To feel really frustrated that so many drivers don't know this?

[SharkiraSharkira]

I am a biker (as in motorcycle).

I'm a member of a few biking related pages on fb and recently my feed is inundated with videos and articles about bikers being assaulted by car drivers or run over/knocked off their bikes due to car drivers not looking or seeing them or even intentionally. Some of them have been really shocking!

One thing that seems to be coming up time and time again is drivers bemoaning bikers 'illegally overtaking' or 'pushing in' or 'riding between the lanes'. All of these things are perfectly legal for bikers and it is called filtering - it is used to make progress through traffic and some believe it is actually safer for bikers, being vulnerable road users. And yet 90% of the drivers comments on these videos are basically saying it is the bikers fault they got run over/maimed/attacked because they 'shouldn't have been between the lanes'. We are allowed to be!

Aibu to find it very frustrating that SO many drivers don't seem to know that this is legal?

Obviously there are always idiots that ride unsafely and I'm not referring to these people, rather those who follow the rules and filter legally and safely and still get abuse for it.

My son ended up splashed all over one of those Facebook spotted pages being called all sorts of things for safe legal filtering.

How I know he was safe and legal? His father was on a bike behind him (a man I dislike but an incredibly responsible biker) and a instructor was also with them.

The car driver who got out of her car and screamed abuse at him whilst taking his picture is also known to me but didn’t realise it was one of my sons.

It caused him a fair amount of grief

When I did speed awareness training, I was shocked how many people in the room didn't know the basic speed limit rules in absence of other signage (like 30 when street lights, 70 on dual C, etc).

That’s not safe, and it’s not legal because the bike is doing above the speed limit, and yet this is mostly the circumstances in which filtering takes place.

I didn't know (or much care) if it was legal or not (I know it's common).
It looks flipping dodgy at 40-70 mph, though.

Neither of these ^^ are filtering though, these are examples of overtaking.

Filtering is passing stationary or slow moving traffic and the Highway Code requires drivers to be aware of their surroundings before moving off or accelerating.

Quite shocking that even though a lot of posters on this thread know it’s legal, they don’t really know what it is

Yes it’s legal, (maybe it shouldn’t be) and 80% of the time I have been driving the bike rider is a fault not the car, my in car camera thing records every journey, in the space of a week in the summer I recorded 12 near misses where bike riders have not acted accordingly.

I am super aware of bikes (I’ve lost family members, and a relative lost an arm, my own mother was knocked off her bike by a car) I even ride myself, and I have been guilty of ‘legally filtering’

In a part of my job (which I hate) I have picked up many a dead bike riders body parts from them riding highly inappropriately, speeding, zig zagging around cars, not expecting that big lorry to hit them, or speeding up behind a car giving no warning before attempting to overtake. In our county I think the statistics says 1 out of 4 riders will not go home. (this may have changed)

I will always defend good bike riders.

If it's a problem of loads of car drivers not seeing them then surely it's not safe is it?

I don't have a prob with motorbikes moving in and out of lanes but I do have a problem with bikes undertaking or lurking in my left side blind spot. Or overtaking me when I'm indicating to turn right. To be fair, this is mostly learner moped drivers but it is fucking scary.

However anybody who blocks anybody else for filtering in front of them is a cock. It may be annoying not to be at the front but it actually keeps things moving for everyone.

I know it's legal- very annoying when you get hand gestures from some idiot in a car who doesn't know it is legal 🙄🤣

I didn’t know that I have been wrong all these years, and that ‘weaving in and out’ has an official name.

Mostly I find bikers ride skilfully and sensibly. What is tricky is when you have bikers on both sides of you, both ‘filtering ‘.

OH my goodness it’s only when I read these posts that you understand the mindset of some idiots on the road. Pulling out and actually risking a bikers life is just unforgivable. To add to the risk by not letting bikers pass or let them in front of you is just cutting your nose off spite your face.

Ah, the "activity fraught with danger", as described by a judge in a court case.

I cannot speak for everyone, but I get the feeling that most people I know realise it is legal in some situations. We also know it is illegal in others.

I don't like it when a motorbike filters (illegally) past me as the lead vehicle at a crossing, for example. Or across solid white lines (illegal).

Filtering permits motorbikes to use the space that is available to them. It does not mean they have right of way.

And their appraisal of the space that they can move into after filtering often leaves much to be desired. Filtering and stopping right on my nearside front bumper because the motorbike rider hasn't looked ahead and paid attention to the lack of space to pull into, thereby pushing in, causing me a delay as I now have to wait for them to pull off, and then pushing straight across me so I now have to pull back to allow a safe distance between us (to protect that queue jumper's life), is probably what gets up most people's noses the most.

A village I drive through has 'split' speed bumps. ie a smallish one on each lane that is just a smidge wider than a car.
I have frequently seen one particular biker come down the middle of the road between bumps, towards oncoming traffic. This causes cars to either swerve on to the pavement or slam on their brakes.
Is this still considered filtering?

Mostly, what Laurie said. You don't get to push in, AND be treated like any other road user.
Filtering in stationery traffic, fine, if you're moving forward to the bike/motorbike bit at the front of a junction. Filtering, then turning half in front so that when traffic moves off, you turn fully and you have then taken up a full car length in front? Not cool. I never ever put bikers in danger (they do that themselves), but I reserve the right to make comment about their manners.

Also, when they overtake, sorry 'filter' around slow moving traffic by crossing into the oncoming traffic lane? Bloody stupid. There's a road I drive on most days, where it happens constantly.

