Paul Barnard

I most often take my place in line in traffic and further to the left of my lane as I pass through traffic light controlled intersections. So many variables though, that influence my position. After that, I begin working motor vehicles around me if possible.

livedarklions

Speaking just for myself, it's the best strategy I have for getting out of every one's blind spot at an intersection where taking the lane isn't a good option. Done right, getting passed is a non-event for the passer and the passed, so I don't care if it happens once or twice.

theblackbullet

.5 a mlie at 20mph takes 1:30. .5 mile at 35mph takes 1:09. But since the cars were all backed up it'd take them time to get up to speed. I like that this is causing such a rise in people over probably a 10-15 second delay maximum. Other cars cause way greater delays on my daily commute. I don't think I'm going to go post a thread on carforums complaining about the 15 additional minutes I spent in traffic yesterday due to cagers though.

starkmojo

I generally operate under the assumption that cyclists and motorcyclists are doing their best to stay alive in a world of texting, burger chomping SUV drivers and my job driving a car is not to hit them (or anyone else) and not nit pick their decision process. FWIW I would totally filter that intersection, cross the tracks and stay right as practicable. I don’t want to get rear ended by someone who forgets to keep pressure on the left pedal while texting (this happened to me on a motorcycle, where filtering to the right isn’t an option, so now I stop far enough back to ride out if the car behind me suddenly starts rolling) on a bike I can filter right, so I do.

macstuff

Haven't been here for awhile, so lets stir it up.
It was actually a reply based in the topic of this thread. "Dont be an idiot."
Pretentia always brings out the best in me. and LiveDarkLion is a bag full.

Im actually retired since 45yo and bike 20 miles each day to volunteer at a community bike outreach. I see all kinds of bikes from every angle, and people too.
I've participated in 2 bike distance gatherings so far this year with another big one coming up in a few weeks. I own a dozen bikes, all for a different purpose and all expensive to own.
I dont mention these things in general terms, as they have little bearing on bicycle discussions other than to claim some sort of status... which I abhor.
So if you want to throw out speculation on status and ability, go ahead. I dont get upset about armchair nonsense or otherwise.
I do love to push buttons though. I makes me smile to think that people get hot about the minutia of different angles of thought. It places them neatly.
Go ahead, continue....

livedarklions

File your post under "confessions of a pointless troll."

You are on my ignore list now. Go push someone else's buttons.

macstuff

There you go,
Thank you.

Paul Barnard

JoeyBike, izzat you?

livedarklions

Obviously, I'm not a fan of JoeyBike, but at least he does better than just engaging in moronic name calling.

Nothing worse on social media than an incompetent troll.

koala logs

I only filter thru traffic if I know there's plenty of space for me to be easily and safely passed by cars OR I can keep ahead of the traffic because no one's going faster than 25 mph for any reason.

P.S. those side streets doesn't look appropriate for bikes. Looks like they were meant for walking or jogging. You can probably ride a bike in there if you can keep a low speed, under 15 mph. If a pile of cars formed behind me in that street, I'd slow down and use the side streets but will go back to the road after the pile has passed.

Paul Barnard

The side streets work great. The only thing they don't do is provide a traffic light protected crossing at Jefferson highway. It's not a big deal getting across even in rush hour traffic. I'll certainly take that over the heavier traffic and narrow shoulderless 35 MPH main road where vehicles have limited opportunities to pass.

mr_bill

It's less than three quarters of a mile from the railroad crossing to Jefferson Highway. It's DEAD STRAIGHT with a HALF MILE passing zone. And it's far from a "MAIN ROAD." That would be Clearview Parkway a couple of blocks away.

How long does it take the light at Jefferson to change? Oh, wait, you wouldn't know because you "ALWAYS" turn at Karen.

-mr. bill

UniChris

I'll occasionally slowly and very cautiously filter up at a walking type speed if I believe the road after the intersection is going to be wide enough for subsequent re-passing to be trivial, or if it looks like most of the queued up drivers are going to go a different direction at the intersection than I plan to.

But I'm much less likely to do it if I suspect that we're then going to be sharing the same narrow bit of a road where finding a safe opportunity for them to pass is going to be tricky.

It's been literally decades since I routinely biked a traditional rush hour commute though, so having a lot of drivers who want to do the same thing I do isn't a frequent occurrence. If there's going to be an infinite flow of cars regardless, filtering up or not would make little difference to the amount of passes one would experience after the intersection. Though playing tag with literally the same people may grate (the time I really remember that, it was a city bus I kept having to pass on the traffic side at its stops, only to have it re-pass me just before its next one...)

LarrySellerz

Filtering in the double yellow is generally way safer than someone who hasn’t tried it might think. You have more outs.

indyfabz

He certainly does like to pontificate. Maybe overcompensating for something/filling a void.

Roll123

As a cyclist, I can be treated based on the drivers' previous experiences with other cyclists. Explains seemingly unwarranted aggression. I have more to lose in the deal against a bitter motorist.

livedarklions

I think this has the causation backwards--people remember otherwise unremarkable experiences with cyclists because it fits their "bitter" preconceptions about cyclists. Meantime, they won't recall several instances where they were more seriously inconvenienced or endangered by other drivers. We're just playing along with drivers' confirmation biases when we buy into this "cyclists giving other cyclists a bad image" nonsense.

I agree I am threatened by drivers' unwarranted aggression, but aggressive drivers are responsible for that. Why are we crediting their obvious BS excuse for objectively horrible and dangerous behavior?

People are just assuming there's any connection between someone riding like an idiot and road rage incidents in otherwise unrelated situations. As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete non sequitur.