If I am preparing to turn right in my car, I merge to the right edge of the lane to discourage cyclists from passing on my right.

If I am cycling, I stay away from the right side of the lane when approaching intersections. I pass right-turning traffic on the left. I don't pass traffic headed to the same direction. At red lights, I don't filter forward.

I understand that some people experience enough congestion that they feel tempted to filter forward, particularly to make a green light. This hasn't been enough of a concern on my commutes to bother. Sometimes I miss a green light due to the length of the traffic queue, but not very often, and not enough for me to consider invonveniencing drivers by making them overtake me more than once.

This seems to be one of those custom and practice things. Filtering up the inside is legal in the UK, but the Highway Code reminds cyclists to look out for left turning traffic when doing so. In my commuting days, I rarely had the OP's experience, probably because I was looking out for such difficulties.

It also rarely (IME) provokes the kind of response which seems common in the States

However, since he's based in London and there seems to be more cyclist/driver ire than in many parts of the country, perhaps it's a local thing.

Depends on lane width. In wide curb lanes, there is effectively an unmarked bike lane. Basically, if a car can pass you in the same lane, you can pass cars in the same lane. However, if the lane is narrow (less than the generally accepted "safe to pass" size of 14'), then you should get in line like everyone else.

Bikes inhabit an interesting in between area in traffic law. For the most part, we follow the same rules as other vehicles, but traffic codes in most jurisdictions recognize than a bike and car can share wide lanes side by side. This is mostly for the benefit of motorists who want to pass us without changing lanes, but the law works both ways.

Slower traffic keep right, so when you are moving faster than them you should be on their left.

Just to be clear, I don't block bike lanes unless there is a bus zone that I am servicing. We're trained to do that to keep cyclists from plowing into a passenger leaving the coach. (You'd be amazed at how many times I've seen that almost happen... Think: What happens when you see a bus pull over to a bus zone with nobody at the zone? Might that bus possibly be letting pedestrians off? Hmmmmmmm... )

If there is a bike lane and I'm at a red light I leave that open and just keep an eye out for cyclists so I know they are there. Yes, the same scenario I describe above can happen, cyclist planted in a blind spot, but at least there is more space for the cyclist so we should be able to happily coexist.

As I clarified in a post below, I *don't* do this in situations with bike lanes because it is indeed illegal (not to mention rude, stupid, and unnecessary). That said, it is legal, and often necessary for us to take a portion of the bike lane to make a turn. While I don't know the specific law here I'm sure we have to yield to a cyclist in that case.

A supervisor once told me that "you have a license to be a road hog, so use it". That, of course, does not preclude us from yielding where necessary. But we will frequently ignore lanes marked out for cars because we have no choice.

BusBiker - how exactly does Metro explain this to drivers? I understand preventing cyclists from passing buses on the right (I don't do this either - the lanes are too narrow to share in most all cases downtown Seattle) but I have been curb pinched by buses several times in the past year. Yes, I take the lane which makes this even more of an issue for me - the buses forced me over from my position in the left side of the lane to the curb. Does Metro make it clear what the difference is between taking a lane with the bus and a executing a dangerous curb pinch to the cyclist?

Closing off the lane when there isn't enough room to share is something I have picked up on my own - I don't recall training addressing this issue, although they are constantly addressing visibility issues I describe. Sadly, there isn't very much cycling specific training at Metro. I'd love to see a joint bus driver/cyclist training session that addresses the issues faced by both groups - unfortunately, there isn't much money laying around right now for extra training.

We are specifically trained to not "force" people anywhere, except as a fixed object. In other words, I'm not supposed to start pulling into a lane to force somebody to let me in. However, I can block the bike lane to prevent cyclists from passing on the right.

