Originally Posted by
ax0n
I had you confused with someone else on the helmet thing. Like you, I never ride without. Also, I'm not a habitual filterer either. But there are situations where I will split a lane. Sometimes that means filtering up the gutter cautiously if there's a logjam and no sidewalk or other path. Sometimes it means ghosting a car through an unprotected left if oncoming traffic is going to be difficult for me to traverse, getting moving once there's a clearing would be too difficult, and and there are vehicles behind me that will want to turn as well. I keep focused, have a plan for an out, and go for it. The necessity for this maneuver doesn't often arise, but I've done it when I needed to.
For what it's worth, I usually try to choose routes that aren't subject to this kind of madness. If there are signals I can't trigger with my bike, bizarre, dicey intersections, or things like that, I usually change my route the next time I pass through that area.
Anyways, all I can say is when I do it, it's done safely, and only if it's a lesser of two evils situation.
We seem to have more in common then you think. I see the ghosting maneuver as trading one evil...side traffic at an intersection...for a far worse evil...sharing lanes with a vehicle. I avoid sharing lanes with cars as much as possible such as riding further out in the traffic lane on multilane roads, positioning myself in the middle of the lane at stop signs and lights, taking the middle of the lane on left turns, etc.
I to avoid dicey situations. Denver is a grid town and there's always another road a block away...or nearly always
