Police spotting (junction watch)

or you could get off and push your bike over the road, thereby not breaking the law and not looking like an RLJing twat.

That's bollocks, unless you're a foot tall. Every time I enter an asl in front of a lorry I look back and try to make eye contact with the driver. Wouldn't stop next to the cab though.

I think stonehedge's point is that quite often you don't know where you will be able to stop. If the ASL is full of bikes or motorbikes or if the HGV has (legally or illegally) stopped in it, then you are in trouble and may end up having to creep forward, dismount or RLJ to remain safe. Also, presumably you only enter the ASL if you know there's going to be time to turn and make contact with the HGV driver.

or you could get off and push your bike over the road, thereby not breaking the law and not looking like an RLJing twat.

Let's not forget the twattish behaviour of the HGV driver pulling up right next to a cyclist at a junction. Possibly better for the cyclist to take the lane so they can't get boxed in like that.

That's bollocks, unless you're a foot tall. Every time I enter an asl in front of a lorry I look back and try to make eye contact with the driver.

And yet people that aren't you still sometimes get squished.

I know its a bit over cautious but I find that others follow me if I filter right. I've seen a few wobbly people come through behind me after seeing me go and they sometimes are still there when the lorry begins to move. People are sheep and I don't want that on my conscience.

I also don't like to go towards an ASL if my view of the box is obscured which it normally is if there is an HGV. Who is to say there is room for me?

Finally, to get to the front on the right you run the risk of collision with an oncoming centre filtering motorbike. They come fast.

Over cautious probably but I generally prefer to hang back

Yeah, my previous response was too brief. What I'd do would depend on the circumstances. If I knew the timing of the lights (i.e. turned red as I was coming towards it), could see the ASL ahead of it was clear and was able to see if there was oncoming traffic, I'd consider getting ahead of it up the right. If I wasn't sure about any of the above I'd likely hang back. I definitely wouldn't just blithely head straight into the middle of the road without checking behind and ahead for filtering motorbikes/cycles heading both ways or if I didn't know for sure that I could get to the front before the green light.

I know that I will not always be correct in my judgement of the lights, the lorry might not be signalling its intentions and that there is the very small chance that I could slip on a drain or pothole while passing.

All in all, I personally decide to minimise the risk by staying behind the lorry.

I really don't think what I do is bollocks. Its pretty safe if you ask me. I'm not suggesting that others have to do it.

And yet people that aren't you still sometimes get squished.

That'd be (as far as I'm aware) people who are up the left of it as it's moving away or people who move up the left of it as it's indicating left and swinging right to make the turn. If I'm first to a set of lights, I'll almost invariably sit in the middle of the lane, whether it's an ASL or a regular stop line. If I was sitting at the left of a lane and a lorry pulled up right next to me, I'd move forward to place myself ahead of it, technically an RLJ maybe. But I wouldn't then continue across the junction.

I know that I will not always be correct in my judgement of the lights, the lorry might not be signalling its intentions and that there is the very small chance that I could slip on a drain or pothole while passing.

All in all, I personally decide to minimise the risk by staying behind the lorry.

I really don't think what I do is bollocks. Its pretty safe if you ask me. I'm not suggesting that others have to do it.

I don't think what you do is bollocks either, I agree that the safest option is to hang back. The 'it's bollocks' in my previous reply was regarding the blind spot of the lorry. The driver can't see the floor that's marked black, but unless you're floor height, he'll be able to see most of you and your bike.

Edit: But not if you're next to the cab, then you'll be invisible unless you're 8 foot tall.

or you could get off and push your bike over the road, thereby not breaking the law and not looking like an RLJing twat.

And if there's a fence between you and the pavement?

He means when you get off and push on the road making you look like a bike-pushing twat.

All in all, I personally decide to minimise the risk by staying behind the lorry.

This.

Even if there's only 2 or 3 cars in front of you, there's noi harm in waiting behind them instead of having to be at the front every single time.

We're on a bicycle, it's not like it's easy to get stuck in traffic on.

Agreed, like I said - it depends on the circumstances. If traffic's hardly moving and those at the front aren't gonna get away at any kind of pace AND I'm satisfied that it's safe to do so, I'll move to the front. If not, I'll wait behind and maybe even get a nice draft off a lorry in the process... The only thing I pretty much won't ever do is move up the left of the lorry.

