Why do you NOT filter?

[dyzio]

Something that's just bugging me (and I don't have much do to at work at the moment ).
While riding to & from my place of work I often see people on bikes standing in traffic. And the queue is quite big, something like 15-20minutes of waiting.
Just wondering why one would choose to wait in traffic while on the bike?
Some of them start filtering behind me after I've passed them, but most stay where they were... why???

new to riding? not confident enough to filter without the prompting of other bikers? they might be worried about police. I think there can be lots of reason. HTH

Yeah- it took me a couple of months before I started filtering.

Any maybe some people are laid back enough not to want to zip through the traffic. Or they have a new bike and are getting the hang of the size/feel of it (oo-er!)

Edit- also, I've ended up in a queue where it would be more awkward for me to line up to filter, and therefore get passed another bike, or they see an opportunity I missed- this is mainly down to bad planning!

I don't know why they don't, but it makes me chuckle to get away from litre sportsbikes when they come to lights because they're not prepared to filter. For me, irrespective of the legality of it, filtering would almost completely negate the point of having a bike as anything other than a pleasure vehicle (and even that would be diminished).

I tend filter all the time, being in the city I may as well be in da car if I didn't. But sometimes if I'm tried I will take break, eacjh to their own though.

What does surprise most people espically car drivers don't know the law on filtering, oh well.

I filter nearly all of the time- theres a couple of places I know not to do it though, cos of dodgy roundabouts and imbecile drivers..

New rider or unfamiliar bike (or both). Nothing like pulling to the top of a queue of traffic and stalling...

[jambo]

Nothing quite as funny as having a car follow you through town (or following a car) so having to stop with traffic on a bike. The looks you get as you sit in traffic make me chuckle

[mister c]

Depends what mood I'm in. If I'm not in a hurry then I will sit in traffic & watch the world go by. If I want to make progress than I will filter, still scares me when I do because I was knocked off about 15 years ago by an impatient car driver that did a u turn without looking in the mirrors 1st

[timwilky]

As I don't ride in towns/cities filtering for lights etc. Is not an issue for me, sometimes I cringe when I see over enthusiastic filtering followed by last minute panics as escape routes disappear. However, I do occasionally ride on motorways. Filtering there is totally different to my experience in towns.

Motorway filtering tends to be reasonably accepted by car drivers, whereas in towns they don't bother to think there may be a bike passing them when they decide to u turn without indication or force their way across a stream of traffic because it is queued etc.