If car changes lane while you're filtering...

[Lord Percy]

and therefore blocks you off and you crash, who's to blame?

You'd want to blame the driver for blocking you off, but then you were the one doing the 'overtake'. I'm sure there's something official regarding this? Goes through my head every time I'm filtering.

I presume you'd be to blame? All about awareness of what's in front of you, right? But then... the car driver should have been looking in the mirrors etc

[The Shaggy D.A.]

50/50 most of the time. If you're filtering, you shouldn't be going so fast you can't stop, and if he's lane changing he should be checking his mirrors and looking over his shoulder.
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Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[Rogerborg]

It could go either way. Don't bet on anyone taking your view on it, unless you've got someone like T.C fighting your corner.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Turkish]

Speed would be a major deciding factor. Visibility between a line of traffic is limited unless everyone is in a perfectly neat line - sometimes less than a few car lengths.
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ZX-6R G2
CBR125R RW6

[biker7]

Filtering between 2 lanes of stationary vehicles is safer than on the move as gaps appear and motorists may suddenly go for a different lane. If you do filter 'on the move' keep speed down and be ready to brake. Let's face it, filtering is fun and helps make good progress but apart from the kindly souls who move across to give you more room, it pisses many off. Also, I would imagine the biker would often get the blame given an incident. I always find pedestrians hidden and moving quickly across are as much of a worry as cars.
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Swansea area
Fat Bob (2019)

[Lord Percy]

Right so it's 5050, sounds fair enough I love filtering and if it angers car drivers they can go suck eggs, or get their own bike and see how great and logical it is. Of course I always have my eyes very widely peeled when I'm filtering, by the way. This was just a curiosity

[Pete.]

[FireStorm-X]

The main reason why I don't filter, car drivers try to kill you enought when your on the road riding normally, why give them even more chances when they are frustrated and pissed off being stuck in a traffic jam

Filtering is a high risk manoeuvre, to me getting home 5 mins latter is worth waiting for. Seen it to many times when driving a car/van/lorry other drivers pulling across into motorbikes it dosent matter who's fault it is if he has a big dent in his car and you are getting sized up for a coffin
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Lexmoto Street 125 (sold) - Kawasaki ZR7S

[Andy_Pagin]

When filtering keep your speed to no more than five to ten mph faster than the traffic and continually think about what you will do and where you can go if someone pulls out on you or opens a door on you.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[Pete.]

[biker7]

[TheSmiler]

Easy to get caught out whilst filtering, I've done quite a bit not as much as other people here though. The old saying is true however watch the wheels not just the cars, the wheels will move first so you will know what to expect.

Filtering along the A50 a few months ago a van was broken down at Blythe bridge roundabout so I had to filter through the tail back from Uttoxeter. Coming between two cars a 4x4 in front moves over to the left he has obviously seen me, so has been kind to give me more room I acknowledge with a thumb saying thanks in his side mirror. However at the same time he has moved over a van starts to move into his lane seeing a potential gap and not noticing me entirely.

I'd been coming from a Mod1 fail, so a bit angry and frustrated luckily however I noticed the vans wheels moving to come into the lane so slowed down and stopped just aside of the 4x4. IF I hadn't of noticed the vans wheels moving I'd of been into the side of him.

Edit:Just had to filter down the local A road again seems like some major traffic problem on one side only. Did the kind of taboo of filtering though.. Going between two articulated trucks side by side, the worst part was there are cat eyes down the middle so it is a bugger filtering.
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CB125>CG125>GN125>ER5>K100RS>R1100RS>K100RS
A2 completed 23/07/15 Ready for the Golden Crisp Packet

[Davenaylor]

Yesterday I did a bike safe course with West Yorkshire police. Filtering was specifically covered and encourage. BUT only when safe and the over arching message was that we don't have to filter right to the front, you can still make progress but when the balance of risk Vs reward shifts, stick your indicator on and take over the lane you want.
Ask yourself why that car is changing lane, if he is going to do it will others, in which case how does that balance of risk Vs reward look now?
As others have said in stationary traffic with low speed and good obs you are fine, high speed lane splitting, not for me thanks.

[FirebladeRuss]

[Ribenapigeon]

I have a set of rules for myself when I filter.
1) Lifesaver and reduce speed before moving between traffic.
2) No more than crawling speed.
3) If I'm near enough to the front of the cue to get through when lights go green then don't bother to filter.
4) Watch wheels.
5) Watch for gaps, a car may nip into one and hit you.
6) Use the horn. A little blip of the horn is enough to get people to check their mirror or halt their manouver.
7) Don't go right to the front unless your bike has the power to get away from traffic.
8) Be aware of the surrounding environment, are there shops nearby? A school? Bus stop etc pedestrians have even less awareness of bikes than drivers do.
9) Plan where your going to rejoin the que and if you can't then be considerate IE don't sit in a lorrys blind spots etc, lorry drivers have enough to worry about, 4x4s have big blind areas close to them.
10) Don't get sucked into seeing filtering as some kind of victory over car drivers. Its just a way of making progress. Its not mandatory. You don't have to do it.

[biker7]

[Ribenapigeon]

[P.addy]

Loud can, high revs, fast speeds. Not had an incident filtering yet...

[Notj7]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Pete.]

The two most common things I see catching filtering bikes out are:

1) traffic changing lane unexperctedly.

2) queueing traffic leaving a gap for a car to pull across across them to turn right out of a side-road. This one is lethal because they only look left for a gap and just don't expect a filtering bike. Quite often you won't even know there's a side road there.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Linux]

Personally, I can honestly say every crash I've had, I was to blame. IF someone smashed into the back off me at a set of traffic lights, something was thrown from a car window, then I'd point the finger elsewhere, but I see drivers in all types of vehicle making stupid mistakes, and I'm able to keep my distance and avoid anything nasty because of it.

I ride my bike as if I were driving a car a lot of the times, so when I do filter, it's quite a lot slower than any other biker I see doing it, I'd be able to stop, make a cup of tea and stretch my legs before it had gotten to late to do anything but slam on the breaks and go down or into the car.
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Two wheels are all I need.

[lihp]

I filter a good 25 miles to work every morning and you see some right idiots!

I had stopped filtering and sat behind a range rover that had moved over to the centre line almost with his indicator on trying to get in the lane.

Bike joins the motorway from the sliproad and goes straight behind me and straight down the side of the Range Rover who had been indicating for a good 5 mins or so, just when a driver had flashed to let him in
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covent.gardens: lihp is my most favourite member ever