Safe Speed Forums

Width:

Typical bike (Honda VFR): 735mm

Widest production bike (Honda Goldwing): 945mm

Ultra-compact car (Smart 'ForTwo'): 1515mm

Compact car (Nissan Micra): 1668mm

No, I'm certainly not on drugs, are you sure you're not?

Quote Robinxe:-
'due to the lack of expectancy of other road users to vehicles being there,'

Applies to other 'gaps', too!

I only post what I think, same as everyone else!

My first concern is road safety.

No one's trying to deny that filtering is risky Oscar, but there is NO excuse for not looking properly before changing lanes.

What would have happened in exactly the same scenerio if our biker were in the lane next to the car, rather than filtering? The same thing.

Saying that 'if you're doing something risky you shouldn't complain' is a little rich. The driver failed to pay proper attention and therefore was at fault. Simple.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

....but it DOES happen, doesn't it? And I personally think that the risks outweigh the advantages.

But that is only my opinion after driving a tanker for 40 years.

I have no problem with motor cycles tearing down the dotted line when traffic is moving slowly and the two lanes are going at pretty much the same speed, and provided they do so at only a small differential so that, if the worst comes to the worst, the damage is minimal. Here gain for the motor cycle can be substantial. what really scares me are the lunatics that whack down the middle at 85 - 90 when the outside lane is making 70 + already and the inside lane is busy at 60 ish with people looking to get out. These are suicide cases.

http://www.motorcycle-training.f2s.com/filtering.html

Filtering and the Law


Don’t filter traffic doing more than 20mph and don’t pass at more than 20 mph above their speed. Contrary to the belief of some motorists, filtering is entirely legal in the UK, providing that it is done safely. Typically once traffic speeds are high enough to suggest that the traffic is no longer queuing, the police may then regard your manoeuvre as a dangerous overtake. So for example on a Motorway a rider unlikely to draw police attention if they filter traffic doing 20ish mph or less and they themselves don’t pass at much over an additional 20mph. I referred to this in other articles as the 20:20 guide.

or truck. it happens

i dont and never have been on a motorbike but i do move over for them when they are filtering. if needs be, i wave them past too. i have nothing to gain by making their lives difficult so i make it easier for them. mutual respect and all that. truckers and bikers seem to get on well together for reasons unknown to myself. perhaps Sixy and NOS could enlighten me?

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Richie

SSAFA supporter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=126025031585

About 30 years ago, when I used to ride, a car deliberately moved to his right to block my filtering progress (eye contact in his mirror prior to his move). I was already at his rear bumper when he started to move right and had no chance of avoiding him by braking.

So I accelerated, hard, and as I passed the drivers door my left hand, while gripping the bars very hard, smashed his mirror into a large number of pieces.

I didn't bother stopping as I had incurred no damage. I know I should have, but at the time I was only 20 and felt he got what he deserved.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Its a mystery to me, but most of the truck drivers I know personally are bikers. I wonder if the camaraderie its just down to a mutual hatred of car drivers!

Seriously though - we are both a minority group of road users who face problems daily as a result of lack of thought / care / understanding at the hands of the majority of motorists. For bikers its a question of survival and for you guys its a question of not killing someone else. Either way, mistakes DO cost lives and until you've actually been in that situation you don't really understand.

FWIW I've always found truckers very coutrious when I'm filtering and I ALWAYS wave thanks. Having said that, I avoid putting myself in blind spots and doing silly things - I found myself in a very hairy situation last year on the M42, beside the front N/S wheel as the driver started to move off

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.