Cycle Superhighways - Right of way?

hfidgen
hfidgen Posts: 340
edited June 2011 in Commuting chat
So...

Riding along CS3 in traffic and get bawled at by a taxi driver for undertaking him on what effectively amounts to a shared-use lane?

1) When vehicles and bikes are both in the left hand lane, who gets priority by law?
- Bike in the bike lane?
- Car in the left hand lane with one wheel in the blue bike lane?

As an aside, there was comfortably room to pass, there wasn't a left junction or even a parking place to pull into so don't know what he was complaining about other than the fact I suprised him?
FCN 4 - BMC CX02

Comments

  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    There is no offence of undertaking- whether in a car or on a bike.
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  • EKE_38BPM
    EKE_38BPM Posts: 5,821
    When passing, you should do it on the right unless the lane you are in is moving slower because of the weight of traffic (not the HWC's wording, but you get my drift).
    You were in the right, he was in the wrong for being partially in the bike lane.

    Was the bike lane separated by a solid line, a dashed line or no line? If solid, he was wrong for being in the lane at all.
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  • hfidgen
    hfidgen Posts: 340
    Thats rather what I thought - I certainly didn't think about it on the rest of my ride.

    @EKE - no it was one of the big blue bike lanes

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  • kurako
    kurako Posts: 1,098
    Best to be sensible. I'd be pretty wary of undertaking a cab cos they have a habit of suddenly pulling in to the kerb with little or no warning. It's all about cycling defensively and thinking 'what may he do?' rather than relying on 'what should he do?'.
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  • gaz545
    gaz545 Posts: 493
    Technically that blue strip has no legal standing. There is no kind of line on it at all. Pretty piss poor and it makes people think that you should be riding in it. As long as there is ample space on the left and the traffic isn't moving. Why not filter there?

    On a side note, no such thing as 'right of way' on the roads. You have priority over other road users in situations but you should still give way to them if it is the best course of action.
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  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    That's what I thought, cycle "superhighways" in effect have no legal standing, certainly no different to the legal status of the usual green strips in the gutter. Unless there is a thick white line advising motorists that they are mandatory, then CSs and bike lanes are simply "advisory" and anyone can drive in and out of them...
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  • noodles71
    noodles71 Posts: 153
    If I worried about and followed every comment I get from a cabbie on my commute I would have done a few things that probably come under the extreme porn legislation by now. On top of that I would have paid double the road tax they do themselves only to stay at home and not use the roads at all.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    noodles71 wrote:
    If I worried about and followed every comment I get from a cabbie on my commute I would have done a few things that probably come under the extreme porn legislation by now.

    Err..?
    _

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