Timeline for Is it rude to take the lane, then filter when encountering congestion?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
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| May 7, 2014 at 23:34 | comment | added | jimchristie♦ | @armb I think you took that out of context a bit. I gave fairly specific examples of conditions in which it is certainly rude. Anyway, this discussion is getting long, which is discouraged. If you would like, we could carry it on in chat. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:57 | comment | added | armb | Yes. "It depends on local conditions" is the right answer. "It is certainly rude" is, in some conditions, just wrong. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:51 | comment | added | jimchristie♦ | @armb See my comment to ChrisH directly above. (You can only reference one user per comment.) | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:50 | comment | added | jimchristie♦ | @ChrisH I think I see where we're bumping heads. The problem is that the OP hasn't given us enough information. I read the question as asking about short-term, temporary congestion, such as you encounter at major intersections on the edge of the metro area of a major city at rush hour. You seem to have read it as talking about the general congestion in a dense urban area. The OP hasn't actually indicated which type of congestion they're talking about. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:19 | comment | added | Chris H | @jimirings, yes, you are, but the point is in congested urban traffic bikes pass cars, and cars pass bikes - on average the bikes are normally quicker. The onus is always on the overtaker to wait for a safe spot. The overtakee can help to indicate the presence - or absence - of such a spot. I personally don't go up the inside unless there's a decent width lane for that purpose (passenger doors open in queues) but pass in the middle of the road. The gap between the lanes, with few exceptions round here, is too narrow for my rather wide handlebars without tilting the bike, foot down. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:06 | comment | added | armb | If it doesn't make a difference, then they haven't gained anything. And if, as is common in congested stop-start traffic, the average speed of motor traffic is lower than that of cyclists, no they likely wouldn't have to do it anyway. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 16:00 | comment | added | jimchristie♦ | @armb If a driver passes you only to get held up farther down the road, the driver has gained something: he/she has passed you. This is something that the driver would most likely have to do anyway and it doesn't make a difference if they do it before or after hitting congestion. The big difference is that what the OP is describing means that they have to pass you twice. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't take the lane. I'm saying if you do, you're behaving like you're driving a car and you should continue to do so even if you hit congestion. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 15:55 | comment | added | jimchristie♦ | @ChrisH If you are using the bike lane, you are by definition in a different situation than what the OP is describing. And I certainly don't mean to imply that drivers are never rude or overtake poorly. They do. But that doesn't make it any less rude if we also overtake poorly. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 15:39 | comment | added | armb | If you don't take the lane, and get passed by cars only to be held up by them when it gets congested a few hundred yards further, then the car drivers have gained absolutely nothing, have possibly endangered you by passing too close, and are now holding you up unnecessarily. Avoiding that situation certainly isn't rude, and it is certainly rude of drivers to insist that you put up with that situation. | |
| May 7, 2014 at 9:48 | comment | added | Chris H | If you pass all the congestion and take the lane again ... then you just passed all of these cars only to slow their progress and force them to pass you again ... and is certainly rude. You've just described a decent proportion of the bike lanes in the UK (where technically you can only enter a bike box on a red light if you do so from the bike lane, which is one reason why it's common to see short stretches leading up to traffic lights. Also there's a good chance several of those cars were already braking for the lights when they passed you - now whose overtaking is poor? | |
| May 7, 2014 at 0:58 | comment | added | Daniel R Hicks | Actually, some localities apparently allow motorcycles to pass between cars. It's highly dependent on the rules in your area. | |
| May 6, 2014 at 18:33 | history | answered | jimchristie♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |