Courteous Cagers!

[krhall]

Yep, that's what I said.

Tonight on the way home on the bike virtually every car/van/lorry made an effort to move over to make the available space for filtering larger.

I wondered what was going on to be honest, if only every day was like that.

It was same this morning running to work all the way until about half a mile from work when some idiot woman looked, looked again and then pulled out anyway! Normal service resumed!

[sv-robo]

Yep,trust a women to spoil it!!:)

[ManxMatt34]

Yeh i was on the M6 about 4 weeks ago at half term, mad traffic jams with all the road work, i decided to drive straight down the middle of the people, and belive it or not cars/vans were seperating for me too squeeze through the narrowed lanes! I was shocked... normally they aim for me.

[metalhead19]

Yeah, have to agree tis odd how some days they move over n others they seem to hate you. Last week was on the M3 around rush hour, apparent accident few junctions up. Obv traffic jams so filtering through, most cars see me in their mirrors and move over for the first half mile or so. Then i see a guy in a vectra look in his mirror, over his shoulder looking right at me, he then moved his car over onto the white line in the centre of the road completely blocking me........ ther is always one isnt ther!

[sunshine]

keep the revs quite high behind that guy they start to move out of the way then. they dont like a engine reving at about 5k behind them so they move over to let you through.

[metalhead19]

keep the revs quite high behind that guy they start to move out of the way then. they dont like a engine reving at about 5k behind them so they move over to let you through.

Interesting, might have to give that a try next time, my other thoughts were to filter in behind him n jus sit ther with main beam lights (which would defeat the point of filtering cus wud just waste the time saved by filtering) ...or "carelessly" give his mirror a slight elbow on the way past (but figured that wud be taking things a bit too far as it wasnt as if he had done anything other than be abit of a pr@t.)

[sv-robo]

give his mirror an elbow on the way past (but figured that was bit too far)

Nah!! not goin to far at all,a mate who i used to take as a regular pillion used to leave a dent/inprint of his size 10 german paraboot in the door panel of any car driver who used to try & get a bit lairy in front of us.....then with a 2 finger salute,away we went:cool:

{edit} no i know its not big & its not clever......but WTF it worked for us:)

[metalhead19]

Nah!! not goin to far at all,a mate who i used to take as a regular pillion used to leave a dent/inprint of his size 10 german paraboot in the door panel of any car driver who used to try & get a bit lairy in front of us.....then with a 2 finger salute,away we went:cool:

HaHa :smt082 has crossed my mind few times when you see people deliberately going outa their way to inconvenience you, but so far i think the most i have given back is a shouting match thru a guys open car window when he opened his door as a joke at a set of lights as i arrived at the front. needless to say i wasnt amused......and then proceeded to embarrass him infront of his mates as he tried to beat me off the line.

However, i now think a good kicking to his car would have been in order.

[sinbad]

Yep, that's what I said.

Tonight on the way home on the bike virtually every car/van/lorry made an effort to move over to make the available space for filtering larger.

I wondered what was going on to be honest, if only every day was like that.


Usually when that happens I'm so taken aback that I'm scanning my mirrors frenetically looking for the ambulance or fire engine that they must surely be moving over for. But no, they really are being kind to one of "those bikers". To be fair most people round here are, though there's the odd one that thinks you're doing something illegal and immoral which will apparently add 35 days to their journey time.

[petevtwin650]

Very rarely have a problem with other road users, but then I don't commute on a bike so that will make a huge difference. Always try and acknowledge their courtesy with a wave, and ignore the less observant ones.

[LK-SV]

Very rarely have a problem with other road users, but then I don't commute on a bike so that will make a huge difference. Always try and acknowledge their courtesy with a wave, and ignore the less observant ones.

Yep ........ sounds good ......... but when you're commuting for every good one (that gets a wave) ....... you get 2 bads ones that will be either ...

1. A van thats got no interest in anything behind him, or
2. A dosey women who can't be bothered to move over .... :smt065

Nothing you can do though ....... no point letting the stress kill you !!:hackedoff:

[krhall]

Always - ALWAYS wave or acknowledge, because if you don't they are more inclined to not bother next time!

