without checking the road. They seem to assume that just because the cars are not moving, nothing will hit them. Others walk right on the kerb, overhanging the roadside. That said, I move slowly, keep both eyes peeled and use my voice or a bell to alert the divvies to my existence. So far, so good.!!
I rely on my good observation, bike control skills and strong survival instinct to stay out of trouble. A 6th sense is useful as well to alert you to the random acts of stupidity caused by the selfish morons who drive/walk/cycle as though they were on Playstation where nothing is real. :evil:
When the cars start to move, I drop into line with them, staying out in the primary position.

giltkid

I always feel safer filtering on the right wherever possible - you're passing drivers on the side they can see you best and where they should be looking for motorcycles anyway + far less chance of getting doored. Just try make sure the car you're going to pull in in front of has seen you....

hondafanatic

I filter past traffic. It's the reason I cycle into work. I pass about a mile and a half of stationary traffic every morning...by the time i get to work my 'smug' factor is on level ten.

I've not yet had a problem, not a near miss...I do a lot of advanced driving so i read the traffic pretty well although that's not a reason to be complacent as people will do the oddest thing when you least expect it.

Although, because of the above sentence, I expect to posting something tomorrow along the lines of

‘a driver just pulled a u-turn in front of me, I didn’t even get chance to brake etc etc.’

Kiss of death.
David

hondafanatic

I filter past traffic. It's the reason I cycle into work. I pass about a mile and a half of stationary traffic every morning...by the time i get to work my 'smug' factor is on level ten.

I've not yet had a problem, not a near miss...I do a lot of advanced driving so i read the traffic pretty well although that's not a reason to be complacent as people will do the oddest thing when you least expect it.

Although, because of the above sentence, I expect to posting something tomorrow along the lines of

‘a driver just pulled a u-turn in front of me, I didn’t even get chance to brake etc etc.’

Kiss of death.
David