How many cars....

How many cars between you and the ASL before you will filter to the ASL?

  • One

    Votes: 11 19.3%
  • Two

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • Three

    Votes: 10 17.5%
  • Four

    Votes: 8 14.0%
  • Five

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • Six

    Votes: 3 5.3%
  • More than 6

    Votes: 11 19.3%
  • Don't filter

    Votes: 10 17.5%

  • Total voters
    57
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Imagine the scene.
You are approaching some lights and there some cars sat at the lights. You know it will be about 1 minute before the lights change. There is an ASL at the front which you could filter into (safely). There are x cars between you and the ASL. What is the minimum number of cars there would have to be before you filter to the ASL?
 

gaz

Cycle Camera TV
Location
South Croydon
If there are 4 or less cars I won't bother filtering if I know the lights are changing shortly.
 

Jezston

Über Member
Location
London
How abouts none?

I dunno, I just don't like filtering. Don't feel confident doing it (perhaps due to eyesight problems giving me poor depth perception), and feel it's a bit rude for some reason, pushing in front.

Do feel a bit of a plum when i'm sat in a traffic queue and another cyclist zips past me.
 

siadwell

Guru
Location
Surrey
How abouts none?

I dunno, I just don't like filtering. Don't feel confident doing it (perhaps due to eyesight problems giving me poor depth perception), and feel it's a bit rude for some reason, pushing in front.

Do feel a bit of a plum when i'm sat in a traffic queue and another cyclist zips past me.

+1. For the not liking filtering. And feeling a plum.
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
[QUOTE 1134353"]
If you know that it will be a minute (as mentioned in your OP Mag) then more then 6 - easy
[/quote]


Same here, if you are certain of the sequence and the timing then any number of cars within the time frame.
 
OP
OP
M

magnatom

Guest
[QUOTE 1134353"]
If you know that it will be a minute (as mentioned in your OP Mag) then more then 6 - easy
[/quote]

Can I just check you've read it right? So if there were 4 cars and the lights weren't changing for 1 minute, you'd sit behind the 4 cars and not filter?
 

Amanda P

Legendary Member
For me, it's not how many cars are waiting. It's what's going to happen between this junction and the next one, how briskly traffic typically moves off when the lights do change, whether I'm in a hurry, which bike I'm riding, how easy it is to filter and so on.

For example, one junction I use regularly has quite a narrow approach. There's rarely enough traffic waiting to make it worth threading through the traffic to get to the front, and one or more of the vehicles is usually a bus, which will probably attempt a silly overtake just after the junction; I might as well be behind it. For this junction, I'd rather wait and filter at the next one where the street is wider, sight lines better and the queue will always be much longer, so more worthwhile to filter.
 

Midnight

New Member
Location
On the coast
Generally around 4 -5, but it depends on the circumstances. If there's plenty of room and I know the lights are not about to change then I'll filter. There's a junction near my home where most of the traffic will turn right and I want to go straight on, so I'll always filter. But if I think the lights are about to change then I won't filter at any ASL
 

sunnyjim

Senior Member
Location
Edinburgh
Usually don't filter. Depends on the situation.
Long slow moving start-stop ahead over several junctions- maybe. Bike faster than car.
Fast stampedes along clear road sections between every stop - no. Doesn't gain me anything.
 
OP
OP
M

magnatom

Guest
[QUOTE 1134357"]
Where did you get 4 cars from? If you know the timings of the lights then filtering past 6 or more cars is done with out any issues.
[/quote]

Have a look at the question again. I'm asking for the minimum. For example if there was only 1 car, I wouldn't filter. If only 2 I wouldn't filter etc. I would probably only filter if there were more than 6, otherwise I wait.
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
Have a look at the question again. I'm asking for the minimum. For example if there was only 1 car, I wouldn't filter. If only 2 I wouldn't filter etc. I would probably only filter if there were more than 6, otherwise I wait.

OK I will admit I misread that question. I voted for +6 but re-reading that now my correct answer is +1

If the ASL is there then why not use it ?
 
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