[Nobbylad]

I commute around 90 miles per day across a number of different M-ways (M58, M6, M62, M602) and city centre Manchester. The majority of drivers do pull over in advance, some need a blip on the throttle to realise you're approaching, but mainly they move over. I've never had anyone deliberately move to block me, however I didn't get taken off in Feb by someone not looking when turning right across my lane (I wasn't filtering then though).

Most people are reasonable, however I've had some bikes come tear ar5ing up behind me when filtering, shoot off once I've pulled over to let them through and then seen them clipping mirrors and motioning as if to kick doors as they go past people who genuinely have no expectation that someone would be in the space (due to the high speed of the bike).

Oh...and I always make a point of waving if someone moves over even slightly.

[LK-SV]

I've never had anyone deliberately move to block me,



Seriously ??

*shocked*

You're not in London then ?? :p

[TheOnlyNemesis]

Where do you find these people can i hire them?

that or i just attract prats it would seem.

[Gabriel2k]

Sometimes it does seem like somebody has sprinkled some “magic courtesy” dust over all the cage drivers and everyone moves over, ive even had some people who not only move over but signal as they do it. It’s those ones that make me the most paranoid about an emergency vehicle coming up from behind but so far there hasn’t been one.

I had one this morning that annoyed me quite a bit and I was very close to putting my boot into her car. I was filtering past stationary traffic at 10-15mph, coming to the roundabout where the traffic was queuing back from, before you get to the roundabout there is a pedestrian crossing with zig zag lines, so naturally knowing the highway code I stopped filtering before these began, moving back slightly to the left into the gap between the two cars.

When the traffic moved forward I moved forward as well stopping just before the part of the road designated for the pedestrians to cross, as your meant to. However the woman in the car behind me decided that it would be a good idea for her undertake me and block the crossing off.

After realising what she was trying to do (I initially thought she was going to run into the back of me), I am ashamed to admit that I zipped past her revving the bike a bit more than necessary and firmly planted myself in front of her again but this time making sure there was no room for her to slip by.

I also have problems with car drivers trying to do this to me when I stop to let pedestrians cross in front of me or let other vehicles out. Bearing in mind that I only do this when safe to do so and also when I am already moving slowly or have already stopped I think it is rather ignorant of them.

[metalhead19]

Always - ALWAYS wave or acknowledge, because if you don't they are more inclined to not bother next time!

Totally agree! show them you acknowledge them doing something. And ye most are good and move over but the others always seem to just become a pain. But the good out-weigh the bad which is what matters

[petevtwin650]

Where do you find these people can i hire them?

that or i just attract prats it would seem.

I going to put the cat amongst the pigeons and say some of it is down to youth and/or inexperience.

I ride quite often with other people and some riders get so stressed out with other road users not realising that they can be partly if not wholly to blame.

Also, as I said I don't commute on a bike. Sometimes we can be late, or have had a bad day and are not giving a 100% to driving or riding, or are feeling anger which can make for aggressive motoring. But when I'm on a bike, it's because I want to be and am enjoying it, therefore hopefully, I ride more courteously and am prepared to accept some transgressions without feeling anger.

[dyzio]

I've never had anyone deliberately move to block me,

I didn't have any of that for 3 years of commuting until a few weeks back, but some other driver made room for me, I went on and the **** was still stuck in traffic :D

Always - ALWAYS wave or acknowledge, because if you don't they are more inclined to not bother next time!

Not always, but I tend do thank drivers whenever possible, i.e. I prefer to keep both hands on the bars when filtering in heavy traffic. If I feel safe to do so, I'll give them a wave or something.

[Philbo]

A friend of mine had a run in with a white van a while back. Travelling through Glasgow city centre, filtering as you do, the van moved over to block the space he was about to filter through. So he moved to the other side of the van to filter through on his other side. Van moves to block again. At this time he can see the white van man laughing away to himself in the mirror!

A street or two down the road, my mate eventually gets by him at a set of traffic lights and opens his passenger door wide open as he passes! No damage done, no violence, just a dumnstrack WVM scrabbling accross to the other side of his van to close his door as folk grow impatient with the van blocking the lane at a set of now green trafic lights...

