some proper knod heads about !!!! think they own the whole road and your not allowed to fillter, knod heads can put your life in danger!!! anyone have any good ideas as to the best way to deal with them other then beating them to a pulp,
One thing I can never understand is why there are a minority of drivers (yes some 4x4) that do not want you to pass even when they can not make progress through gridlocked traffic. Guessing many are piloted by semi aggressive male drivers wound up by being held up and hating the fact they are being overtaken, maybe some are even ignorant of the law that allows filtering?? Either way I work my way past them as safely as possible after all it will always be the bike that comes off worst in any collision.
I do two trips to Essex every week and spend a considerable amount of time filtering at the Dartford crossing. A 3 or 4 mile tail back is not unusual but strangely I get very few drivers who deliberately block my way. It didn't used to be like that and cars would often move across to stop me passing but over the last few years most drivers (except caravans and camper vans!) normally make an effort to move over. My beef with 4x4 drivers is in town. [Broad brush alert] In Brighton the largest 4x4s are black and seem to be driven either by small women who can barely see over the wheel or fat, white blokes. The women tend to be simply useless at driving anything so big, can't park and sit in the middle of the road. The men meanwhile are, by and large, arrogant twats with personalised number plates and a divine right to drive at whatever speed they want to [/end broad brush alert] What to do about them? Stay away as much as possible, take a deep breath and remember what Richard said, it's us that come off worse. Didn't actually stop me from knocking on the window of an Audi at some lights after they had nearly knocked me off my push bike though. Turned out to be a tiny woman who claimed she didn't see me (the bright orange jacket probably blinded her) and burst into tears making me feel terrible!
I am from up north so I don't typically have to deal with congestion. My biggest problem is negotiating combine harvester in the middle of the road after a bend when I'm already hard over. However I have done a few trips down south to the coast and I have come across these 4x4 infants with the attitude of 'if I'm not moving then why should you'. I just took my time and waited it out. Most of the time another gap appeared and went for it. Totally agree with Richard. Knowing you're driving within the law will not make hospital food taste any better.
My sentiments exactly Kevin, although when I'm snarling up the road in my Freelander 2, I'll always try and move over if safe to do so for bikes. I do find Audi and BMW drivers don't realise that their SUVs have indicators.
Actually I have got to say apart from the usual numptys on the road my biggest bug bear at the moment is these bloody mountain bike riders who think that it is acceptable to ride 3 across on narrow country roads, They have NO BRAINS WHATSOEVER!!!
I drive a van London some times and some of the bikes up there dam i don't know how there still here undertaking a van stoping to the left out of sight right behind that beam by windscreen