White lines. Solid ones.

As a car driver this didn't bother me. I was instructed at the tender age of 17 to treat any solid-ish white lines as brick walls, i.e stay off them.

Having a bike has made me read up a bit on some "finer" points though.

Q: Is it OK to cross a solid white on your side of the carriageway to pass semi-stationary traffic?

See here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/DG_070306

Rule 129

Does this legally mean I can't overtake very slow moving traffic if I need to cross the line to do it? Even just ride on the line, maybe?

Has anyone been pulled for this? I've seen it on stuff like traffic cops/Police Camera Action, but its always been high speed daftness which warranted a telling off.

Reason: My 20 mile trip to work has a lot of stationary traffic (thus I bought a bike) and sections of solid & broken white lines on single carriageways.... but I guess I can't overtake the queue unless they're <10mph AND either sweeping the streets, bicycles or invalid carriages?

Talking to Baph about this a while, if it is stationary its okay to trickle past.

[G]

Didnt baph get points and a fine for literally grazing the line.

I dont pass on double whites, generally because they are their for a reason and most roads I have ridden on to date it really wouldnt be safe to pass on double whites.

Yes because the traffic wasn't stationary

Originally Posted by graemepaterson

Didnt baph get points and a fine for literally grazing the line.

In my situation, the car I overtook was doing about 50mph, so as plowsie stated, hardly stationary. I also had a police Pan a short distance behind me, and the car driver acellerated. I made a judgement call to open the bike up a little & get infront of the car, thereby clipping the line. I explained the situation to the officer, but apparently I should of touched the brakes, and pulled back in, then he'd of pulled the car for dangerous driving. Ho hum.

In theory, I could of been done that day for white lining (TS30 - worth 6 points!!), small plate, loud can, not displaying a valid tax disc (it was in the pillion seat) etc etc etc. I got done for the TS30 & the plate. 6 points & £90 fine in total.

So if you break the law with white lines, you can get 6 points & £60 fine. But what is OK in the eyes of the law?

Stationary traffic, so long as you have space to pull back into the lane, fine, go for it. Moving traffic is a different ball game, and if it's moving faster than 10 mph (according to the highway code) it's a no-no. However, most coppers would probably let you get away with up to 20mph (I know BluePete is one that puts a 20mph limit on it).

Also, you have to consider how fast you go past the traffic whilst you're over the white line. If you trickle past about 10mph (or less) faster than the traffic you're overtaking, you're likely to be OK. However, if traffic is stationary, and you scream past at 50mph, I'd expect a ticket.

The emphasis is more on performing a safe move, or it was in the eyse of the officer that stopped me. Judgement is everything.

wow, £60 + 6 is more than I thought it would be, but I suppose at the end of the day the double whites are there for a reason in case a truck comes thundering round the next corner...on the lines.

What worries me is not knowing whats behind me. I'm 6'4 nearly and my mirror extenders haven't arrived so I'm tending to take it pretty gently on the old pulling in/out of traffic at the moments.....mainly cos I' can see sod all behind me...apart from my elbows.

Originally Posted by ooger

What worries me is not knowing whats behind me. I'm 6'4 nearly and my mirror extenders haven't arrived so I'm tending to take it pretty gently on the old pulling in/out of traffic at the moments.....mainly cos I' can see sod all behind me...apart from my elbows.

My advice there is elbows against the tank when you want to look behind you, and have the mirrors adjusted so that you can lean over a little to get a better view.

Worked for me, and the mirror extenders didn't extend all that much.

Get followed by any length of time by a bike cop, and not check your mirrors properly, you're asking for him to have a 'polite' chat with you. The guy that stopped me commended me for looking in my mirror going around corners so I knew where he was (about 2ft from my rear tyre the f.... a... hole!!)

I tend not to pass on solid white lines, only when the traffic is stationary. Otherwise, I tend to sit and wait. To me, the solid white line represents danger, and where I encounter solid white lines.....it mostly is dangerous to overtake

That being said, if there is safe room and I can make progress, I will overtake on a solid white line, especialy if the vehicle in front is something like a van and obscuring my vision of the road ahead, in which case I make a special effort to get past (not a dangerous one though) because then I get a better veiw of the road ahead once I am pass.

Heed baphs warning though, because he manages to get away with alot

Matt

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by alpinestarhero

That being said, if there is safe room and I can make progress, I will overtake on a solid white line, especialy if the vehicle in front is something like a van and obscuring my vision of the road ahead, in which case I make a special effort to get past (not a dangerous one though) because then I get a better veiw of the road ahead once I am pass.

Perhaps you should pull back from the van to improve your viw of the road ahead?

I do observe double whites, even when they are blatently not there because of danger (Cat & Fiddle for example). That said on a recent ride with a motorcycle cop, he said I clipped two solid whites on overtakes (can remember one) and I overtook a tractor doing 28 mph on solid whites. The tractor was going fast enough to not be considered slow. So I could have been 'done' three times, which I'm not happy about and will be giving myself a good telling off. Point here is it is easy to disregard the rules of white lines if you 'think' you know better. I have received a little education here and hope it makes me a better rider.

6 points is pretty severe for white lines and I will be improving my overtakes to avoid clipping them.

As had been said before, on a bike you can afford to be patient, there will be an overtaking opportunity along shortly.

Yup, pretty much unless it's a horse or raod maintenance vehcile or pedal cycle travelling at less than 10mph OR a stationary vehicle then this is illegal. That being said I've passed slow moving (sub 20mph) traffic but made sure (as much as I can) that no police were in view. But of course should you have an accident in this situation then they will probably throw the book at you. In short, overtake on solids at your own risk.