Filtering

[Fatjohn]

Your thoughts please:

I tend to regard filtering as the most hazardous thing I do on the bike on day to day basis, generally speaking. I reckon there's any number of ways it can go wrong with consequences ranging from the embarrassing to the painful. So, although I subscribe to the I don't have enough wheels to sit in traffic theory, I don't push my luck. That means if the cars are moving at more than (say 10-15mph) I tend to keep to my current position and if I'm coming up to a pedestrian crossing (i.e. in that zone marked by zig-zags) I don't filter. So my question is; am I being a bit of a mincer? The reason I ask was that I pulled in to let a GSX-R pilot past me today after I'd come to a crossing and he went blasting right by, over the crossing (in fairness there was no-one near it) and to the front of the queue.

Come to think of it; if it's a round about I don't even tend to go right to the front (crossing or not) as I've found that pulling in two or three cars back means I avoid the irate sales-rep reaction of trying to race. Anyone else do this?

Your thoughts/comments/advice/ridicule please gentlemen!

[SteveLee]

I'm exactly the same. I won't sit in a queue if I can safely get past but I don't like squeezing through small gaps/pissing off oncoming traffic etc. On the motorway I only filter when the speed drops well below the limit.

[xrv_jim]

Yep, me too, although I do have the occassional bad/mad moment.

[paultheold]

Me to. As a ex Police rider said to me make progress. I filter all the time, but only slightly faster than the traffic I am overtaking. Have had one Bloke at work killed going past traffic at 40 MPH, he was blamed not the tw*t who pulled out in front of him. In the Summer morons on sports bikes are always trying to show me how to overtake on the zigzags and on corners where I have seen many accidents.

[DaveS]

I always filter. I will squeeze through most gaps I can find.
However I'm very cautious when I've not filtered on a road before.
The most dangerous times filtering for me are when I've got a cold or for some reason I'm not concentrating properly. To me to filter properly requires 110% concentration, anything less and I can make mistakes which is as Paul has said can be quite literally fatal.
However I have developed a 6th sense on the roads that I know and I think that I can filter quickly and safely when I concentrate fully. I can anticipate what other road users are doing and avoid them. I know the roads so well that I know when drivers will be looking to pull back in to the left lane, pull out in to the right. Occassionally there's one though that doesn't know where they're going but again I tend to spot them by the way they act and give them a wide berth. I tend to get what I would term as being in "the zone" where I'm the flow and moving slickly and hopefully safely through the traffic.
I do tend to go too fast though and I've found myself filtering at 40 when traffic around me is say doing 20 - 30. This is too fast IMHO and I do try to limit myself to 20 or so.

[Muckybill]

I am very cautious when filtering but there isn't much traffic in Northumberland to filter past.

[Blues N Twos]

I do filter when I can but only if it's "safe" to do so.
If the traffic is moving at a reasonable pace then I will stick with it.

The only time I might take a slight risk is if i'm stuck behind a van.
Not being able to look through a van winds me up. I am happy to sit behind a car because I am still aware and can see all the road ahead.

Vans and lorries do nothing but slow you down and completly block some, or all, of your forward vision. And if the roads are wet then they cover you in **** from the road as a bonus.

I will not tear down the outside of slow or staitionary traffic at high speed because that is where you are going to come a cropper big time.

I expect cage drivers to do the most stupid of things and the amount of times this has proved to be the case frightens me and keeps me sensible.

I also have the unfortunate job of having to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong for bikers.

Keep shiny side up peeps.

Jon

[landyandy]

Hmm ... tricky one. What's 'too fast'? With a daily commute either into, or through London, filtering is a must have. If I'm going to sit in a traffic jam, I may as well get a Gold Wing.

I am guilty of pushing to the front of a queue at traffic lights, but I do tend to operate a couple of provisos on this - first, you get used to the phasing of lights, so you get to know whether you can make it in front of the first car, squeeze between the bollard, and not have him pull away over you, mid-manouvre. Second, at many lights, you can see the 'other' set, so if they're changing to red, and you're still 3 cars away, it probably ain't worth it busting a gut to get to the front.

As for filtering, I try to maximise the safety aspect of it, one of which is getting to the front of the traffic light queue, which then gives you a clear view. Different roads call for different appraoches, as does the speed of the moving traffic. The faster the traffic is flowing, the less likely someone is going to make a 'sharp' manouvre. Filtering on one way systems/dual carriageways gets around the 'taxi u-turn' stunt, whereas filtering through Kilburn/A5 requires total concentration. Too many bad drivers, parked lorries, vacant lemmings crossing the road to go to Matalan, cr@p road surface, leaking manhole covers ... the list is endless.

If there is a filtering nut behind me, I'll let him past, and likewise, if there is a wobbler doing 1 mph more than the traffic, I hope he'll do the same for me.

At the end of the day, as someone else on here has said, you tend to get in the 'zone'. I have lots of days when I don't have a close shave, no panic braking etc, and then I have other days when it's all at the point of going pear-shaped. I think this all depends on how alert I really am (rather than how alert I feel). Also, I have confidence crisis moments when I think to myself that I feel a crash could be on the cards today - extreme caution is then deployed to a) make sure I arrive in one piece, and b) it helps the confidence and gives a quick reality check, rather than thinking 'it won't happen to me'.

[Northy]

Landandy,
Sounds like you ride just like me !
I'm rarely sitting in queue , I can do that in a car

When does filters become white lining ? Going to work I use a wide main road ( bypass with roundabouts and no nasty right turns ) in which the traffic is queued up or traveling at around 40-50 . I will overtake them but normally 1-3 at time depending on oncoming traffic/road condition etc .
The key I find is to use the @ presence and some just move over /out of the way and are given a wave. For the ones that don't I just wait for my chance ....
Northy

[Recycler]

As Landyandy above.

If it's on a regular commuting route then you soon work out when and where you can get to the front. Make sure you're in first as you reach the head of the queue incase the lights go green.

Watch out for gaps in the traffic on both sides - someone is probably letting another out.

Be ready for pedestrians stepping out between stationary traffic - they'll assume NOTHING is moving as they stride out with their headphones on.

Black cabs U-turn VERY sharply. I've driven one and the steering lock is amazing.

If you get knocked off when filtering you will have a tough time winning any insurance battles - I've learnt this from experience and only won because the cager's account was wishy-washy.

Yes the A5 from Marble Arch to Kilburn is a 'mare as it's basically the 'Lebanese' part of town - would you filter in the Lebanon?!?