Also, when they have overly loud engines which they rev, yes, I get that "loud pipes save lives", but also "that incredibly loud, sudden roaring in my ear startles me, and may make me react in a way which endangers said loud bike." Just a thought.

Brats of course that's not filtering! Filtering isn't just a term used for any manoeuvre a bike does.

However going between the speed bumps is totally fine, imagine the nick you're in after going over 30 of those fuckers. Fine, obviously if it's clear to do so and you're going slow. I avoid what I can in the car, suspension repairs are expensive. I aim to cross them dead centre so it causes less bump. If if any, for whatever reason (like parked cars) I usually use the one on the other side of the road to cross dead on if it's clear.

Calm yourself down!

I think it can essentially be boiled down to these points:

'Filtering' at high speeds in anything other than stationary or slow moving traffic = not legal, not safe and basically the biker acting like a twat

Car driver purposely blocking the path of a biker filtering perfectly legally and in the right conditions at a reasonable speed just because they are jealous that they can't get ahead in the queue = twat

Biker filtering at a reasonable speed, safely and in the right circumstances = not a twat and perfectly ok

Biker 'filtering'/overtaking on a blind corner/on approach to a roundabout or junction/any other unsafe circumstance = twat

I could go on but you get my point.

Personally I don't ever filter if I am unsure or can't see properly down the road ahead. I also leave a generous (but not ridiculous) gap between the cars and myself on account of the fact that I am too scared of damaging my bike/their car/have someone be a dick and open their door on me to go any closer. Obviously some people don't even though they should and go really close but I have no control over what they do.

Of course I can't speak for every biker and there are certainly some who do not follow the rules and act like dicks but that doesn't mean its ok to block people from performing a perfectly legal manoeuvre. There are many who believe it is safer for bikes to move through traffic rather than sit in traffic vunerable to the elements or being shunted from behind. It also reduces the general amount of traffic on the road. If I cant filter safely then I will just wait. It isn't worth the risk.

But I should be able to without fear that a car driver will attempt to injure me just because they are pissed off they can't do the same.

herebe you sound stressed.

They aren't pushing in and should be treated as vulnerable road users as that's what they are. If you're startled by a rev I don't think you should be driving.

Bikers (and cyclists) would help themselves and drivers a lot if they would wear hi vis instead of the eternal black. Black is not easy to see. Should a biker and the bike be separated, the biker may not be seen on the road. There was a case when a biker came off in a dark rural road and was run over by an ambulance as he wasn't visible. With hi vis on, he would most probably have been picked out by the headlights.

Brats, I did my cbt through a village just like that and I also went through the middle of the speed bumps/down the other side. That was exactly what my instructor expected me to do and exaclty what he would have done himself. I didn't do it in the path of oncoming traffic, causing them to slam on their brakes though, I went to the opposite side so I wasn't in the way.

Loud pipes do save lives. If people don't look for/see bikes at least they have a chance to hear them coming. That said I personally hate really loud pipes as it hurts my ears, I couldn't ride one!

Bikes are dangerous and shouldn't even be allowed on the road IMO. Death traps. Why wouldn't you want a protective shell around you? Oh that's right so you can fly past and push in.

Filtering is passing stationary or slow moving traffic and the Highway Code requires drivers to be aware of their surroundings before moving off or accelerating
Yes. But I've not had any near misses with people filtering safely and carefully.

I have had near misses when bikers decide that filtering means coming down between cars and then pulling in, forcing me to CREATE a gap in front of me for them in order not to clip them. If the gap wasn't there then there's no difference to me between a bike moving in a way that forces me to create space for them or a car.

I have had near misses with bikers thinking that filtering also excuses weaving down between lanes on dual carriageways/ motorways.

And I cycle so I get so much that some drivers are very much ignorant of road rules or road safety (yes, looking at drivers who think it is safer to squeeze past a line of single file cyclists rather than do a proper overtake of a group of 4 riding 2 a breast).

It is hard though Mountain when so much biker gear is black, especially the ladies wear (which is the only stuff that fits me). Yes, you can wear a high vis on top but it doesn't always help. I read about a biker who got knocked down by a car when he was doing a santa run - he was literally wearing a bright red Santa suit and had a bike covered in fairy lights. If that isn't visible I don't know what is!

Yes it's rather the same when riding a push bike in heavy traffic.

You'd almost think many drivers and the HC are strangers..

I didn't know it was legal and am surprised it is. It's bloody dangerous

Just because something is legal does not mean it’s safe. I would always let a biker through (I feel safer with them in front of me) but add in 2 or 3 cyclists also weaving their way through, dark evening rush hour, pedestrians trying to cross in between cars and it’s a recipe for an accident

Not the biker’s fault or responsibility but maybe the highway code needs an update for today’s busier roads

And actually GetYourRocksOff sometimes bikers are twats who rev loudly on purpose and yes it can make you jump especially if you are not moving

Can I also add - coming up on the inside (ie, the left) is NOT filtering, it is undertaking, filtering should only be done on the right.

Filtering in itself it NOT dangerous. It is actually supposed to be safer for the biker and reduce traffic if done properly. That's like saying driving a car is dangerous. It isn't if it is done right. Trouble is a lot of the time is isn't but that doesn't it is inherently dangerous in itself.

Oddman, if you rode a bike you would know

Ok I'm confused now!! Rule 178 of the Highway Code prohibits motorcycles from entering the cycle box at the front of the queue of traffic. Only cyclists (pedals) are allowed to use that as far as I understand so I'm not sure why filtering in stationery traffic doesn't just mean 'ending up sat next to the driver who has stopped at the front of the advanced stop line'. How does that help? I'm genuinely confused.