FWIW if I am so far back that I will not make the light I do filter forward and if no right turn only lane I stop between the 1st and 2nd car. When the light changes I cross to the far side of the intersection and then wait for the light to go red and then I pull into the travel lane and proceed.

I really have no issue riding to the right or the left when filtering. If I can make the light by doing so, I feel that is my just reward for riding to work. Just depends which intersection I am approaching as to which side I ride on.

As has been mentioned it depends on the situation. But I see a pattern developing among some very experience cyclists. I do the same:

If a very long line of stopped or creeping traffic, involving several light cycles, I will almost always filter. Look at it from the stuck in traffic motorists perspective too: You are one less vehicle in traffic.

If only a couple of cars, then I will typically wait in line.

Again the situation dictates what I do. I also live in a city bisected by a river with 7 major bridge crossings that are major congestion points during rush hour. There is one, that basically is a substandard lane that typically divides into two lanes. There is no possible way for me to filter on that one, unless I go up on the sidewalk, (which I don't) or ride left onto the oncoming lane(s) - the wrong way- (also which I don't do). So there I am stuck and have to wait the 4 or 5 light cycles it takes. On nice days I get a lot of comments (I track stand - and people think it is cool) and try to cajole people out onto their bikes too.

Anyway, if you feel like you are taking advantage of the situation, again turn it around, and just let yourself know that you are one less vehicle in traffic when you safely filter forward.

HTH
zac

if there is a good shoulder or wide lane downstream of the intersection, I will sometimes filter, take the lane, go first through the intersection, and pull over (while still moving and accellerating) to allow cars to pass once I'm through.

Nowhere, however, do I ever get caught for several cycles.

The way I see it, if you're going to be splitting the lane after the light, go ahead. If you will be commanding the lane for yourself, stay in line. Absent unforeseen circumstances, anything else either puts you or the car at an unfair disadvantage.

+1 if the lane is wide enough to share, share it. ;)

This is how I see it too. There are some occasions when i'll pass a long line of cars and merge into the full lane, in a break between cars to safely pass parked cars or something.. but i'll only do that if I can travel at traffic speed, which isn't that difficult here thanks to the ridiculousness that is Los Angeles traffic.

I never go to the front and just park in front of the line.. that just seems disrespectful to everyone... well, unless there's a bus and a bus stop across the intersection..

I guess it's true that cars are only dangerous when they're moving ... which isn't really possible in gridlock. But each one stops in a different position ( left/right in the lane ) than the car in front or behind. You might have anywhere from three feet to inches in "the gauntlet."

Generally, I'll move either to the right of the first car, or into the crosswalk ( if it's empty or I can position myself not to inconvenience anyone ). When the light turns, I'll start to move, along with the cars, and jump back into the travel lane when an opening appears. With people being distracted in their own worlds at red lights, it's never long before someone takes a moment to get started.

I'm not really worried about annoying them; I wonder if cyclists saying "if cars can pass me in the lane at 30, I can do it when they're stopped" encourages drivers to think "If bikes can pass me in the lane when I'm stopped, I can do it at 30 mph."

Also, in the particular situation I'm dealing with on a daily basis, I really have to take the full lane after the light. The lanes narrow a bit approaching the bridge, people merge from the right on a blind approach, and even if the speed limit is reasonable, people drive a lot faster than they should. So I ride in the middle of the lane to prevent myself being hit by a side mirror while someone squeezes past me. It's not very long that I have to do this before I get a protected bike lane on the bridge, but I have to for a bit.

More important as I see it is what you are NOT doing. You are not filtering forwardand then cutting in line and blocking the cars. I don't have bridges and generaly don;t have the kind of narrowing they lead to. But that is a section on PCH near what is called 'The Colony' just north of Santa Monica where the shoulder disappears. There is a light less than 100 feet before it. This is a 55 mph road and I stop after teh light and once it changes ride full out and get past the narrows before cars have a chance to catch me. The drivers are happy and I am unharmed.

I was involved in a crash doing just this...

I was headed North on a country road, one lane in each direction. Up ahead was a dedicated left turn lane for a popular road. I was going straight, but traffic was backed up for 1/2 mile because of cars waiting to make the left turn. I was filtering forward to the right of a long line of cars with their left turn blinkers on. I approached a small intersection and slowed, there was a white car in the intersection on my right, wanting to make a left, the traffic had opened to allow her to make her left. As I approached the intersection, the driver of the white car waved me across in front of her (she had a stop, through traffic did not). As I crossed the intersection I was hit by a car making a left turn, through the break in cars to my left. I had never seen her since the row of cars to my left obscured my view, and I am sure that she never saw me for the same reason.

If the lane is wide enough to share, or they are changing lanes to pass, why would you care if they pass you at 30, 40 or even 50mph?

you got left-hooked at an intersection. I explicitly said 'until you get close to the intersection...'

streets like mass Ave in cities like Cambridge can have a lot of activity in their right lane with buses and cars and it's best to stay put and wait your turn. a lot of college kids don't and we had 2 a couple weeks ago where one was trampled by a trolley and killed and another went through a car windshield but survived.

