mcours2006

When making a left turn at a left turn lane I always wait my turn, positioning myself in the middle of the left turn lane. I'm in no danger from the car in front of me as you were in the OP. I am in no danger from the car behind me as she can clearly see me and what my intentions are. Once in the middle of the intersection I need to be aware of right turning cars coming the opposite direction, or the right hook. I move over to the right once the coast is clear, then carry on.

Filtering through not only puts you at risk from drivers who don't see you, or know what your intentions are, but also pisses them off. I don't care about pissing them off, but this particularly maneuver isn't safe.

Leisesturm

Speaking for myself, I ride in a progressive, bike-aware part of the country. Filtering forward is an expected move. So much so that big green boxes are placed at the head of a lot of intersections for bikes to wait in to get first shot at the light. Having a bike in the #3 or #4 or worse position in the left turn queue is guaranteed to cause the cars behind him or her to have to wait out another entire light cycle because there is no way for a non-electric bike to accellerate fast enough from the #3 or worse position to make it through on the first try. Which do you think pisses off a driver more? Seeing a bike filter forward and passing them later (in the bike lane smh) or being stuck behind that bike because they hogged the whole turn lane which is plenty wide enough to let a bike AND a car through at the same time.

I've seen pictures of bicycles waiting in the #1 0 and even #1 5 position in cities with crazy long turn queues and 'maybe' they have extra long left turn lights and maybe they don't but what I know is that an enlightened road culture will let the bikes through first and call it good. My earlier comments were less about filtering forward and more about staying behind the #1 vehicle because it is harder to be sure they see you. Not everyone uses turn signals here. And some have turn signals on from the last turn that they made and did not cancel! What they DO is more important than what they signal.

Morg33

same, I get pretty nervous when I am beside a truck

wphamilton

If there's room for them to drive past you, there's room for you to ride past them- lane sharing is the same as two travel lanes. It's not being a jerk any more than they were being jerks to pass you in the first place, making for your need to pass them again at the light.

Personally I might stay in line behind them if it's 3 or 4 cars, but I don't see sitting there for multiple light cycles when there's no need to..Especially since I've seen way too many rear-ending at intersections; it's just not that safe there. I'll move off later if someone can't get around.

Moe Zhoost

It's wonderful that you avoided catastrophe and were able to reflect on the decisions you made.

Mitkraft

I guess part of the difference in the way I see it is that I don't the lane share with cars if I can at all help it. I pretty much avoid any non-residential roads where I actually share a lane with a car. I try to always ride where I either take a lane (when there are multiple lanes so cars can easily go around me) or ride on roads with a wide enough shoulder for me to ride on. I've had way to many instances of cars passing me too closely especially on roads with 2 lanes in a given directly with medians and curbs. If I leave any ambiguity and don't ride right in the middle of the lane then some car will try to pass me in the lane at the same time a car is occupying the left lane. And most of those roads in my area are not wide enough for two cars to simultaneously pass me with a safe distance between us.

kayakindude

Depends on the circumstances. If it's 2-3 cars I usually stay in between the cars. I've been in DC where it's more like 50 cars. I don't see an issue working my way up while the light is red and moving ahead of the traffic. I've never had a driver honk or act angrily either way but I imagine that type of driver would be upset just because you are in their way no matter your position to the next red light.

rumrunn6

...

wphamilton

I hear that - different traffic means different practices. All residential streets are isolated off of the through streets here so I never take one, commuting.

It's the bike boxes that finally switched me to "what's the point" in staying back in line. If there are boxes in front then it's standard, expected and even encouraged by the street plan to filter up. Even where there's no box, where there isn't room for one or enough bike traffic, the same considerations would apply. Keeping my position like a car is then the unexpected move, so I don't really worry about it any more. My commutes, when on the streets, is in high traffic suburban streets where a "bike lane" is 2-3 feet with a washed out line and multi-lane intersections.

I don't think OP's incident is due to filtering. I think it was his positioning in front of the truck. Even back in line with the cars, in the same place in front of the same truck he'd have had the same issue.

rumrunn6

even w a bike lane it’s nice to get some extra courtesy room

Archwhorides 

Hey, that's my daily commute! (except I continue down Mass Ave).

