Skipping The Queues at Traffic Lights

[LeftmostAardvark]

Jazoli said:

Straight to the front, over the line if necessary, then set off at usual speed, works for me, I couldn't care less if I piss car drivers off, I'm long gone.

I wish I could commute on the bike, I'm stuck in a van through the week trying my best to make it hard for bikes to filter past and not letting anybody merge.

Try filtering in the van. It makes the day far more entertaining.

[Wedg1e]

LeftmostAardvark said:

Try filtering in the van. It makes the day far more entertaining.

I was most definitely NOT entertained in my van yesterday; left the Navy base at Pompey at 12:20 and didn't get home to Teesside (320 miles) till 20:15... with just one 5-minute pee-stop (BP Brackley, A43, no fuel, much to a following colleague's horror ).
Now whether it was Jazoli holding up the M27, M3, A34, M40, A43, M1, A428, A46, A1M, A416 and A19 I don't know but if I was a man of lesser patience I probably WOULD have been filtering in the van!

[LeadFarmer]

ShaunTheSheep said:

There's a lot of talk on this thread about slotting in between the 1st and 2nd cars. As a newbie game to try anything once... How are you doing this?

At every set of lights with traffic last night there was no where for me to slot in. I could push a wheel in but there's no way I could fit my bike. Are you sitting at the side?

I see red traffic lights as a bikers friend, allowing me to get up to the front. I ride in-between the middle of both lanes, stopping at the stop line with both front cars other side of me. Not always enough space for me though on my GSA, in which case I'll be in-between the second cars in the queue.

When filtering in moving traffic I have both brakes covered as well as the clutch, ready to stop in an instant. I don't filter above say 20mph.

[Jazoli]

Wedg1e said:

Now whether it was Jazoli holding up the M27, M3, A34, M40, A43, M1, A428, A46, A1M, A416 and A19 I don't know but if I was a man of lesser patience I probably WOULD have been filtering in the van!

Nope I was wholly responsible for the M55, M6 and A591 yesterday.

[creampuff]

black-k1 said:

creampuff said:

bass gt3 said:

Just stay to the side. as soon as the lights change you'll be 50 meters up the road before he driver knows what's happened.
Pulling in front can sometimes antagonise people despite the fact they won't see the going of you.

+1 on this.

There are other advantages too:
- it is legal (not that you are likely to get pulled for going over the stop line a little, but this way it is 100% legal)
- it gives you time to check the junction is clear when the light goes green, something the person in the vehicle next to you may not do
- on the very rare occasions when the vehicle next to you boots it, you are in no obligation to get out of their way

The problem with this approach, and it has happened to me, is that you can take off quickly (but not at GP launch speed) thinking you’re going to leave the car behind, only to find that half way across the junction, the car is still beside you. You’re now heading towards the island/oncoming traffic, with insufficient space to safely get passed the car, leaving you the only option of braking and hoping you can drop in behind.

As most normal road junctions are only 10m to 15m wide you have to be sure that you are safely passed the car in about 8m to 12m. For the vast majority of cars that are slow off the line, that’s not a problem. For the chav’d up Corsa that’s revving the nuts of waiting for the lights to change, that’s not a problem either. The problem comes when a reasonably powerful car is sat their quietly thus you don’t do the full GP racing start, but they then really decide to go for it. In the first 4m to 5m you’ll move that bike length forward relative to them so that you (but not the back half of your bike), are just in front of their bonnet and thus they’re out of your peripheral vision. They’ll then match your acceleration for the next 4 to 5 m where you’re now at decision point to pull over into their lane but have no space to do so.

Drivers may feel put out by you moving in front of them but if it’s the safer option (for me and for them) then I’ll happy live with their slight disgruntlement. After all, if they are not moving you haven’t made them change their speed or path and if you get out of the way quickly, you haven’t held them up. Their disgruntlement is nothing more than an ego dent.

creampuff said:

rat840771 said:

I think I'll adopt the front wheel in box technique.

The offence is crossing the solid stop line on a red light or amber light where you could have reasonably stopped. A front wheel in the box is just as much an offence as the whole bike in the box. Personally, like I wrote above, I can make the same progress by staying behind the stop line and riding legally, so why do something which is not legal when there is no benefit to it.

If going over the line or into the puff box is an issue for you then the safest option is to filter up to just behind the first car and position yourself in front of the second car. You have then safely claimed your space in the queue and can take the car in front when it is safe and appropriate to do so.

In the scenarios I have described above, you are in charge of the situation and you are making the decisions. You are not dependant on others doing or not doing something. At the point when you are depending on someone else to do or not do something, you are handing responsibility for your safety to another road user. Not something I would want to do.

The first rule of advanced riding is..... there are no rules!

There's no one approach which will give you both safety and the opportunity to make progress in every situation. Cars going slow, then gunning it off the lights is exceptionally rare, but it happens. But what is equally rare but can still happen is vehicle no. 2 at the lights travelling so close to vehicle no. 1 that there is not enough room for you to slot in behind vehicle no. 2

On balance for me, stopping approximately level with the driver door on vehicle no. 1 at the lights gives an acceptable balance for me between riding lawfully (by not crossing the stop line), being able to accelerate and overtake no. 1 at the lights when they change and overtake them and ease off and slot in behind no. 1 and no. 2 if I don't like what no. 1 is doing. I suppose there may be some instance where both no. 1 and no. 2 are powerful cars and both belt it off the lights with no gap between them, but so far that is never happened to me. I'm not leaving my safety up to others, I'm deferring my final decision about if to overtake or drop back until I have further info about the intentions of the vehicles around me. So far and I have experience, there is always a gap somewhere to smoothly and safely slot into without having to brake or cause others to brake.

There are times where I will cross over the stop line (despite it not being my S.O.P) when I think it is safer for me and I'm confident I won't get busted. There are times when I will stop behind no. 1 and in front of no. 2. YMMV.