Highway Code 165 Question

[BSRU]

Part of highway code 165 states:
You MUST NOT overtake * the nearest vehicle to a pedestrian crossing, especially when it has stopped to let pedestrians cross

Does filtering up the inside at a pedestrian crossing have the same restriction?

 

[GrasB]

In my personal opinion, yes it includes filtering. I would also ask where are you intending to go once you've got passed the first car? I Personally never see much point in filtering all the way to the front of a traffic queue.

 

[BSRU]

In my personal opinion, yes it includes filtering. I would also ask where are you intending to go once you've got passed the first car? I Personally never see much point in filtering all the way to the front of a traffic queue.

I also never filter passed the first vehicle, it was something I was taught not to do when I learnt to ride a motorbike.

I am just trying to clarify the legal position, the highway code seems very vague on filtering by bicycles.

 

[clarion]

Yes, it certainly does, so any motor vehicles overtaking you on the approach to a crossing, or those who pull up alongside you when you've stopped for a pedestrian are breaking the law and should be killed to deth.

Filtering all the way up to a crossing is wrong and pointless. The front vehicle won't be looking for you if you're stopped beside them. Better to stay a couple of vehicles back.

The only time I do break this rule is where there is a long queue of standing traffic that is over the crossing. There's one near my town. I overtake towards the front, check if it's clear of pedestrians, then move forward, so long as the motor traffic is still stationary (it normally is). It isn't right, really, but it is pragmatic.

 

[jonny jeez]

Filtering all the way up to a crossing is wrong and pointless.
.

"Wrong"...possibly

"pointless" it is not, there is a big safe ASL there as reward for those that try...so I guess that's the point

 

[clarion]

There isn't normally an ASL reservoir at a crossing, but I do take your point.

 

[gaz]

Similar to the question you asked on my video. With that in mind, I had every right to filter as the car was waiting in traffic, it just so happened that the car had stopped on a pelican crossing but the light was green and peds were not crossing.

With regards to the rule, nothing wrong with filtering. I personally don't go to the very front of the queue as I know the first driver is often watching the lights. If there is an asl, that's something different.

 

[benb]

Part of highway code 165 states:
You MUST NOT overtake * the nearest vehicle to a pedestrian crossing, especially when it has stopped to let pedestrians cross

Does filtering up the inside at a pedestrian crossing have the same restriction?

What terrible wording. If you MUST NOT do something, then how can it be qualified with "especially if"?

It's like saying you MUST NOT murder someone, especially if you use a knife.


(edited to add analogy)

 

[HJ]

I also never filter passed the first vehicle, it was something I was taught not to do when I learnt to ride a motorbike.

I am just trying to clarify the legal position, the highway code seems very vague on filtering by bicycles.

It is not really being vague it gives the legal references, it should also be noted that a bicycle is considered, in law, to be a vehicle (when it is being ridden).

 

[BSRU]

Similar to the question you asked on my video. With that in mind, I had every right to filter as the car was waiting in traffic, it just so happened that the car had stopped on a pelican crossing but the light was green and peds were not crossing.

I understand you reasoning but the law does not state the lights being green or red make any difference and passing a queue of waiting traffic seems not to be an exclusion.

I am not trying ascertain if it is right or wrong, just if it is actually lawful. Being lawful and right are sometimes mutually exclusive. Imagine, if that numpty had decided to get physical, PC Plod might state you were in the wrong first and the contra-tent should never have occurred.

 

[Armegatron]

What terrible wording. If you MUST NOT do something, then how can it be qualified with "especially if"?

It's like saying you MUST NOT murder someone, especially if you use a knife.


(edited to add analogy)

Just what I was thinking.

I agree with Clarion, I sometimes filter through crossings but with care and only if the lights are green.

 

[jonny jeez]

What terrible wording. If you MUST NOT do something, then how can it be qualified with "especially if"?

It's like saying you MUST NOT murder someone, especially if you use a knife.


(edited to add analogy)

That's a really good point, I never even read it that way

 

[Mr Celine]

Part of highway code 165 states:
You MUST NOT overtake * the nearest vehicle to a pedestrian crossing, especially when it has stopped to let pedestrians cross

Does filtering up the inside at a pedestrian crossing have the same restriction?

Apparently not, so long as you're on a pedal cycle.

Prohibition against vehicles overtaking at crossings
24. - (1) Whilst any motor vehicle (in this regulation called "the approaching vehicle") or any part of it is within the limits of a controlled area and is proceeding towards the crossing, the driver of the vehicle shall not cause it or any part of it -

(a) to pass ahead of the foremost part of any other motor vehicle proceeding in the same direction; or

( to pass ahead of the foremost part of a vehicle which is stationary for the purpose of complying with regulation 23, 25 or 26.

(2) In paragraph (1) -

(a) the reference to a motor vehicle in sub-paragraph (a) is, in a case where more than one motor vehicle is proceeding in the same direction as the approaching vehicle in a controlled area, a reference to the motor vehicle nearest to the crossing; and

( the reference to a stationary vehicle is, in a case where more than one vehicle is stationary in a controlled area for the purpose of complying with regulation 23, 25 or 26, a reference to the stationary vehicle nearest the crossing.

So there's nothing to say a pedal cycle can't filter to the front. Note that a car can overtake a moving pedal cycle within the controlled area (the zig zag lines) but can't overtake a stationary pedal cycle that's stopped, eg at a red light or for a ped using a zebra crossing.

 

[Tynan]

how does drawing level with a car stopped for a crossing count as overtaking?