Filtering past a turning truck on a wet Friday
It is 17:15 on a wet Friday and traffic on a three-lane one-way street is stopped at a red light 80 m ahead. You are filtering between lane 1, on the left, and lane 2 at about 20 km/h. A rigid truck in lane 1 has its left indicator on, its wheels turned towards the kerb and a gap of about 1.1 m between its side and the kerb. A cyclist is 15 m ahead of the truck in lane 1. Twenty metres ahead of you a pedestrian in a hooded top steps out between two stopped cars, looking down at a phone. Your visor is beading and the road markings are glossy.
1. You want to get past the truck. Which side, and why?
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Not the left.
- The truck is indicating left and its wheels are already turned - the driver has committed and is waiting for whatever they think is clear.
- The 1.1 m gap between the truck and the kerb is inside the driver's blind area. A rigid vehicle also sweeps a tighter path than its cab suggests, so that gap can close faster than you can ride out of it.
- A cyclist is already ahead of the truck in lane 1. Even without the turn, you would be aiming at someone else's road space with no exit if they wobble.
The safe answer is neither side: hold back and let the truck complete the turn. If you do go, go right, slowly, after a mirror and shoulder check, and do not linger alongside the cab or the mirrors. Never sit in a truck's blind spot in stationary traffic.
2. What does the pedestrian change about how you ride the next 20 metres?
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Everything about speed.
- At 20 km/h your reaction plus wet-road braking runs to roughly 12 m or more; you can see further than that, but the point is how little margin the glossy, painted, possibly diesel-contaminated surface leaves you.
- The pedestrian is hooded and looking at a phone - they will not hear you and may step forward or back unpredictably between the cars.
- Stopped cars hide them, and hide the next one behind them. Assume a second pedestrian.
So: drop to walking pace, cover both brakes, watch the gap between the cars rather than the pedestrian's face, and pick your line so that if they step out you are already stopped. A short horn is justified if there is a real risk of contact - a long blast is not, and buys you nothing.
3. The light turns green while you are still between lanes and the traffic starts to move. What do you do?
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Stop treating the gap as a lane. As vehicles move, gaps close without warning and drivers are watching the car in front, not a bike on the line between lanes.
- Pick a gap, signal, mirror, shoulder check, and slot into it - take a position in a lane rather than riding the paint.
- If you are alongside the truck when it moves, drop back out of the blind spot rather than trying to stay level with it. A turning truck will not see you and will not stop for you.
- Accept the loss of a few places. The whole advantage of filtering is worth nothing if you are squeezed between two moving vehicles.
- Keep the 20 km/h ceiling in mind until you are established in a lane with a proper following gap.