Mr

[Thunderoad]

Overtaking

Hi, can any traffic police answer my query please. I've just seen a video on youtube of a biker overtaking traffic between the cars and bollards that had been put up to close the 2 outside lanes of a motorway so effectively there was just the one lane. The biker went to pass a traffic policeman also stuck in his car and traffic and the cop screamed  out of the window at him to get back in the queue and wait like everyone else. I've passed traffic  many times myself like this and can't find any rules in the Highway code that the biker had broken. I'm just wondering if the policeman had just had a bad day or there's some law I'm unaware of, or he had a superiority complex.

Thanks

 

[AstronautNinja]

I'm sure the experienced guys will chime in but filtering whilst within the boundaries of said traffic is fine. 

 

Fruity thread title 

[Simon Davey]

@Thunderoad

Don't think there are any traffic officers on this forum.

Don't think it's illegal, but you'd have to be a dick to travel between the cars and the cones.

Between lanes of cars yes, but not down the outside of a lane closure, that's ignorant.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Simon Davey

[Davidtav]

Well I’m not a traffic cop. But I think I’ve seen that video. Or a similar one. Well if the lane is closed then that will apply to all of the lane. Doesn’t matter if there is a bit of a gap to the cones that a bike might use. That lane is not part of the carriageway is my understanding 

[Simon Davey]

By the way, welcome to the forum, stick around.......

[KiwiBob]

Road Traffic Act 1988:  A person driving a motor vehicle on a road must stop the vehicle on being required to do so by a constable in uniform.

[Stu]

1 minute ago, KiwiBob said:

Road Traffic Act 1988:  A person driving a motor vehicle on a road must stop the vehicle on being required to do so by a constable in uniform.

 

He didn't ask him to stop he told him to stop filtering 

 

by the sounds of it for no good reason too 

 

Be nice if we could see the video

[KiwiBob]

2 minutes ago, Stu said:

 

He didn't ask him to stop he told him to stop filtering 

 

by the sounds of it for no good reason too 

 

Be nice if we could see the video

You say you have not seen the video so how do you know what the officer said or did not say?

Edited October 1, 2024 by KiwiBob

[Stu]

Just now, KiwiBob said:

You say you have not seen the video so how do you know what the officer said or did not say?

 

because it says so in the first post

[bonio]

So the guy hadn't gone into the area marked off by the cones?

I'd have done the same: there's the tarmac there laid out for filtering on, and filtering isn't illegal. 

Not seen the video, mind, so it might look different in real life.

[Davidtav]

I think this is the video that is being referred to. 
 

https://www.visordown.com/news/viral/legal-experts-respond-police-filtering-‘blocking’-video

[KiwiBob]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

 

because it says so in the first post

I would take that with a pinch of salt!

[Stu]

Just now, KiwiBob said:

I would take that with a pinch of salt!

Just like your quote of the law then as it means nothing without the video showing mr officer requesting him to stop 

[KiwiBob]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Just like your quote of the law then as it means nothing without the video showing mr officer requesting him to stop 

There is a difference! .. One is fact! .. The other is conjecture!

[Stu]

Just now, KiwiBob said:

There is a difference! .. One is fact! .. The other is conjecture!

Its irrelevant to the post! where does it say the biker was requested to stop by the police? 

[KiwiBob]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Its irrelevant to the post! where does it say the biker was requested to stop by the police? 

It doesn't matter what the officer said ... Section 35 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 states that¹²:

• Drivers must comply with traffic directions given by a constable or traffic officer regulating traffic in a road.

 

So if he tells you to get in the queue then that is what you have to do!

Edited October 1, 2024 by KiwiBob

[Davidtav]

I think this is probably the original video:

 

 

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, KiwiBob said:

It doesn't matter what the officer said ... Section 35 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 states that¹²:

• Drivers must comply with traffic directions given by a constable or traffic officer regulating traffic in a road.

 

So if he tells you to get in the queue then that is what you have to do!

 

You are clutching at straws there! where in that video is the officer regulating traffic in the road? 

 

He's not! he is driving in it like everyone else and has nothing to do with what is going on 

 

If there was an accident and he was directing traffic out of a lane I would agree with you but he isn't 

 

Its clearly an abuse of power! there is nothing wrong with filtering in that and I would have carried on 

 

That was just an abuse of power full stop! his attitude said it all 

[Fiddlesticks]

There's filtering, and then there's taking the p...  I think this falls into the latter category.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

 

You are clutching at straws there! where in that video is the officer regulating traffic in the road? 

 

He's not! he is driving in it like everyone else and has nothing to do with what is going on 

 

If there was an accident and he was directing traffic out of a lane I would agree with you but he isn't 

 

Its clearly an abuse of power! there is nothing wrong with filtering in that and I would have carried on 

 

That was just an abuse of power full stop! his attitude said it all 

 

No qualms about the lane being closed off for safety?

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Fiddlesticks said:

 

No qualms about the lane being closed off for safety?

 

But whats unsafe about filtering down one lane where there is room when your not encroaching in to the coned off area? he's not speeding and was taking it steady 

 

It was clearly angry plod being jealous 

[Fiddlesticks]

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

 But whats unsafe about filtering down one lane where there is room when your not encroaching in to the coned off area? he's not speeding and was taking it steady     

 

It was clearly angry plod being jealous  

 

Thinking about the "safe, legal, worth it" test..

The fact that the lane is closed off - granted it did look safe at that point - would cause me to treat it as a solid white line and not cross into it. (Certainly not with a policeman there, anyway). Be a bit like passing queuing traffic on the right of lane 3 of a motorway, next to the central reservation.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Fiddlesticks

[Davidtav]

Pretty sure most folk, myself included, would filter in that situation. Perfectly safe. Technically incorrect though as the whole of the second lane is out of action. The cop must have been having a bad day … what I don’t like though is that the cop thinks it is ok to shove his arm in front of a passing motorcyclist. Aggressive behaviour from the cop and dangerous in my opinion. 

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Fiddlesticks said:

Thinking about the "safe, legal, worth it" test..

The fact that the lane is closed off - granted it did look safe at that point - would cause me to treat it as a solid white line and not cross into it. (Certainly not with a policeman there, anyway). Be a bit like passing queuing traffic on the right of lane 3 of a motorway, next to the central reservation.

 

But thats the point 

 

The cones are your solid white line that you do not cross which the rider never did 

 

Also watching the video again you can clearly see the copper hanging over to the right 

 

Looking ahead there is a wagon that has about the same space as the copper has on his right hand side 

 

Plenty of room to go past and I bet 95% of cars and wagons would move over for you 

 

We have some roadworks here at the min thats slowed to 30mph in a 60 then goes in to a 40 but its been narrowed off and is pretty tight I point blank refuse to try and filter down there due to how tight it is no matter how much it queues 

[bonio]

I don't know a place in the highway code where it says you can't overtake another vehicle in a single lane.

The biker did the right thing, though, and followed the copper's instructions, even though the copper was being a nob and making the law up as he was talking.