When NOT filtering goes wrong

[ArMoRothair]

I've been cycling in London for over thirty years. Filtering is second nature to me and I've never had a coming together, until this morning.

Narrow London road, parked cars both sides, arriving at a red light there were already one car and a one van stopped in front of me. I would normally have overtaken them and gone into the ASL which I could see was actually (unusually) clear but for some reason this morning I decided not to and I stopped behind the van and waited in line, patiently acting like a vehicle, like many motorists want us to. I was not in a hurry.

The lights changed and we moved off. Car in front, van following, me following the van, other traffic behind me by now. We carry on down the typically narrow London road, so narrow the vehicles are forced to go very close to the parked cars and constantly slow to allow oncoming traffic to squeeze past. No space for me to overtake nor undertake. No space for me to be anywhere else other than behind the van. The van stops to allow an oncoming HGV to squeeze past, I have to stop behind him.

A few moments later he stops again. I stop a good 2 metres short of him, not too close. I decide not to try overtaking because I assume there must be another oncoming vehicle squeezing past. Wrong. He puts it into reverse and I only stop him reversing over me by not too gentle banging on his back door.

After we shouted at each other for a bit, he parked the van (in the space he was going for) and we managed to have a calm and frank conversation. He pointed out that he had checked both mirrors and there was nothing else he could be expected to do. I have to agree, short of stopping his van in the road and walking around it, which is never going to happen, there was nothing else a van driver can do when reversing into a parking spot.

From my side I can't think of anything else I could have done. It was 9:00 am, broad daylight, and I had my LEDs on front and back but the road was so narrow there was no way I could get out to either side of him to be seen clearly in his mirrors.

That's my first coming-together in thirty years of daily commuting in London. The lesson I draw from it is it doesn't pay to queue in traffic like many would want us to. The next time I'll filter past as normal.

[[XAP]Bob]

I try to stay to the offside corner when following in that situation - it means i can look round the vehicle to assess the road ahead, and gives me a fighting chance of waving at a wing mirror.

Did he indicate? That's about the only thing he could have done from your description...

[Si]

I try to stay to the offside corner when following in that situation - it means i can look round the vehicle to assess the road ahead, and gives me a fighting chance of waving at a wing mirror.

Yep. Also when you follow the van across a cross roads a car coming from the other direction and wanting to turn right (across your path) has a chance of seeing you and not trying to quickly nip through the "gap" behind the van.

[Paulatic]

+1 for riding on the off side corner of van. If you can see the driver in the wing mirror then he can see you.

[ArMoRothair]

Did he indicate? That's about the only thing he could have done from your description...

He claimed he did but I don't remember seeing it. I do remember seeing the reversing lights going on and momentarily thinking he must be adjusting his position to benefit the oncoming traffic, initially I didn't panic because I had left a decent space.

I know what you are saying about positioning to his off-side so that you are visible in his mirrors. Yes I would do that normally as well but there was too much oncoming traffic in this case.

[kwackers]

In simple terms he can shout all he likes, it's his responsibility to make sure his path is clear.
Did he have rear windows? Were they blacked out?

If he can't see behind him then he should think about some extra aids.

I'm not sure that filtering or not is to blame. You can have misses when filtering, when people don't take enough care then it just becomes a dice roll.

[RickH]

+ another 1 for riding out near the offside of the vehicle in front when moving at the same speed as the rest of the traffic.

Your visible in their mirrors then (if they don't have a usable rear window), you get a better view in front (especially with larger transit sized vans), obvious to the vehicle behind & it also prevents them pulling alongside, then moving left & squeezing you out of your space.

Rick.

[Vorpal]

Two metres may seem like alot, but honestly, I don't think I would stop that close. And like others, I would be on the outside corner in a situation like that. There are three reasons...

-to see other traffic. 4 metres back on the offside corner, and you might have been able to see the street ahead of him, even if it was narrow.

-to be seen. not only might he need to make othe maneuvers and you can put yourself in his mirror, someone else might want to use that space. Being on the outside means the other vehicles are more likely to see you (overtaking motorcyclist? car turning into a drive?)

-to allow the vehicle in front to make maneuvers if necessary. In this case, he wanted to park, but he might have needed to back up before going around an obstruction, as well.

I've had a couple of near misses because I was hidden behind vans; once when a car turned across me. Now I stay well back from them.

[ArMoRothair]

I've had a couple of near misses because I was hidden behind vans; once when a car turned across me. Now I stay well back from them.

Thanks. I've learnt my lesson.

I'm just glad I wasn't on the motorbike, I wouldn't have been able to bang on his back door while lifting the motorbike out of the way!

To answer Kwackers: solid rear doors, no rear camera. Yes you could argue it is definitely his responsibility to make sure his way is clear but like I said in the first post that would necessitate him walking around the van and in the real world no one will ever do that.

[honesty]

I ride in primary through traffic quite a lot as the road from work to home generally pootles along at around 20, down a slight hill and with parked cars on my side, and I can keep up with that. I'll only take primary if I'm sure the driver in front can see me. If I'm behind a bus or other large vehicle I'll almost ride on the white lines so they can see me in their side mirrors. This also gives me a view around them to see traffic lights etc. as well.

[TrevA]

Some lorries have a sign on the back that says "if you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". that seems to be what happened in this case. I'd like to think I'd ride far enough back for that to be the case, but I'm not sure i would. You could also argue that vehicles with large blind spots behind them (or anywhere else) shouldn't be on the road.

[Tigerbiten]

Because I ride a low recumbent trike thats below the height of most car windows, it's always my fear in supermarket car parks that someone will reverse back over me.
Plus the trailer on the back means that I cannot reverse easily as its easy to jacknife.
In theory the flags should stop it from happening but I've almost had it happen twice.

[Postboxer]

The van driver could have kept checking his mirrors, then hopefully he would have seen you approaching and have been mindful that there was a cyclist somewhere.

[[XAP]Bob]

Air Zound or maybe Hornit is the other option of course - Something the van driver will recognise as a "stop" signal.

Then you can manoeuvre out of the way in a slightly calmer fashion before acting as the banksman he ought to have had....

Some lorries have a sign on the back that says "if you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". that seems to be what happened in this case. I'd like to think I'd ride far enough back for that to be the case, but I'm not sure i would. You could also argue that vehicles with large blind spots behind them (or anywhere else) shouldn't be on the road.

Why - they should be on the road, but they should be obliged to carry a banksman (i.e. someone to get out and check that the way is clear before manoeuvres such as this) They happen often enough in "real traffic" that they shouldn't be the preserve of construction/warehouse sites.

[TonyR]

Its pretty common to pull past a parking space (while indicating) and then reverse into it. Perhaps something to keep in mind in future that if there is a parking space and a vehicle has pulled up just past it they are probably going to park. +1 for staying on the offside where you can see beyond and be seen.