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The old favorite... FILTERING

 
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Loco
Monkey With a Machine Gun
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:41 pm    Post subject: The old favorite... FILTERING Reply with quote

Filtering and/or overtaking and claiming for injuries

A great advantage of riding a bike is that you can often avoid getting snared in slow moving or stationary traffic with our larger, wider motoring companions by filtering or overtaking. I have been riding bikes on the road since I was 16 years old and have owned many, from my trusty Honda C90 to my ZZR1400, and have filtered on them all.

If any of you ride to and from work during rush hour like I do, that extra half an hour in bed rather than sitting in traffic is always a bonus. However, the issue of whether filtering is legal is always a hot topic of conversation both from a criminal and compensation point of view.

Filtering and/or overtaking and the Criminal law

Is it legal to filter or overtake slow moving/stationary traffic? In a nutshell, yes. Filtering is a legal manoeuvre that can be made on a motorcycle but the key point is only if it is safe to do so.

It always surprises a lot of bikers that the Highway Code itself is not actually ‘law’. However, while not ‘law’ it is often referred to by judges and is a good place for guidance of what bikers should do. Among other things it advises that motorcyclists (or any other vehicle for that matter) should not overtake or filter where they might come into conflict with other road users.

So filtering/overtaking is not illegal. However, if for example a biker does this on a blind bend and hits a car head-on (even traveling at half the permitted speed limit i.e. 30mph in a 60mph limit), they could be successfully prosecuted for dangerous driving. This can happen if the court found the biker’s riding fell so far below the standard expected of the “competent and careful rider” and it was obvious riding in that manner was dangerous. If convicted for dangerous driving a biker would get a minimum of 12 months disqualification from riding/driving and at worse two years in prison. This is in addition to a fine and/or court costs.

implications of filtering when claiming for injuries.

Even though a biker may not be criminally liable for filtering and having a collision, it is a long established legal principle that a biker who is out of the ordinary flow of traffic by overtaking or filtering places themselves at potential risk and therefore has to take extra care. If they do not and a collision happens they may not get 100% of their claim for damages. Every case turns on its own facts and if need be judges will hear evidence and make decisions and apportion liability accordingly.

A classic Court of Appeal case involved a van driver who was waiting to pull out from a driveway when a lorry driver stopped and flashed his lights. The van pulled out slowly but a biker overtook the lorry and collided with the van. So even though the motorcyclist was on the main road and the van relied on the lorry flashing him out, the court decided the van and biker were equally to blame i.e. a 50/50 split.

Why? The court found the biker failed to see the van until the very moment of the collision and failed to keep a look out. As for the van driver, because the flash of the lights from the lorry was only permission for him to come out of the driveway it did not mean that it was safe for him to do so. The court found the van driver was still under a duty to keep a look out and had failed to do this.

In summary:

Car drivers etc., owe us bikers a high duty of care because we are vulnerable road users.

Car drivers etc., have a duty to be on the lookout for us.

If they don’t and a collision happens a court will likely find them liable either in full or in part. However, if you as a biker filter/overtake near junctions and you have a collision with a car pulling out for example, a court may well find:

You were carrying out a manoeuvre which placed a duty on you to take care of yourself.

It should have been obvious a car might have pulled out and you should have treated it with more caution.

If you don’t and a collision happens a court will likely find you liable either in full or in part. So while filtering may have its many advantages, you need to remember that if you have a collision you could be partly or fully to blame as far as the law is concerned.

Andrew ‘Chef’ Prendergast
managing partner of
White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors
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biggus
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hugely grey area. Self preservation trumps blame or liability every time
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Taz
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got wiped out filtering, the driver came out with the cliche SMIDSY and "I should have known better my brother rides a bike......"

Well then yes you should have fecking known better too busy trying to do a uturn you cock.

Coppers informed me they would nick him whilst I was in the ambulance. Was paid out accordingly and no doubt he now hopefully has a hefty premium to remind him of lack of use of mirrors.

I ride a motorbike because filtering is legal one of the main reasons in fact.
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Miss G
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Taz wrote:
I got wiped out filtering, the driver came out with the cliche SMIDSY and "I should have known better my brother rides a bike......"

Well then yes you should have fecking known better too busy trying to do a uturn you cock.

Coppers informed me they would nick him whilst I was in the ambulance. Was paid out accordingly and no doubt he now hopefully has a hefty premium to remind him of lack of use of mirrors.

I ride a motorbike because filtering is legal one of the main reasons in fact.


Only just avoided the same fate whilst filtering past the 2 mile queue coming out of Brands last year...twat in a cage decided to pull a u-turn across the coned off 2nd lane (created specifically for the purpose of joining the two lanes coming out of the circuit toward the M25) without checking his mirrors and hence failing to see the 6 motorcyclists, all with headlights on, who were using said 2nd lane. Fortunately all 6 stopped safely, albeit fast (yes, even me!), but words were exchanged after the SMIDSY comment by the cnut of a driver.

Still, have to agree with Biggus that "Self preservation trumps blame or liability every time". Even though we know there's a high chance of it happening, we weren't hanging about, so I guess we were just lucky on the day, and could have been more cautious under the circumstances.
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Loco
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I posted purely to raise awareness of the laws stance, having been a victim of this 'U turn without responsibilty' move, lucky for me the bloke held his hands up at the side of the road and called his insurance there and then to admit liability (I doubt it was my barely controlled seething anger that made his do this)..Be careful out there kids the law WILL try to place blame on you.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Loco wrote:
I posted purely to raise awareness of the laws stance, having been a victim of this 'U turn without responsibilty' move, lucky for me the bloke held his hands up at the side of the road and called his insurance there and then to admit liability (I doubt it was my barely controlled seething anger that made his do this)..Be careful out there kids the law WILL try to place blame on you.


You were lucky, so to speak, often there's split liability for filtering which dates back to twat vs twat 1985 or something like that
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biggus
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This page is useful also:
access-legal.co.uk/legal-news/accidents-involving-filtering-what-the-law-says-lu-2811.htm

twat vs twat in the post above was referring to Powell vs. Moody (1966)
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There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand Binary and those who don't

There are II types of people in the world: those who understand Roman numerals and those who don't.

98% of all Harleys ever sold are still on the road. The other 2% made it home


Last edited by biggus on Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:02 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Nuclear Red
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always try to keep to a pace so that I can stop in a cars length.

Once it moves more than 10MPH I will drop back into the moving lane.

Its slower but for me safer.

Its the lorrys and coaches that worry me, those wheels are huge and you can just imagine the mess they would make of you.
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Think I have the best/worse incident of filtering.

All 4 lanes of the M25 stationary and as I'm filtering through the traffic, Mr dozy twat thought it would be a good idea to get out of his car to see what the hold up was ..... Car door in front of bike at about 12 feet distance Rolling Eyes Boy did he crap his pants at the sight of a CB1300 front wheel locked up heading straight for him .. Laughing
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of the old tales on filtering are out the window. If you take the new mod 2 and don't filter in traffic then you can fail the test. As the old saying goes if you want to sit in traffic then buy a car.
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