That left turn signal at Rte 60 is a godsend - except on occasion it sends the throughcars too - almost got cooked once when that happened.

Archwhorides 

Those MBTA bus drivers aren't killers, but they sure like to pull my chain when they are in a mood.....

Miele Man

NEVER EVER depend on eye contact with a driver of any vehicle bigger than you and your bicycle. Studies have show that a driver may appear to be looking right at a bicyclist but is in fact looking past the bicyclist and DOES NOT SEE the bicyclist. Watch the vehicles wheels instead.

Cheers

DroppedChain

Yikes! I am glad you are ok.

Korina

Oh my giddy aunt! Glad the OP is alive!

I tend to avoid busy intersections when possible, and when not possible, I'm not too proud to use the crosswalks. I just don't trust cagers to have any situational awareness. Had one try to T-bone me last week at a two-way stop. He had the stop sign, but I guess didn't see me crossing the intersection. It wasn't busy, so I don't know what was going through his head. Fortunately for both of us he focused his eyes on where he was at and stopped before hitting me. Idiot.

Clyde1820

I've all but lost my "Twenty-something" era impatience, though even then it was a very rare thing for me. Much safer to drive and ride extremely defensively, aware that practically anything that can happen does occur ... eventually. And so, I try to wait in the lane until my turn comes, even if that means I'm sitting 15-20ft behind a semi or whatever.

That said, I hate riding near larger vehicles. Larger = bigger blind spots. Particularly if I end up doing something or positioning myself in a spot the driver might not have anticipated.

Lucky. So far.

debade

Thanks Miele Man for you comment. I did search around and found a very recent study discussing eye contact. It supports your comment but the study I found was based on pedestrians, not bicyclists.

Having said that, I think the eye contact concern is legitimate for cyclists as well. However, the act of looking back toward a motorist is a good physical signal, in addition to hand signals, that the bicyclist is planning to move from their current path. I see it as part of the entire signalling approach. So, I would continue the 'eye contact' movement, the hand signal and as you say, continue to pay attention to the actual movement of the vehicle.

Digger Goreman

Again, a quick "double toot" of my Airzound would help alert the driver. Having said that, I am super prone to waiting in line like a car.

dudeliving

I feel like it is time to install camera to these large trucks and have a monitor in front of them Just for the blind spots..

sweeks

Glad you made it out of the situation unscathed!
Here is another close call:

Clyde1820

More and more, these days, I'm seeing "big rig" trucks with several mirrors out on the front corners, each placed in a different position so that it'll cover the whole front corner on that side. Of course, a good percentage of trucks don't have several of these at different angles, so one has to wonder just what they're not seeing out there on the LF and RF corners of the truck.

bikebikebike

The few times I have driven rental trucks, I was amazed at how poor visibility was.
As a moto rider I assumed they couldn't see me and were going to be unpredictable.
Less dangerous than a bike, still T boned ,once (lucky), in 30yr/350K miles
vs a serious near miss every 3 months on pedaler
Mostly by them running signals, and I run nerd quality lights and safety cone orange outfits.
We are low viz and unexpected,
the moto just had better lane position control and acceleration, of which we have almost none.

I am a big fan of short bleep horn use.

subgrade

That's how I see it as well. Only difference, albeit a crucial one, would be that if I was stopped and the truck came up behind me, he would be more likely to see me. As I passed him while he was stopped and likely not looking in his right side mirror, he most probably didn't see me passing him, and had no idea I was there at all.

joel1952

Before it gets that close, I find that the loudest Primal Scream possible will usually make a driver take note.

When it's apparent that they can't see us, maybe they will hear us.

I learned this technique as a pedestrian in San Francisco, I would periodically hear such a scream up the block. It was always the Bicycle Messengers warning, "I know you can't see me..." It was my impression that they did so as a preventive measure.

dsbrantjr

Yeah, the safe and legal thing would have been to wait behind the semi to make the left turn, then pull over, dismount and walk your bike along the sidewalk. You passed the semi on the right, which is both illegal and unsafe. In many locations riding bikes on the sidewalk is also not legal. Patience is a virtue.