Filtering - the law

[Alba]

Towards the end of the week, on 3 consecutive days, there was 3 to 4 traffic cars on the way up to the Forth road bridge. Which made me twichy about going up the centre.

The traffic is quite heavy in the morning traveling at 10 - 20 mph. So I normally happily make my way up the centre.

Now each morning with the cops there I pulled in to the relavent lane when I seen them (no point bringing attention to myself). Now my feeling is, if the traffic is moving then it is illegal to filter.

Another question has just came to me; what about trafic lights, tail back to the lights you can safely make your way up the centre to the front, traffic has yet to move, legal?

Anyone with, shall we say, knowledge in thais matter

[barftone]

Don't know exactly but as long as your doing it slowly and seen as no danger to others I think you would be ok. Don't overtake on the approach to a pedestrian crossing of any kind coz they will have you.

[Steve C]

I have had conflicting views on filtering. A police trainer told me it is "perfectly legal and I'd wonder what was going on if you didn't do it". Yet he also said, if anything happens, it can raise questions...

I found the QA below at
http://www.motorbike-search-engine.c...questions.html

Q - When filtering through traffic recently a car pulled out and caused me to swerve and crash into another stationary car, where do I stand?

A - There is no specific mention of filtering in the highway code, so motorcyclists must observe the rules on overtaking. Failure to observe the Highway Code doesn't mean a motorcyclist is liable to criminal proceedings but it may be used to establish or negate liability. In a landmark case last week (week commencing 13th February 2006) a motorcyclist overturned a long-standing ruling that has robbed many riders of compensation in the past and was the first motorcyclist in the UK to come away with zero blame after he was knocked off his bike whilst filtering through traffic.

[DaveS]

Safe filtering is a series of overtaking manouvers, you should know where you plan to pull in at all times, and you must clearly be very aware of what other traffic is doing. Filtering is legal and is a necessary mechanism for making progress and expectation when demonstrating "advanced" riding techniques.
However there are different definitions of filtering, such as riding between 2 stationary lines of traffic, or perhaps when those lines of traffic are moving. Very different views of both of course.

[Kymmy]

Yep, Filtering is only considered legal when you;re not breaking any other traffic laws.

Remember though the highway code rules for undertaking, yes it is legal but subject to rules.

Kymmy

[alpslapper]

Another rough rule of thumb relating to the speed of filtering is not to do it any more than about 15mph above the speed of the slow moving traffic - assuming that even that speed is ''safe'' all other things considered. So, if the traffic is moving at 10mph in their lanes, any more than 25mph on your part is like to cause unwarrented attention from the police if they see you, BUT equally, it increases considerably your chances of NOT being able to respond quicly enough to a sudden lane changer etc.

However, clearly the above does not apply to the bikes that filter on the A12 to Bow every morning

Always ride your own ride, but be considerate to faster filtering bikes.

[russh]

I filtered up the middle of a traffic jam on my bike test..........................



...................and still passed!

[StumpyFingers]

I always filter if I think it is safe to do so.
Once on the way through Croydon I filtered down through the Traffic and passed a Police car, after a couple of mins I heard the two tone sirens chasing after me.
Turned out as I passed the number plate was not reconized by the A.N.P.R. in the car. (Military number plate)

[Dee Duble Yuh]

Sorry to repeat stuff already said above. By and large filtering is a special form of overtaking. Some Highway Code "rules" say "should not" and some say "must not". Only the "must not"s are contraventions of Road Traffic Acts. Examples include passing in the zig-zag zone at a pedestrian crossing.

I'm encouraged by the case where the biker got full compensation, but in general we ought to assume that if we filter (or overtake) in a way that ignores the Highway Code we will be held partly liable... maybe wholly liable. That includes passing on the inside (left).

[Lord Vader]

All the above does not apply to Chad and myself yesterday on our way home
Was a bit more like the Matrix in the bike chase scene