Advice on undertaking traffic in cycling lanes

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
The dangers of using a legal cycle lane for passing slow motorized traffic include:
Vehicles turning left without warning across the lane.
Vehicles turning right, with or without warning, across both lanes, without visibility of you.
Pedestrians crossing between cars onto the bike lane.
Taxi and car doors opening.

Given the potential for danger, you should ride at a speed where you can react to dangers, and think ahead to predict possible conflicts, ie be a good rider, not a bad rider.
 
I completely agree that a non-mandatory cycle lane isn't worth the paint it's painted with, but a mandatory enforced one is usually better than nothing.
 
Do drivers know the difference between a cycle lane with a dotted line and one with a solid one? Not in my experience.
Around here generally, but the clincher is that legally a dotted line can be LEGALLY parked in whenever someone feels like it (I mean why bother?!).
A solid line can't but is still police enforcement, so the requirement is solid cycle lane with double yellow lines AND double flashings, which means traffic wardens can enforce.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
How fast is the traffic though? I might, I suppose, be persuaded to pass on the right if the traffic was guaranteed to be doing no more than 5mph and there was a guaranteed gap for me to pull into, but the roads I drive are not like this at all. If traffic is stationary, there are no gaps big enough. Round here the traffic normally builds up at a traffic light, so it's stop/start, and when it starts, all the traffic wants to do more than the 20mph limit they should be sticking to, and I can just about do 20mph for short stretches but not long enough.
When ever the traffic starts moving again, a quick look (smile) at the driver almost always gets me back in the line, and even if one doesn't the one behind does, I've never become stuck out on the right trying to get back in ... the time to be careful is if you are wanting to turn left to make sure you get back across quick enough.
 

Julia9054

Guru
Location
Knaresborough
When ever the traffic starts moving again, a quick look (smile) at the driver almost always gets me back in the line, and even if one doesn't the one behind does, I've never become stuck out on the right trying to get back in ... the time to be careful is if you are wanting to turn left to make sure you get back across quick enough.
I had a full on scrap with an ice cream van 2 weeks ago. I was filtering past very slow moving traffic on the right and as I drew level with him, the traffic started to move. Instead of waiting half a second for me to pull in in front of him, he drove at the same pace as me for what seemed like ages whilst leaning on his horn and screaming obscenities at me. This only stopped when the traffic came to a standstill again and I was able to speed off. Cycled home as fast as I could dreading him catching up with me and a punishment pass!
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Most people accept that there are some roads where a segregated cycle path alongside is the best option (local to me I'm thinking of the A23 and A27).
I'm sure those would be criticised too on this site as not worth using.

While I agree that some isn't helpful and that Manchester's government seems to have lost the plot, there's a tendency to overgeneralise and ignore things like the sheer joy today of avoiding the motorist queues and riding in a swarm of cycle commuters in our own space.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Road rage from an ice ream van's gotta be twenty points, easy. I guess a hearse would be trumps.
That said, I did have someone apparently leaving a funeral invade a kerb-protected cycle track today and refuse to move. Not sure if it was road rage or incompetence.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
Road rage from an ice ream van's gotta be twenty points, easy. I guess a hearse would be trumps.
I once managed to accidently cycle into the middle of a funeral cortège, I just didn't know whether the right thing was to stay in line or overtake. I just stayed behind until a junction when I could turn off. I decided filtering would seem very disrespectful.
 

hatler

Guru
Yup. That's a crap bit of labelling. 'Mandatory' for motorists to stay out of them.

There's one of those between Kingston and Hampton Court, except that it has time limits on it (morning and evening rush hours). I have no idea who came up with that particular bit of nonsense.

And then, during Hampton Court Flower show the lanes are suspended.
 
I had a full on scrap with an ice cream van 2 weeks ago. I was filtering past very slow moving traffic on the right and as I drew level with him, the traffic started to move. Instead of waiting half a second for me to pull in in front of him, he drove at the same pace as me for what seemed like ages whilst leaning on his horn and screaming obscenities at me. This only stopped when the traffic came to a standstill again and I was able to speed off. Cycled home as fast as I could dreading him catching up with me and a punishment pass!
DO NOT fark with ice cream vendors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars
 
It's not illegal for sure, but you do need to be careful and make sure your speed is appropriate and that you can stop

Situations to be particularly careful:

- Coming up to side road on your side of the road, drivers stuck in traffic going in the same direction as you might let an oncoming vehicle turn right across your path. If you can't see oncoming traffic because of high sided vehicles or you can see the driver in front leaving a gap/flashing lights, then be prepared to stop.
- Coming up to bus stop with a bus in front of you, particularly if you see people at the bus stop or the bus indicating. Use your brain, if you are going to undertake then make sure you beat the bus to the bus stop.
- Bus stops again and numpty pedestrians doing stupid things like crossing the road in front of buses without looking down the cycle lane
- Car indicating to turn right ahead, vehicles going in your direction might impinge on the cycle lane without checking their mirror first in order to squeeze past
 
Top Bottom