Position in advance stop line?

[Sara_H]

On my route I use a road that has two lanes at some lights. One lane is left, straight on (bikes only) and right, the RHL is right turn.
I position myself in the ASL in primary in what would be the L, SO, R lane (there are no lane markings in the ASL) to go straight on. I've lost count of the number of folk who position themselves to my left and then try to turn right in front of me.

Am I doing wrong?

 

[PocketFrog]

sounds like you are doing it correctly - are you talking about other cyclists?

 

[Spinney]

The ASL box goes across both lanes? (Not quite sure what you meant by 'the L, SO, R lane'.)

If I were turning right there, I would position myself just to the right of the middle of the box - i.e. what would be secondary in the right hand lane. People coming up on your left who want to turn right have not bothered thinking ahead at all.

 

[ianrauk]

When you say folk, do you mean car drivers or other cyclists?
Whichever though, it's bloody rude thing to do.

 

[GrasB]

See this all the time. Basically people don't use the ASL box properly. They just get there & once there hug the left hand side regardless of what they're going to be doing in the junction. I've watched someone on the right pull across to turn left (they had got into the ASL box by overtaking cars on the right) & someone on the left turn right. cue a heap of 5 cyclists on the ground as the two collide, fall off & collect all around them.

 

[Sara_H]

Yes, other cyclists.

L, SO, R = left, streight on, right.

The ASL goes across both lanes.

These days I've taken to asking people waiting on my left which way they're turning to avoid confusion!

 

[summerdays]

I have one on my route where the main road bends to the right with two roads off on the left side. I want to go straight across into the 2nd side road (most traffic either goes left or continues on the main road so effectively right but not signed as such. I stick myself in the middle of the ASL box and yet the majority of cyclists will position themselves to my left. I normally point out whilst waiting that I'm going straight on. Luckily I'm usually pretty fast at setting off so they are left to sort themselves out behind me.

Equally I get the same turning left. A junction which has a narrow feeder lane to the left of a left turning lane and a straight on. I position myself so that I'm in the middle of the left turning lane and yet a lot of cyclists will feed down that lane and sit by the kerb intending to go straight on even with the traffic behind me intending to go left. It is a junction that has had accidents and is not liked by the local cycle campaign and others.

It would perhaps help if there were little bike arrows painted in the ASL to help with their road position at multi-lane ASL boxes.

 

[Sara_H]

This is the location

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=summerfield street sheffield&ll=53.372538,-1.483777&spn=0.00763,0.021007&hnear=Summerfield St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom&gl=uk&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=53.372501,-1.483752&panoid=3f7BojaqyttM9CdLOQf0bw&cbp=12,341.93,,0,13.88

Edit: Cant get it in quite the right spot, turn the little man round and advance to traffic lights!!!!

 

[Ningishzidda]

The left lane is all three ways and the right lane is right only.
I'd position myself between the lanes behind the first waiting car in the left lane, and signal right when the lamps change. This shows the driver of the second car I'm not a roadhog and when I signal, the driver is told which way I intend to go. Also, I can see the direction indicators on the first car in the line, and glance to my left to see the direction indicators of the second car.
If the first car in the left lane turns right, I'll tailgate it and merge round to the right. If it goes left or straight, all's clear.

 

[Sara_H]

The left lane is all three ways and the right lane is right only.
I'd position myself between the lanes behind the first waiting car in the left lane, and signal right when the lamps change. This shows the driver of the second car I'm not a roadhog and when I signal, the driver is told which way I intend to go. Also, I can see the direction indicators on the first car in the line, and glance to my left to see the direction indicators of the second car.
If the first car in the left lane turns right, I'll tailgate it and merge round to the right. If it goes left or straight, all's clear.

I'm not going right, I'm going straight on.

 

[Canrider]

These days I've taken to asking people waiting on my left which way they're turning to avoid confusion!

I bet they look at you funny when you do, too!

 

[gaz]

I'm not going right, I'm going straight on.

Why position your self on the right if you are going straight?

 

[Leaway2]

Your lucky to get in the "box" most times there is a car in it. Usually no indicators, and then turn. In these cases I position in front of the car so I know they have seen me.

 

[gaz]

Your lucky to get in the "box" most times there is a car in it. Usually no indicators, and then turn. In these cases I position in front of the car so I know they have seen me.

How do you know they have seen you? They could be traffic light watching and may not even look in front of them.
Best to go behind a vehicle which is a few from the front. Why? I hear you ask.
Drivers mentally have this thing where they just need to be on open road, if they look ahead of you and see an open road, they will try to overtake to get to it.
However if you have a vehicle in front of you and you are keeping up, then the driver behind is much less likely to try and overtake you as there isn't an open road in front of you and they don't get the same impulse.

The only time I filter to get to the ASL is if I think it will be considerably faster than if I don't. This usually means I go to every ASL in London, as the other cyclists are usually much slower off the line and hold the cars up, which would in turn hold me up. However being at the front means I can power away.

 

[on the road]

If I was on that route and going right then I'd position myself in the middle of the left lane, same if I was going straight ahead (even though it's a T-junction).