well today after carefully and thoroughly observing on approach stationary traffic, junctions, pavements i concluded there was no one to see me pass a hundred yards of traffic offsiding 2 pedestrian islands, stopped for one vehicle turning right out of queue, slowed nearing lights, judged the amber light correctly pulled in to the “bike” refuge and carried on inside of the island with lights on, all without once exceeding a positive 30, crossing a solid white line or feeling like a TWAT
however if i must be im wondering how long it will take to get certificated, and does twat practice offsiding automatically constitute careless driving ?
i can see that offsiding could quickly get out of hand, straightlining roundabouts, cutting accross junctions ahead of oncoming, i suppose it comes back to personal judgement, the key criteria has got be there is no oncoming traffic within 10’s of seconds, otherwise its suicidal! and im still here
You could apply the same logic to red lights - if there is no-one to see you and it looks safe then why not? Most cyclists seem to do this but it does not make it right.
I was nearly taken out on the Embankment last week by some pillock on a scooter who nearly hit me as he offsided a bollard that I had taken on the correct side. I have no sympathy with those caught by the the Police for offsiding - it is a danger not only to those who do it but to other riders/drivers who obey the law of the road.
On my Bikesafe that was one of the things they were really hot on - do NOT offside keep left signs . They gave some graphic examples of what can happen when you do. I never did it anyway. I’m just not in that much of a hurry most of the time, after all it only leaves you sat there for a few seconds most of the time, and it’s not like I’m about to give birth or something that’s so desperate that a couple of seconds really counts that much.
The police were all for riding over hatched areas etc as long as it’s a broken white line. At most traffic islands there’s enough space to get past anyway.
I don’t see the point of risking my life any more than I do anyway just to gain a few metres extra in a traffic queue. I’ve already gained a km or so ground and 20 mins time by not taking a car. What do a few extra metres and a few seconds matter!!
They said more often than not if lots of bikers offside the islands there will eventually be a fatality and then there’ll be a big wall built along the road, like the one in the strand I beleive, that will stop it all together.
i didnt feel them but i must be concussed from those shock waves , that is a certificated certifiably certified reason to question is this filtering offsiding lark , an automatic careless driving ?
I didn’t realise this actually had police approval . Good to know, thanks.
As for going outside traffic islands - as well as being illegal and dangerous, I expect it also infuriates car drivers (who mostly seem to give way very courteously as you squeeze past them) and other road users and pedestrians, and is the sort of thing that increases hostility to bikers. Dunno about anyone else, but I can do without drivers feeling hostile towards me as I risk life and limb on Highbury Corner.
yep, they positively encouraged it. I think IAM is a lot about “making progress” so if you sat behind a car when you could have gone past on a hatched broken white line (safely) then they may mark you down for it…!! Remember it is legal to enter a hatched area with a broken white line at the edge * if it is safe to do so.* If the line on the edge is SOLID then it’s an illegal manoeuvre.
Bikesafe did encourage filtering at every opportunity… but at a VERY slow speed. Probably slower than I normally filter. Now I’m no maniac, but we’re talking only about 5-10mph faster than the traffic, whereas depending on the width of the gap I’d normally go up to 20mph faster but no faster than that. I’m trying to adopt slower filtering now though as I can see how quickly trouble can happen and the police/bikesafe way does make complete sense - give yourself every chance to avoid an accident.
It’s such a selfish manouvre… sure, you might be mighty fine going the wrong side, but a 5 year old who’s too short to be seen in between cars might not be…
No-one is omniscient. Not even a biker doing less than 30mph…
I was behind an Espace mini cab today, boy if I could’ve I would have pulled him out and given him a good thump for offsiding every island between the White Hart roundabout and Polish War Memorial. He didn’t slow down, there were loads of school kids about and plenty of traffic in both directions. He needed to be taught a lesson or two, if he had hit anyone I would have happily kicked the **** out of him!
Off siding is dangerous, if only you could see some of the consequences of getting it wrong!
I think the point is that it’s a law. Not something optional. All the guys who cut you up re offsiding: “Oh, that law doesn’t apply to me. I’m special. I’m not dangerous.”
I don’t think that’s a good argument, it’s one argument but it’s not a very good one. There are so many rubbish laws these days that it’s a bit of a joke. A much stronger argument is the safety issue, the islands are there for a reason, if you can’t see the reason then stay on the right side of the law but if you can see the reason then you’d probably not want to offside anyway.
having read this thread yesterday i was really looking out for it today on my ride to work. from my findings i saw 0 bikes 0 scooters and 5 cycalists off siding! now i’m not saying that bikers never do it but the main culprits are cycalists who have no chance when they get clobbered by the on comming car! a couple of them were having to dodge out of my way as i was coming past i could have easily knocked the lot off just by having my hand 3 inches out from my handlebar. bunch of twats!
Do the A3 in to town through Clapham, and Milbank out of town… as of yet, I can count on one hand who bothered to queue behind me at islands since the beginning of the summer.
Granted, in my opinion, there are plenty of rubbish laws. But the point is that none of us are self-sufficient little islands. We all have to live together, sharing the same space. And the way we’ve decided to do it is by means of a democracy. We have laws; they may not be 100% fantastic, but we need to accept that they are for the benefit of the majority of people (or we use democratic means to point out that certain laws are ridiculous and we lobby to get them changed).We can’t just go round and opt into or out of laws as we individually see fit. I think that’s kind of the ultimate argument.
‘We can’t just go round and opt into or out of laws as we individually see fit. I think that’s kind of the ultimate argument.’
But everyone does to some degree or another which is why they issue fines. It is against the law to speed but ‘individually’ most see fit to break that one ? No ? Is this not more about the degree of danger posed by breaking one or other law dependant on the circumstances at the time ?
I do see what you mean. And I accept that we ALL get a bit “forgetful” at times when it comes to things like speed limits. But that’s surely not an argument to say that we can all opt in and out of laws as we please?I think the difference is that if I got caught, say, speeding, then I wouldn’t use a defence of: “It’s OK. I didn’t hit anyone, so I should have special dispensation to break that law in that circumstance” (which is what’s being said here). A part of me living in this country, one of the things that I have to trade off for the nice things like the NHS; having police to protect me; having a vote; etc, is that I have to stick to the laws, like it or not, or else pay the penalty for breaking them.Isn’t it?
