Unnerving and (partly) my fault

[Blurb]

Filtering down the outside of traffic I let myself cross the centre line, so I guess that's my fault, but what worried me on reflection was that the oncoming professional driver, playing chicken, inattentive or incompetent, could easily have wiped me out.
Brings home how easily you can expose yourself to a dangerous situation.



P.S. I dismounted at the end and walked around the roadworks.

 

[Cycling Dan]

There was no reason for him to be that far right, it was clear you were filtering and what's worse is the driver moved further right to come into conflict with you.
Your filtering was fine, it just happens the person in the taxi was a dickhead

 

[ianrauk]

Tosspot Cabbie.
There's a lot of them unfortunately.

 

[Blurb]

What really rattled me was the possible consequences of what I suspect was simply him "teaching me a lesson" with a little bit of playing chicken. Unfortunately, the reg.no. is unclear otherwise I would probably have Roadsafe'd.
What is the legal position of me filtering like this ?

I much prefer to filter on the outside but I will be much more careful about positioning.

 

[ianrauk]

There was nothing wrong with your filtering so stop thinking you had a hand in the cabbies utter tosserness.

 

[Cycling Dan]

What really rattled me was the possible consequences of what I suspect was simply him "teaching me a lesson" with a little bit of playing chicken. Unfortunately, the reg.no. is unclear otherwise I would probably have Roadsafe'd.
What is the legal position of me filtering like this ?

I much prefer to filter on the outside but I will be much more careful about positioning.

As Ian has said, your filtering was fine. It was safe and at a good speed. The problem lay with the taxi driver who aimed for you for reason unknown.

 

[Blurb]

Thanks guys for your comments. I felt a little guilty because of being over the centre line, but his actions really angered me afterwards and made me have a moment of self-doubt and loss of confidence. I know it will pass and to ensure I don't dwell on it have commuted every day in the week since this happened without issue.

 

[ianrauk]

Funny thing is I did that exact road and lights last sunday. The Traffic was a nightmare. From Cricklewood all the way into the West End.

 

[musa]

Its a dashed line not solid

 

[fossyant]

Looked ok to me. I do this lots. Slightly close, but that's it.

 

[BimblingBee]

Although the filtering was fine once you saw the taxi there were 6 spaces to drop into. The taxi is under no obligation to move or sacrifice position within their lane (within reason).

I suspect that in reality you were just being inconvenienced due the fact that there are lots of inconsiderate cyclists in the cities! What's was interesting is that even if the taxi had moved the gap would have been far less that some of the videos put up on YT of dangerous passes!!

 

[sabian92]

Filtering is legal as well as being on the wrong side of the road. It's not an issue - the driver was just a prick.

Don't feel like you are to blame - you aren't.

 

[HLaB]

I wasnt 100% sure of the visibility on the first bend (but that might just be the camera), when you encounter the taxi it straight so its not an issue; like others say the only issue is in the drivers head

 

[Hip Priest]

The taxi driver was just being a cock really. Simple as that.

 

[Browser]

Not that I'm disagreeing with those who do it as it's perfectly legal and (should be) sensible, but this is why I am always very uneasy about filtering. It should make your cycling experience much more enjoyable and allow you to cut through traffic nicely, but due to the lamentable UK driving test, the attitude of some motorists toward cyclists and said motorists lack of appreciattion for the results of their sometimes ill-though-out and unsafe actions I always feel like I'm going to get hung out to dry when filtering.
In mitigation, this probably stems from my commute being 75% rural with the other 25% in a fenland market town at a time of day when there is little traffic so I don't have to filter as a rule. Were my regular ride urban I'd give it more of a go