Cyclists flout law 'to stay safe'

[stephenb]

Almost all one-way streets here are two-way for cyclists. It hasn't led to any increase in accidents. It means that motorists* know that a cyclist is likely to be coming down the street and it probably legitimised behaviour that was there already.

*Except fat Australian motorists

what's yer problem mate??

 

[caesar]

OK, I can see how filtering might be dangerous - but how can an ASL be dangerous?

You say there's no thinking, but that's not my experience - very rarely do I see people putting themselves in danger whilst filtering.

Also, if I start stopping a couple of cars back, I'm going to miss all that office totty crossing at the lights. That's bad.

The latter is a very good point. I usually try and get to the front of an ASL so that I don't have to breathe in quite so many fumes. Unless, of course, the ASL is full of dirty engined mopedophiles and motorbikes, as usual.

This is something to watch out for for ASL users:

I nearly got hit my a mopedophile again today in the ASL at the end of Blackfriars Bridge (norhtbound). I entered the ASL via the broken line on the left and to get to the right hand lane, went very, very slowly across it between two buses, one of which was stranded over the stop line. As I came out from between the buses, a learner mopedophile filtered pretty quickly into the ASL and would probably have hit my front wheel if I hadn't been going so slowly. No doubt he would have blamed me for emerging into his path from in front of the bus but the light was red so he shouldn't have crossed the line. Has any driver ever got 6 points for entering an ASL on green?

 

[stephenb]

Not my problem, but I got an earful from a fat Aussie in a 4x4 while riding perfectly legally down a one-way street about a month ago. Apart from him and Rolf Harris I get on fine with the rest of you

gotcha. no worries ('twern't me BTW, I'm a weedy little guy and definitely don't run a 4x4).

 

[hackbike 6]

Was there not a poster on recently that broke her finger and was knocked off filtering (on the left), despite cycling with care?

Wow that's convinced me.

 

[magnatom]

Wow that's convinced me.

Umm, just pointing out that filtering, despite how carefully done can still be risky.

 

[hackbike 6]

Umm, just pointing out that filtering, despite how carefully done can still be risky.

I know that Sherlock.

 

[Arch]

I'm with Magnatom on the idea that 'cyclists flout the law to be safer' is mostly, if not entirely crap. Those cyclists who flout the law do so because of various reasons - can't be bothered to stop, don't care about any rules, don't think it applies to them (either literally, or metaphorically), etc, etc. Apart from cycling on the pavement, (where yes, some are novices scared of the road) I don't think many of them would think to justify their actions in that way.

We don't need new laws. We need EVERYONE on the roads to obey the ones we have. And not just to the letter, but to the spirit. I'm just back from France, where I believe (I stand to be corrected if wrong) there is a minimum specified distance for passing cyclists. Pretty much all French drivers gave us that room when overtaking (one close-pass-and-cut-in - guess what, a British car), and many gave us LOADS MORE. Like right over onto the other side of the other lane, wheels on the opposite verge. Even oncoming drivers often slowed and pulled right over. If I got that sort of treatment here, I'd be quite willing to forego some of the 'advantages' I get, like ASLs, shared foot/bike paths. If everyone was just a bit nicer and sensible and switched on and gave way sometimes out of sheer niceness (and that includes cyclists, peds, drivers, everyone), wouldn't it be better?

Meanwhile, I'll go back to dreams of emigrating...

 

[Absinthe Minded]

Umm, just pointing out that filtering, despite how carefully done can still be risky.

Everything can be risky - if I didn't filter, it'd take forever to get to work...

 

[magnatom]

Everything can be risky - if I didn't filter, it'd take forever to get to work...

Yes, I filter too, but why risk passing the front two cars where there is a risk of being left hooked, when you could quite happily sit two or three cars back and not have this risk at all. How much would sitting two cars back hold you up?

I'll hang two cars back and be delayed getting to work by all of 10 seconds, I reckon.

 

[hackbike 6]

Depends on the circumstances but as I have tactics for all the traffic lights on my commute I rarely have a problem.

 

[Nigeyy]

Well I've patiently read this thread. Back when I was in jolly old Blighty, as far as I recall, I never knowingly broke traffic laws (except when I was a pimply teenager and did the occasional on pavement jaunt in a village or two, and that was when there wasn't anybody about. Where I cycle now -and though I wouldn't say I frequently break the law -I'll do it at least once a month (perhaps more depending on where I cycle).

Point is, depending on your own road conditions, I think there can be times where you are better off doing something illegal (the frequency and behaviour of which really depends where you are).

I didn't use to think so, but never say never. If you don't look out for yourself on a road, certainly no one else will. I definitely agree that most of the time cyclists who do break the law do so because they are ignorant, ill informed, don't care, etc, but I also believe there are some (I'll include myself with this statement) who do it in a logical, deliberate and reasoned way given the environment they have to cycle in.

Those cyclists who flout the law do so because of various reasons - can't be bothered to stop, don't care about any rules, don't think it applies to them (either literally, or metaphorically), etc, etc.

 

[Absinthe Minded]

Yes, I filter too, but why risk passing the front two cars where there is a risk of being left hooked, when you could quite happily sit two or three cars back and not have this risk at all. How much would sitting two cars back hold you up?

I'll hang two cars back and be delayed getting to work by all of 10 seconds, I reckon.

Well, as I said earlier, that's where I feel safest and that's where the office lovelies are at. You might not think the office lovelies are important, but I do.

It's got nothing to do with delay, but everything to do with where I feel safest / office lovelies. And I don't get this left hook thing; as long as you don't filter on the inside when passing junctions, where's the danger?

 

[hackbike 6]

My positioning is done to counter left hooks and also to let other riders through behind me whether they are a cyclist or motorcyclist.

 

[summerdays]

I love ASL's and think that they help me. If the traffic started moving I would then immediately stop and rejoin the moving traffic rather than going up the inside. I will go both sides depending on where I'm going at the junction, and the individual layout. I can accelerate faster than the cars at the junction and get through it quickly whereas once the traffic is moving then its going faster than me and I may delay its progress.

 

[Jaded]

I love ASL's and think that they help me. If the traffic started moving I would then immediately stop and rejoin the moving traffic rather than going up the inside. I will go both sides depending on where I'm going at the junction, and the individual layout. I can accelerate faster than the cars at the junction and get through it quickly whereas once the traffic is moving then its going faster than me and I may delay its progress.

Doesn't matter where you are in the queue for this... front, middle, back.