Very disappointed with some of those policing operation Safeway (is it really called this?)

They were busy tackling people who carried on cycling after a marked cycle lane came to a stop (although I believe the TFL cycle maps show it continues) but chose to ignore the fucking twat who decided to overtake me whilst I was in prime and left hook me. Luckily I was switched on and I wasn’t injured but the police were useless.

Which one is more damaging continuing to cycle on a cycle path where I don’t recall ever seeing people walk or some twat trying to kill people in his big steel box?

Oh and they did sod all about twats filtering up the left hand side of a lorry either (as above how did they know it wasn't turning left? I see many vehicles rely on telepathy to communicate their intentions)

For those who may have the lfgss cycle training forum on ignore, according to the poll about behaviour at lights (http://www.lfgss.com/thread114541.html) only 14% of forumers polled filter left at lights unlike the vast majority of other riders, the majority of whom filter left.

Glad to see not one of the old bill saw the van overtake me as I stopped at a red light to go steaming through it nearly taking out 15 people just about to cross only to get stuck in traffic on the roundabout by Trafalgar Square a mere 10 feet further forward.

My hilarious "bloody cyclists" comment also went unnoticed

Glad to see not one of the old bill saw the van overtake me as I stopped at a red light to go steaming through it nearly taking out 15 people just about to cross only to get stuck in traffic on the roundabout by Trafalgar Square a mere 10 feet further forward.

My hilarious "bloody cyclists" comment also went unnoticed

The comma button on my keyboard is clearly broken

I suppose if someone was waiting in the gutter at a red with no ASL, and a lorry pulled up next to them indicating left, the only way out would be to jump the red.

or you could get off and push your bike over the road, thereby not breaking the law and not looking like an RLJing twat.

If you are turning left naturally you park towards the left at the line so as not to risk a collision with a bike undertaking you when the lights change as you move off around the bend.

Whilst waiting however, if a lorry pulls up beside you or even behind you close enough to put you near his forward blind spot - a consideration should be made to get out of there. Risking a £30 fine is less of a problem than risking your own life.

Obviously going out into live traffic who have the right of way is also dangerous.

Basically we need the US law that allows left turns on red lights.

I do get off and push occasionally if it get's too hectic. But sometimes pushing an unwieldily bike across lanes of traffic and around railings is actually more dangerous than rolling to safety further down the road.

most intersections have controlled crossings.

/i often do this on the south bound intersection of kennington road / brixton road where you have no guarantee that the cunts behind you have seen you signal that you are carrying on straight, despite appropriate signalling and positioning. fuck it, id rather walk.

When my girlfiend was re-familiarising herself with how to ride a bike she wouldn't believe that I had no problems with getting off and walking through a junction if I considered it to be the safest/easiest thing to do.

I think she believed that I was being patronising, suggesting that we used the crossing, but I've never been adverse to hopping off the bike when it makes sense to do so.

it is, after all, one of the advantages of our chosen mode of transport

Very true, it's often a good idea to stop and watch how a junction works for a while, especially if it intimidates you and/or you're going through it for the first time.

If I'm at the front of a junction that has no ASL, (and often even if it has), I'll always take the centre of the lane I need, just to prevent a vehicle boxing me in.

It's much easier to spot/avoid a cyclist undertaking than it is to shoulder barge a truck out way.

Wightlink-LCM RT ‏@WightlinkRT 3h
@citycyclists "He jumped the pedestrian crossing outside Whitechapel Station heading west at about 8am. No people near or on crossing...
Reply Retweet Favourite More Collapse
2:44 AM - 29 Nov 13 · Details
Wightlink-LCM RT ‏@WightlinkRT 3h
@citycyclists ...policeman jumped out with gun further down the road"
Reply Retweet Favourite More Expand

https://twitter.com/citycyclists

Rubbish formatting, sorry, details are unclear but a cyclist may have had a gun pulled on him by a police officer, for rljing.

it is, after all, one of the advantages of our chosen mode of transport

Not true, Mr. Bean show us that it's possible to get out of the car and push it through a red.

a gun?

i'm calling bullshit.