[fatneck]

Haha, good one!

[beabert]

I never have any issues on the 125, i think you all go to fast lol

[PsychoCannon]

Lol when ever that happens to me and I find people in front parting like the red sea, my first instinct is to check behind me in case I'm the only idiot that's not seen the blues and twos chasing me :)

[PsychoCannon]

I also have problems with car drivers trying to do this to me when I stop to let pedestrians cross in front of me or let other vehicles out. Bearing in mind that I only do this when safe to do so and also when I am already moving slowly or have already stopped I think it is rather ignorant of them.

Tell me about it!!
I've been coming up to lights that have just gone red and slowed or stopped for peds to cross the road and you get all sorts of abuse for it!
What? sorry I delayed your mad dash to sit at the red lights?
Good grief.

[yorkie_chris]

Also, as I said I don't commute on a bike. Sometimes we can be late, or have had a bad day and are not giving a 100% to driving or riding, or are feeling anger which can make for aggressive motoring. But when I'm on a bike, it's because I want to be and am enjoying it, therefore hopefully, I ride more courteously and am prepared to accept some transgressions without feeling anger.

Better late in this life than early in the next and all that.


If someone genuinely doesn't know you're there, then hopefully you passing will make them think "OMG where did he come from" and watch a bit better in future. If they are deliberately blocking your path then they obviously don't understand English, so must be communicated with in varying degrees of criminal damage.

Overall most of cagers I see are pretty accommodating. But there's always the odd rsehole.


Oh and I firmly believe that 90% of cagers not seeing you can be avoided by defensive road positioning. Of course there's always the extra-density minority who would pull out on a day-glo challenger tank bearing down on them.

[svrich]

Un-bike related but I was driving my class to the swimming pool this morning in our minibus. Heading down a 30mph, straight road, I hear and see an ambulance approaching from behind. Several cars in front of me, and I, pull to the left to let it past. But the daft woman behind me mush have thought we were all pulling over for the fun of it and starts to overtake me!. The ambulance narrowly avoids a collision. And the driver starts mouthing to my kids and classroom assistants 'what are you looking at?!' I can safely say that I have never seen anything so openly stupid in my life. And I bet she thinks she has done nothing wrong.
If a lights and sounds ambulance, on a straight road, on a bright and clear day almost gets hit, what chance do we stand?!

[andreis]

Oh wait, I know this one.. Sounds so familiar.. Like from a couple of weeks ago when on a clear day, sunshine and all, on a straight piece of road, I see a minibus coming from the front. Behind him, a shiny new bmw puts its nose out to start an overtake. I position myself more to the right of the road (that's the left for you uk folk), so that he can see me much better. In fact, I can clearly see the driver, so I know he can see me too. Regardless, he begins the overtake. I honk, nothing happens. I flash him, nothing happens. I just pulled to the right as much as I could and basically stopped, as the f***er overtakes the minibus just as he's passing me.
After that, I soooo wanted to turn around and do some very uncivilized and personally gratifying things, but I caught my breath and went on.

The rest of the day, it was as if every cager out there knew I had been in a close encounter with a bmw pr*ck and everyone behaved soooo nice to me. They would clear the way for me to filter, slow down when I would overtake and other such courtesies. I guess it's a balance thing..

By the way, is it just me, or do bmw drivers seem to represent a higher percent of the rude people?

[ophic]

By the way, is it just me, or do bmw drivers seem to represent a higher percent of the rude people?
Rude? Well they're either ignorant, blind, incompetent, arrogant, and always in a hurry. Or any combination of the above. Don't think I've ever stuck around long enough to find out if they're rude.

[andreis]

Indeed, I was understating all of the above attributes when calling them "rude"

[metalangel]

I hope the kwak I flashed my lights at today on the A470 saw and understood the warning about the scamera van around the next bend. He certainly seemed to turn and look at me.

[ophic]

I hope the kwak I flashed my lights at today on the A470 saw and understood the warning about the scamera van around the next bend. He certainly seemed to turn and look at me.
He probably would have seen it if he hadn't just been blinded by someone flashing their full beams at him ... :smt033