If you feel a bus driver is using their bus to intimidate you, I recommend getting the coach number, time, route, and location and call in a complaint with a detailed description of the incident. *Every* complaint Metro receives gets to the driver, usually in the form of a pow-wow with their immediate supervisor. The driver can be educated as to how they should have handled the incident. Complaints are also tracked and large numbers will result in ride checks by supervisors and possibly lead to discipline.

I normally do something like ride around the other side and knock the mirrors askew. <----Joke. I have thought about it though. Around here the bus's are perty cool. (smaller bus's) they can see us and normally don't block the lane until you pass them. Every once in awhile they will stop and it takes so long to load unload that you come upon them already in the lane. There is always plenty of room in the lane they are in to go around them, on the left.
My rule with bus's, is ether pass or stay behind I won't just ride next to them. Same with large trucks.

This morning, I was riding down one of my longer suburban stretches and a guy in front of me continued to drive in the bike lane. I didn't really have to slow down (the wind was in my face so I wasn't going too fast), but after 4 blocks I began to worry he might be harassing me. Fortunately, he was just lost. It kind of weirded me out tho!

I'm fortunate not to have to ride in a lot of city traffic with lights. I just have to deal with the suburbanites, pick your poison. I only filter on the right if the traffic light is red, I do not pass cars on the right.

pass on left, always
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1evksPoXkY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NnobUTTcHk

This summarizes my cycling practices very nicely.

If you only learn one thing about surviving in traffic on a bicycle, it should be to position yourself at intersections according to your destination. If you're going straight through the intersection, don't position yourself to the right of potential right-turning vehicles.

I must confess that I've always been a little puzzled by this frequently expressed argument. How exactly does it inconvenience a driver to overtake you more than once? Unless he is obliged to wait to get past you because the lane is narrow and the adjacent one is crowded, where is the inconvenience?

Generally if you pass motorists at a light all lanes are crowded and thus passing a cyclist in the lead is inconvenient. If that is not the case and motorists can easily pass then there is generally not much harm done.

Left right filter thread
Hard jam slow cram
The Quick or The Dead.

Adapt or Die. Be where cars don't want to be and don't be there when they change their minds, it's just that simple.
If I leave them behind by going through a red safely, I generally don't see them again.

Being a cyclist makes you a better bus driver.

City bus drivers around these parts are, IME and in my observation, good and courteous drivers.

School bus drivers, on the other hand, can do some pretty rude and dangerous things to a cyclist. My impression is that they are in a rush to get to the next school-- they have to take all the high schoolers first, then rush back to run the elementary kids home.

I blame the bus companies for trying to squeeze profits out of the schedules and routes.

Absolutely. The skill-sets are quite compatible - I only wish I could institute a program requiring *all* bus drivers, actually - drivers of any motor vehicle, to be proficient urban cyclists before they are allowed behind the wheel. Now *that* would make life easier and more pleasant for all...

I have been saying this for ages. If drivers of cars had experience of bikes / motorbikes before taking their test, and drivers of buses and lorries etc. had experiences of cars and bikes / motorbikes before taking their test, the roads would be FAR safer places, as the drivers of the most dangerous vehicles would have experiences of being vulnerable road users and perhaps will better be able to understand what people are going to do and why they are going to do it.

^^^ Except that, at least among people my age, almost everybody grew up riding bikes. I don't think that more than one or two other kids on my block didn't have a bike.

Generally, there is no way I could care less about inconveniencing a motorist. In this case, if there is little benefit to me to filter, I don't. My theory about other drivers is that it takes all the effort they can muster to simply drive their car down the road, and thus passing a cyclists raises their stress level. If you watch, a significant number of motorists will do anything in their power to avoid changing lanes. It's pathetic, but if there is only motorized traffic around they can cope.

*cough*cough*cough*shoe-on-the-other-foot*cough*wheeze*cough*

I yield to cars because they sure as heck will not yield for me. One of us has to yield; if not, I'll be the one to pay!

I think it is a law in some states that horse drawn vehicles and cyclists can move to the front of traffic to avail themselves of a prevailing wind.