Issued by the Met. Explanation of what was happening on The Highway in Wapping a week or so ago.
That’s one thing that was mentioned on the Bikesafe course I attended.
I have done it in the past, but haven’t since then.
EDIT:
Forgot to say I do see a lot of it happening though.
But, on the other hand, Bikesafe will also teach you that it’s often better and safer to use both sides of the carriageway when appropriate.
The Met, in the link above, seem to be confusing (1) going round the wrong side of a bollard (clearly wrong) and (2) using the whole of the road, especailly with regard to passing stationary traffic.
I regularly ride N to S over Westminster Bridge on the wrong side of the road. The traffic lights by County Hall stop the oncoming traffic for a long time; traffic going the same way as me is also stopped by those lights; and going very wide to overtake the stationary traffic gives me a MUCH better view of anyone pulling out of County Hall hotel, or of someone who’s originally going in my direction and who decides to do a U turn on the bridge, or of pedestrians running between stationary cars (all of which happen reasonably often).
The english here is a bit confusing…
Motorcyclists use off-siding to overtake or gain a better view of the road, but while they may pass slow-moving traffic or stationary traffic to the off side, ‘keep left’ arrow signs - or face a minimum £30 fixed-penalty notice.
Is it trying to say - its OK to overtake slow/stationary traffic, but dont off-side round the ‘keep left’ signs…???
Surely someone that writes the press release should make it a bit clearer, or am I being a bit thick?
the contravention of a mandatory direction sign ie keep left is an offence !
but its only a crime if you get caught!!:w00t:
I think what they are saying is as you thought,by all means use the other lane to pass traffic,but go the right way around the keep left bollards.Got to be honest when I join the rush hour GP now and again I do most things but don’t pass the bollards on the wrong side,it’s something that always annoys me when I’m working and I will normally have a word to the “miscreant”.Especially Thundercat riders;)
I have to say that I am guilty of going around the small islands from time to time when in traffic but never around traffic islands on pedestrian crossings. Got stopped this morning on the approach to London Bridge at a pedestrian crossing so gently squeezed my way passed a truck (on my side of the island) and was about to be on my merry way when I did a “life saver” over my right shoulder. I am glad I did as 3 bikes overtook me having gone onto the wrong side of the pedestrian crossing island. It pissed me off a bit as you dont expect to be crashed into by a bike on the wrong side of the road. My bigger issue was despite them having seen my squeezing through, heavy traffic on the left and in a congested area they steamed past at about 25-30mph. Madness!
I agree that bikes should obey the rules and keep left of bollards but the justification of this initiative by Tower Hamlets and Met Police seems a bit rich. They seem to be saying that bike are involved in 49% of accidents so we are going to have a go at catching some of the victims.
On the question of using the other side of the road for overtaking stationary or slow moving traffic I would just say that bikes need to use extreme caution at night. It is genuinely very hard for on-coming trafic to pickout a bike against a background of headlights.
I used to drive the cage up Hanger Lane from the Giratory. Traffic on the other side (two lanes) would be stopped, with bikes trying to get down the outside. I would be going up the hill with 40 mph limit but in the outer lane to position for a right turn at the top. I found it really hard to see bikes coming out of a sea of headlights, especially when I have got traffic on my side plus a bl**dy a speed camera to worry about!
The fines are quite harsh. £5000 and 9 points or ban on suspicion of dangerous riding. Guilty unless proven innocent. I am all for proper policing, believe me I support the police 100%, but the government is setting ridiculous targets for lowering stats. I’ve been rear ended twice in 5 weeks by people not stopping for red traffic lights, the later being two days ago! Albeit that was an accident in that the drivers foot slipped off the pedal, but the former was a van driver trying to jump the lights and go through me!
To be continued… children need father offline now…!:w00t:
Back again… the terminology is incorrect for the offense of going around a mandatory sign. Offsiding is a legal manouvere onto the open side of the road, no oncoming traffic, which allows a full view of corners and stationary traffic. I do it a lot in slow moving traffic and it has stopped me killing millions of stupid pedestrians and also stopped several billion stupid U-turning drivers from killing me as I have the space to get away from them! I’m all for fining people for breaking the law in bad driving/riding, but this smacks of “lets get two wheels off the road” to me. Not driven by the police, but from above.
If they want to stop road accidents on the Highway, a route i ride twice daily, they might like to take a look at the junction of The Highway and Glamis road - ive witnessed two accidents her in a month and heard of a fatality in the same period! No repeater lights and the change is so fast you might still be legally crossing the junction when cars start crossing against you!
As for off-siding, in rush hour traffic, with on-coming vehicles its just stupid - ive no problem with filtering and even using the hatched lanes in the run-up to lights some days… but its another thing to cross the centre line just to get round the traffic islands.
I always do a full look over my shoulder before leaving any island or any central barrier I am passing as not only do you have to watch out for the CBRs and R’s passing the island on the wrong side, but now and again I have narrowly avoided being hit by speeding motos going over the island.
hehe and they say there is no bias in the Met…
I did say I never rode on the right of the island, I said nothing about going right over it:D
If they really want to reduce accident figures, they should take down all the fvcking revenue collecting machines, sorry I meant speed cameras!
But where would the donut vans end up parking?
just got pulled for doing this…
need to start being a good boy from now on
trouble is its all about bikes again, nothing about cars keeping their eyes open and looking out for us bikers…in all honesty the keep left signs are a must do for me. But I cannot see why on some occasions it would not be easier just to go around them the wrong way, or even why they are there…in all honesty…
But the text is confusing…
i use this bit of road several times a day and saw them that morn ,bike went wrong side of keep lefts and this plod came out of nowhere running in front of trafic on the lights very dogey,but pulled the bike up for a chat.that bit of road is stacked in the morn but very busy in not sure i would go of siding on my bike but when the lights have stopped traffic then i c it can be ok.i drive a big white truck around london all the time and have seen some real dodgy monovers mostly from suits on scooters which if i hadent keeped my eyes open then it could get very serious so be carefull not everyone looks out for bikes as much as me.still looking for lb stickers though and havent seen any yet on bikes going past