I had an enjoyable cycle to work this morning. No incidents, reasonable weather and at a reasonable pace. A good example of why I love cycling to work.
However, later in the day someone at work mentioned that another colleague (I don't know who and it doesn't really matter) saw me cycling to work. Apparently I was cycling like a maniac, weaving in and out of traffic dangerously really annoying this particular driver.
That really confused me. I certainly remember filtering through some heavy traffic, but I can't understand why it would annoy anyone as I held up no-one, endangered no-one and had an incident with no-one. The only thing I can think of is that they were jealous? Perhaps.
So I decided to put the section of my commute up from this morning where I filtered through the heavy traffic. I assume this is the section where I caused mayhem and panic. Watch it, be honest, what do you think?
Ahahahaha - the jealous driver, stuck in tailbacks, seething at the freedom the cyclist has. Perhaps you need to educate him with a wee photocopy of the Highway Code section on the legality of filtering. He obviously expects cyclists to pootle along in the gutter, hugging the kerb, and doffing their cycling helmets to their superiors who 'pay road tax' ;-)
ReplyDeleteI watched the video and am still waiting for what he could have complained about. Prehaps maybe a lack of understanding about filtering.
ReplyDeleteAll I can think is what an aweful road to have to drive a car on at that time.
That is a disgusting headcam warrior video - no RLJs, no barging through, no trademark yelling (well almost none ;) ) and no weaving in and out of traffic.
ReplyDeleteOnly in one place did it look like you actually held anyone up but even that was a perceived hold up rather than a real delay (you caught the car in front at the next hold up so person behind would only have caught the car in front more quickly - at which point you would have overtaken again)
Nope - I reckon they must have seen someone else and blamed you cos you are famous :D
Was the work colleague in the Blue Porsche featured at 4m 25s indicating to filter out? You did not stop for him!!!
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with any of that at all. As a former central London M/C despatch rider I thought you were extremely cautious. It was a nice piece of filtering.
Looked ok to me! In North America, filtering is almost always illegal and you'd have to wait in line at the back... But luckily in Vancouver at least there is sometimes either a decent bike lane or alternate bike route nearby where you can make progress
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys. I think this drivers reaction, though not typical, does exist and is exactly the attitude we need to change. I'll be thinking about that and hopefully writing some more.
ReplyDeleteAlexwarrior, I really can't understand the thinking of not allowing cyclists to filter. That's one of the main reasons for cycling to work. Do you know what the reasoning is?
Is that a new camera you used yesterday?
ReplyDeleteGreat to see no provision of cycle lanes or asl's in Scotland's Cultural capital. With road's in Glasgow aimed solely at motor vehicles how does the Scottish Goverment expect to increase cycling numbers?
Clearly you are a maniac: do you realise how many times you looked over your shoulder? You're clearly paranoid that 1) someone's following you; or, 2) that you must be missing out on whatever the guys in the cars are getting up to.
ReplyDeleteWhat a queue!
I watched about 5 1/2 minutes then got bored of watching your excellent filtering :-) Can't see any problem with that asides from it being an excellent advert for the benefits of cycle commuting :-) From that 2 lane car park I can only assume it would take about 10x longer to do that route in a car!
ReplyDelete@magnatom The concern is over safety. In practice it is commonly seen however, although it gives talk radio hosts and newspaper editorial writers one more thing to complain about who will sometimes call for drivers to pinch off the opening if they see a cyclist filtering. Our roads tend to have shoulders more often than what I observed in the UK though, and riding along that to get ahead is allowed though!
ReplyDeleteYour 'filtering' vids always put a huge grin on my face! Could not see anything on there that would class you as a maniac ;)
ReplyDeleteI think it's an interesting video.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I think I'd filter less - at points in the video (and it's hard to tell so I may have misjudged) it looks like at a few points you're filtering between lanes of cars that are moving.
I try my best not to do that - it could appear a bit a hypocritical to undertake and overtake moving cars with ~60cm of space, then later complain when they overtake you giving you ~60cm of space (admittedly there is usually more speed involved in the latter cases).
When I'm driving it can scare me when a cyclist does it, and can result in a bit of sharp braking to create enough space between me and the cyclist that I feel I'm not a risk to them.
It's very difficult to judge both speed and distances from the video, so I'm definitely not saying you were wrong to filter as you did in the video, but it can help to consider things from the drivers perspective.
Motorists in the UK appear to be very bicycle tolerant. Here in the states you would have gotten doored less than 2 minutes into that video.
ReplyDeleteI do this on the sidewalk, in Hungary it is legal, with a 15 km/h speed limit. Riding on the city roads here is pretty dangerous.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite hard to tell what kind of peripheral vision you can get, but I've filtered for many years as both a motorcyclist and cyclist and you're definitely going faster than I would at some points - the main concern would be trouble with unexpected lateral events such as cross traffic, other cyclists, pedestrians etc.
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