When a Lane Peels Off to The Left

The road layoutThis is a place where I have had several problems and tried a number of strategies. The approach I have finally settled on is undoubtedly the safest option, but is one that sometimes annoys a small minority of drivers. They like to race to the next traffic light for some reason that is inexplicable, but I am in their way for a while, holding them up by exactly 4 seconds. However, as I said, this is a small minority compared to the otherwise patient, polite motorists; they just need to get over it.

The image to the right shows the layout of the road. There are traffic lights just off the bottom of the image and some more just off the top of the image. A little way after the first set of lights a left turn lane for the next junction, which also has traffic lights, peels off at a shallow angle to the left. There is a broken line across the entrance to the left turn lane. There is a cycle lane to the left which starts after the first set of lights, but before the start of the left turn lane, which continues up the inside of the left turn lane. A new cycle lane, between the left turn and straight ahead lanes, starts at the end of the broken line that crosses the entrance to the left turn lane.

I have tried three strategies for going straight ahead through this junction:

Left cycle lane strategyPrimary position strategy

When I first started cycling here, I used the cycle lane on the left and then crossed over the left turn lane to get to the straight ahead cycle lane (first image above). This was very difficult because cars come into the left turn lane quite fast and many of them don’t bother to indicate. One of the problems with this approach is that by being in the cycle lane on the left, I have given up my priority over cars that are behind me, because I have to cross a dashed line (change lanes) to get across. If I stay in the shared lane, then vehicles that are behind me in the same lane are supposed to give me priority.

So I tried riding along the broken line, staying at the left hand side (“secondary position”) in the straight ahead lane until I reached the straight ahead cycle lane (second image above). Unfortunately I got cut up on a number of occasions by cars overtaking me and going across me into the left turn lane because the drivers were too impatient just to wait behind me for a few seconds. Also, this position encourages cars going straight ahead to pass me too close. This is probably the most dangerous of the three strategies I tried.

So, I now claim the straight ahead lane (of which there are two) from the first set of lights so that nobody can pass me in that lane until I reach the cycle lane (third image above). I never filter to the front at the first set of lights, but just join the back of the queue in the primary position and then maintain that position through the lights until I reach my cycle lane; even though it would be legal, it would be very rude to filter to the front and then block the way of the people I had passed. This seems the safest option, but I do occasionally get angry car drivers sounding their horns because I delayed them slightly – including ones that then go on to move into the left turn lane: the same people who would probably cut me up if I adopted the weaker line. Still, it’s better to get the occasional annoyed driver than have some idiot wipe me out; there seem to be vastly greater numbers of careless idiots than psychopaths out there.

The video clip below shows this approach using the primary position:

I’ll discuss what happened at the end there in another article about bad cycle lanes at junctions.

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6 Responses to When a Lane Peels Off to The Left

  1. Oisín says:

    “I never filter to the front at the first set of lights, but just join the back of the queue in the primary position and then maintain that position through the lights until I reach my cycle lane; even though it would be legal, it would be very rude to filter to the front and then block the way of the people I had passed.”

    I wouldn’t consider it rude to do so; in all likelihood you’d just be filtering past traffic that had just overtaken before you took primary position?

    That said, until recently I only rode in primary position when approaching a junction in a left/straight lane and I’m going straight. Bizarrely, I was in primary position today, almost exactly as in your third riding line image, when a taxi driver tried to overtake me and turn left from the right-hand (straight only) lane at the same time. He somehow contrived to hit me in the shoulder and shunt me to the left without knocking me off my bicycle, so that was a bit lucky. I shouted “OI!” and he had to stop at a traffic light just after the turn, so I followed him in and he claimed SMIDSY with a big smiley apologetic face. Not that that’s any good if someone ends up dead… :/

  2. admin says:

    (Sorry for the delay in moderating. I was away when you posted, so missed the email.)
    That sounds pretty bad. I hope you reported it?

  3. donk says:

    Good write up of a bad junction (I know it) and I agree with your line choice, I’d say stay out of the cycle lane at the end to try to prevent drivers cutting the corner.
    The filtering thing is a tricky one, if it’s safe to overtake (stationary cars, slow moving bike) then why not do so? After all you don’t prevent cars overtaking you when it is safe to do so. For me it depends on the junction and traffic conditions, sometimes I wait, sometimes I filter, mostly the latter tho.

    • admin says:

      Yes. In fact, now that there is a lot of queueing traffic, I do sometimes filter, but most of the time I would only be filtering past a few vehicles, so it would only save me a few seconds. The hassle from angry motorists tends to spoil my ride home, so I prefer just to avoid it. (My wife can always tell immediately when I get home if I’ve had problems with motorists.)

  4. here says:

    Weird , your site turns up with a black color to it, what shade is the primary color on your web site?

    • MrHappyCyclist says:

      I’m not sure what you are getting at. Where does the black colour appear? What do you mean by “primary colour”? (I am just using a default WordPress theme with no modification.)

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