Solid white lines and stationary traffic

[tPIC]

Hi All - I'm still very new to all this and have recently been taking the bike on the commute from Winchester to Heathrow. Mainly up and down the A30, it's mostly single carriageway but can get really busy. I'm getting much better at overtaking long lines of queues when there are broken line and hatched areas, but at times I find myself queuing behind stationary traffic with zero space to overtake and a solid white line. What's the score in this situation?

This evening I was sat there doing what I thought was the right thing and 4 bikes went past me on my right, a good bike width on the other side of the lines. In the end I followed, because I felt like a big idiot just sat there.

I now have 6 points on my license so need to err on the side of caution when it comes to endorse-able behaviour. (By the way - the points were SP30's for 34 and 37 (whilst in the car) ).

[Stu]

Sounds to me like you need to brush up on the highway code

Go find it and read it for yourself rather than listen to what others think are right

Its best you know for sure than what someone tells you as they could be wrong

[Stu]

Make life easy for you

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway ... 58#rule128

[tPIC]

Cheers Stu. I had read that, which is why I was initially taking the position of queuing. It was the procession of bikes passing me that made me rethink. Is there some sort of acceptance of this amongst bikers? Or is it just if you do it you run the risk of being caught and given the appropriate penalty.

I think I just need a helicopter!

[Stu]

You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle,

 

if the road is clear and its safe I would use this bit

I wouldn't be sat in the traffic

[bmwdave]

Stationary means parked, not stuck in a queue. Wouldn't try using that argument on a plod.

[Stu]

Stationary means parked, not stuck in a queue. Wouldn't try using that argument on a plod.

 

stationary is stopped ie not moving

queuing traffic is not moving its stationary

it even says in in a dictionary

 

not ​moving, or not ​changing:

a stationary ​car/​train

The ​traffic got ​slower and ​slower until it was stationary.

The ​rate of ​inflation has been stationary for several ​months.

[Joeman]

we've been through this all before....

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48756&hilit=Stationary+white+lines

[fq-craigus]

You shouldnt cross or stagger a solid line, my route to work each day i get faced with this, i wait unless its real bad tbh but other bikes will cross and pass me but i dont care. The only times you should cross the lime if its clear is to overtake a cyclist or slow moving farm or road work traffic or indeed a parked vehicle.

[al_stu]

Same as using a mobile in a traffic jam...plod will still have a word even though you're not moving.

[mealexme]

Personally, I'd filter over double white lines, if it was safe to do so.

 

I find myself queuing behind stationary traffic with zero space to overtake and a solid white line. What's the score in this situation?

 

zero space = ... wait for it

... Don't do it!

Why would you overtake anywhere, where its not safe to do so?

And overtaking on double white lines is illegal? Who'd have known

As I said, I'd do it anyway, depending on the road layout, but only if traffic is at a complete standstill. Just don't do it past a cop and remember that if anything happened, you'd be at fault. I've seen someone filtering before on a long que of traffic, when without warning a van decided to use a farm entrance to do a u-turn with no indication and without checking his mirrors. It ended up with the biker sitting in a hospital waiting room for many, many hours. If that was on double white lines, I somehow doubt the insurance company would be in your favour.

[Joeman]

Thing to remember is that you need enough space to pull back in if a car comes the other way. But if there's enough space to pull in, theres probably enough to ride without crossing the lines.

Riding on the lines isn't crossing them.. Bit slippy but not illegal.

[RantMachine]

Or if there isn't any space to work with at all but there's a pavement beside the road, just mount the kerb then kill the engine and push the bike past all the stationary cars. Be sure to wave to the drivers

I did this once when the traffic was stopped in both directions because a school run mum had hit a horse at a fair old speed and smeared it across a large portion of the road. Certainly quicker than the detour I would've had to take if I were in a car! Not that they had any room to turn around anyway, just had to sit there grumbling while waiting for the road to re-open

[Guest]

I'm sure it passes the time and I wouldn't mind.. but i don't normally carry a mirror when I'm out on the bike and a £10 note? no chance.

[someone]

Riding on the lines isn't crossing them.. Bit slippy but not illegal.

 

Actually it is illegal because the law says you need to keep a solid line to the "off side of the vehicle."

Also, the law interprets a vehicle by its widest reach, which for a bike is most likely the handlebars, but could be luggage. So even with your wheels inside a solid line, the "off side of the vehicle" could still be over or crossing it.