How soon should you move into primary?

[Matthew_T]

When reaching a pinch point, how soon before the traffic island should you position yourself in primary? I find that if I do it too late, it encourages people to barge past, and if I do it too early, people overtake and then cut in.
But how do you time it right?

 

[numbnuts]

I've had the same, I don't think there is a right time and motorists see us cyclists as an obstruction and will try their best to block or barge passed if they can.

 

[Nebulous]

Moving out is playing the odds - to try and make it safest for yourself.

There may still be people who will put you at risk however you do it - but you want to give as few people as possible cause to.

 

[dellzeqq]

When reaching a pinch point, how soon before the traffic island should you position yourself in primary? I find that if I do it too late, it encourages people to barge past, and if I do it too early, people overtake and then cut in.
But how do you time it right?

what can we tell you? Experience. Gaps between cars passing you by. Your speed.

I think as time goes by and you become a little more confident you'll be happier about making the move earlier.

There are certain arrangements where you are never going to be confident because the road design is so miserable.

 

[Alien8]

What I would say is start your looking behind well before your moving out.

In my experience eyeballing is pretty effective in itself in influencing what other road users are doing.

 

[gaz]

The IAM state that you should do it 75-100m before hand.
But really you only need to do so maybe 10-20m before hand depending on traffic levels and speed.

Personally I get away without taking a 'primary' position by just indicating right. It scares most drivers off from overtaking.

 

[Melonfish]

long before the junction or obstacle i get a damned good look over my shoulder then signal and move out, i don't care that cars speeding up have to slow down because i'm not doing 40, i'll be safe from being squished in primary and thats what counts.

 

[snailracer]

My goofy-looking helmet mirror is really useful for this - it makes it a lot easier to track gaps and the speeds of approaching cars.

 

[scouserinlondon]

I tend to start looking over my shoulder about 50m prior to a known pinch point with a view to signalling and changing position between 25 - 10 m from the hazard. That's the theory of course.

 

[Matthew_T]

Personally I get away without taking a 'primary' position by just indicating right. It scares most drivers off from overtaking.

But dont they get annoyed that you dont turn right?

 

[Matthew_T]

I take it that indicating is the thing to do. Not sure how drivers will take me not turning or overtaking anything but if it makes me safer on the roads...

 

[Dan_h]

Technically you are changing position on the road by moving to the right so (i think) the signal is correct. Of course some drivers will get irate that you have moved out to primary and some will overtake you whatever you do and whenever you move out, just move back in far enough to miss them (if you need to) and retake primary after they are past you.

i have had all sorts at pinch points; from passengers in vans shouting that I was holding them up to being completely ignored and having to duck left to stay alive, just keep calm, get back into your position as soon as it is safe and carry on.

 

[BentMikey]

Personally I get away without taking a 'primary' position by just indicating right. It scares most drivers off from overtaking.

Oooh, that makes me feel much better about my riding on Bromley Hill where I've had those couple of nasty pinch point issues since I mostly do the same. I've been getting quite a lot of stick from one user about not taking primary, but taking primary still doesn't stop the most determined drivers coming up alongside in the median.

 

[Norm]

Indicating is to show others that you are changing speed or direction, moving within your lane is neither of those so I don't signal.

It is my lane and I ride on it as far to the left as I feel is safe. I don't have to explain or justify that positioning to others just because they happen to be in cars. That applies whether or not my cycle has a motor, the full width of the lane is mine.

That's the way that I do it and I've never had any problems with taking primary. I think a lot of it depends on the rider being clear and confident in assuming their road position.

It's impossible, IMO, to tell others where and when to do it, though, as it is entirely dependant on local circumstances at the exact point that you are there. When I move across going up hill is later than going down hill, junctions change things as does weather, traffic density, road widths, pedestrians... etc.

 

[PK99]

Indicating is to show others that you are changing speed or direction, moving within your lane is neither of those so I don't signal.

I can't put my hand on my copy at the moment, but i think cyclecraft disagrees with you