> Also, in the particular situation I'm dealing with on a daily basis, I really have to take the full lane after the light.

I think it all depends on the details of what happens here.

The driver who's potentially freshly annoyed isn't the one who was behind you before you stopped - it's the one who was in front of you before the light, and now is behind you. If:
- cars who, but for your maneuver, would've got through the intersection on green-light-cycle number X, now don't - and you do, even though you came to the intersection later; or
- cars who were in front of you now find themselves behind you after the intersection and unable to pass for a significant distance;
then there's a reasonable basis for annoyance. There are situations where "filtering" won't have either of these results, and others where it will: it depends on the road, what you do after going through the intersection, and various other details of situation.

You are, of course, free not to care a whit whether you annoy other people: that's essentially the definition of "inconsiderate," but you're probably not going to get arrested for being inconsiderate. Whether it's the right thing (or even the wise thing) to do is another subject.

Legally, it's kind of a confusing. You can pass on the right "Upon a roadway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two or more lines of vehicles moving lawfully in the direction being traveled by the overtaking vehicle." The concept of a roadway being wide enough for vehicle A to pass vehicle B, but not wide enough for vehicle B to pass vehicle A doesn't seem to have been considered by the drafters of the statute, and probably wouldn't fly.

I always filter to the front, unless I need to take a break... I've had a friend get doored by a car that was stopped at a red light while filtering though. When you're that close to cars on both sides, you have nowhere to go except into the door, so I'm a lot more careful about it than I used to be.

I just think that's good advice for riding on the road in general.

I filter if I know I'll get ahead of cars and not play leap frog with them. Most of the time I'm in line with them, but there are plenty of times when traffic sucksand I get to roll on through.

The University Bridge, heading south. The backup is crossing 45th Ave in the U District, about 1/2 mile before I reach the bridge. Crossing the water itself isn't much of a problem ( except for the last approach; cars will see me coming and try to "gun it" ), but there isn't a good place to get to the other side of 45th. I wind up taking Roosevelt, which isn't the best in terms of traffic, but avoids further merges on my part. And, mind you, it doesn't back up horribly very often. Most days it's only one light cycle that I'll have to wait for reds, and in that case, I just hold my place in line. But maybe once a week it can take three or four light cycles, and in that case, I'll probably continue to move to the front.

When the weather is nice, and my evening plans are open or flexible, I'll often take the Fremont Bridge, but this adds almost ten miles to my commute. I'll have to go west to reach the bridge, then circle most of Lake Union. I live about 1/2 miles south of the U Bridge, and a block from Eastlake.

I may not have described it as well as I could have. What I meant was riding in the far right lane, between the parked cars and the stopped traffic. I never do this if there isn't at least two or three feet of room, but feel moderately unsafe doing it, for a lot of the reasons that have already been posted. But it sounds like it's almost unanimous that bikes should do this when conditions permit, and when it would cost the cyclist "silly" delays not to.

Since many motorists seem to have poor depth perception, I see lane share-ability as speed dependent.

If a car is overtaking me at a difference of 5mph, he can get pretty close to me before I care... a foot is often enough. If he nudges me with his mirror, I'm gonna say something, but it's not really a big deal, it happens... occasionally I brush against mirrors when overtaking, too.

Clearly though, being mirror-slapped by a 50 mph car is a different class of incident.

I filter, and IMO the risk especially when cars are stopped, is that someone will exit. My rule about parked (and stopped) cars is treat them like a gun; assume they are loaded with someone ready to exit, on either side.

right, got it. i forgot about that clusterfuzzle. i think it would be great if the city took out one side of parking, limited turns and added a nice buffered & wide bikelane down roosevelt all the way from woodlawn to the bridge.

between Scarecrow video and the trader joes' im usually filter weaving somewhere in between the two lanes or either side, usually using a left hand lane bias until about the hardware store (hardwicks?) approaching the bridge. got to play it safe though. i can't recall ever waiting in traffic on roosevelt.

I would just imagine that the leapfrogging back and forth gets annoying. If by filtering you get ahead and stay ahead, I suppose its a good idea. But if ya pass A, B, and C while 'frogging, and they pass you again till the next block, the cat and mouse game must get tiring.

roughstuff

I "usually" filter ...

potential dangers? check out the thread by the OP who broke his ass "filtering" at 16 mph! I feel bad for him but i totally read him the riot act. then everyone jumped on my back for no taking his side. he claimed cuz he was in a bike lane he could go as fast as he wanted.

anyway, every situation is different

Yeah, leap frog gets old. And it does happen sometimes, although usually not in the situations I'm asking about. What I don't understand about this "game," though, is why it should only be the cyclist who has to go more slowly than they'd like to end the "game" ... just so a car doesn't have to go more slowly than it likes? If the driver isn't bothered by slowing a bike down with leap frogging, but bikes routinely bother themselves for no reason but to help strangers out ... at the very least, we're a lot more polite than we're given credit for.