View Single Post
Old 01-15-14, 01:50 PM
  #11  
jralbert
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 143
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Okay, I know this won't be a popular view here, but: I don't think filtering is a great idea when you're sharing a single lane with other traffic, because:

1. In my jurisdiction, bicycles are regulated as motor vehicles with a few exceptions, of which filtering is not one. Whether that regulatory decision is the best one or not, I choose to follow the rules of the road, and they oblige me to travel with traffic, regardless of how convenient it would be to ride between traffic and the curb. You can't do that on a motorcycle, so you can't do it on a bike.

2. Have you ever seen a motorcyclist filter up on the right? Happens all the time on the highway merges here during traffic jams, and it makes the other motorists INSANE. People really don't enjoy feeling like others can flaunt the rules with impunity. This isn't a "motorists don't like cyclists" thing, it's a "nobody likes feeling disadvantaged for following the rules" thing.

3. Right turning vehicles at intersections are a huge hazard for filtering cyclists. When you're a motorist making a right turn at an intersection, the traffic you want to avoid an accident with is on the cross street, so you're looking left. I have seen this accident occur or nearly occur many many times, and I won't put myself in that dangerous position just to save a few seconds getting to the light.

4. I believe that motorists do better at coexisting with cyclists when they feel that cyclists are predictable on the road. I ride my bike by the same rules as any motorcyclist; I make the required signals, obey the posted signs and traffic control systems, and occupy an appropriate space in the lane. My city is fairly cycle-friendly, and this approach has worked well for me here, but I've seen other riders mix it up with angry motorists, and it usually happens when they zip through slow or stopped traffic and then try to rejoin the flow as it speeds up again.

5. It's just not worth it. Filtering in the best case would typically save me one or possibly two turns of the light - that's a couple of minutes. All the extra risk of accident, injury, and encounters with aggravated motorists just does not add up to that time savings. I do find it fairly amusing that cyclists castigate motorists for being obsessed with hurrying to their destination or the next intersection, but see no issue with exhibiting that same behaviour themselves if it's on a bike.

I make no judgment on the decisions of others in this area, although I do hold my breath every time I see somebody filter up to and through an intersection around a signalling right-turning vehicle; but I do think it bears careful consideration of both the legal and practical aspects of traffic and cycle interaction in your environment.
jralbert is offline