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Today’s Near Miss has already generated a fair bit of discussion online, mostly focusing on that old, commonly used, yet often misrepresented aspect of day-to-day cycling: filtering.
In the video below, Cork cyclist John, who regularly posts instances of bad driving on his Righttobikeit Twitter account, can be seen filtering past a line of slow-moving vehicles.
Another brown trouser moment. Indicates and turns at the same time. Glad not to have hit the deck. Close one though. @roadcc @sticky_bottle @theJeremyVine @IrishCycle pic.twitter.com/roQljdDE0L
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 1, 2022
As he approaches the entrance to a filling station, however, a motorist begins to turn left into John’s path, having indicated their intentions less than a second before beginning the manoeuvre. Fortunately, the cyclist was able to brake in time, ensuring that the incident resulted in little more than a bent wing mirror.
“You can’t just put on your indicator and turn off the road like that, you’re supposed to check your mirrors,” John can be heard telling the motorist following the minor collision, as the driver simply replies, “Sorry lad”.
As in the UK, filtering is perfectly legal in Ireland. In 2012 a traffic law was amended to clarify that cyclists are permitted to overtake on the left when vehicles to the rider’s right are stationary or moving at a slower rate than the cyclist.
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped a number Twitter users criticising the cyclist’s actions, prompting John to both clarify the legalities of filtering and defend his ability to successfully anticipate the driver’s manoeuvre:
I’m filtering on left which is legal. All traffic moving forward has priority over traffic leaving the lane. The driver should have indicated much earlier and checked his mirror before turning. There’s no bike lane btw
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 1, 2022
Yes I am undertaking, it’s a slow moving line of traffic. It’s called filtering and it’s legal. All traffic moving forward has priority over traffic leaving the lane. He should have indicated earlier and checked his mirror
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 1, 2022
I would be very cautious filtering on the left when approaching junctions or turn offs. Especially with gaps in traffic where motorists are going to start moving.
Don’t trust motorists to do the right thing.— CycleGaz™ (@cyclegaz) September 1, 2022
Another #cyclist who is a menace to himself and others and needs to learn to #Cycle https://t.co/IxT6IUD6bv
— Gerald Quinlan (@QuinlanQuinlan) September 2, 2022
I did anticipate which is why I stopped in the shortest possible time
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 2, 2022
I’m doing 23/24kph. Most filtering is done at about 1 meter or less. It’s cars passing have to give 1m not the other way around. What’s dangerous is leaving the lane without checking your mirrors
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 1, 2022
Do you understand basic physics? My mass has no possible chance of shifting a 2 tonne car let alone knock it over. The other way around….
— Righttobikeit❤️Ukraine (@righttobikeit) September 1, 2022
What do you think?
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 – Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won’t show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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