Safe Urban Filtering

Advisory short film.
Police Motorcyclist Trainer, PC Roger Peskett, has a Go-Pro camera fitted to his helmet and commentates his route in an urban environment to identify hazards and give advice on filtering. #WithCaptions

[@RalphXT]

Good tip when filtering between lanes of traffic, is beware of the gaps! The most likely time for a vehicle to switch lanes in hurry is when a gap has opened up in the other lane for them to move into, especially if the other lane is moving faster.

[@thepianoman1010]

Yep .. agreed!

[@AyoHues]

Great video - very helpful. Can we have more please?

[@baccas66]

Love watching Police motorcyclists ride. They make it look very easy. Thoroughly recommend the Bike Safe scheme. Great fun and pick up some very useful tips. Great video guys. Many Thanks.

[@MARTINORMANCV]

Great video. I too wouldn’t pull up in front of the car at those lights as that’s Shirley High Street and they come down wide from right. A good example of where you can get caught out. In the fly over, there’s a lot get their phone out before heading into Totton whilst at the Newman lights, so probably best to stay in traffic and lose a minute or two.

[@fintecgroundworksltd7893]

Hi, I’m back in the saddle after a long break from biking. Your videos are excellent. I learned road craft when I was in the job. Thanks

[@Paul-df7jk]

Thank you so much. I don't know who you are but you have my respect as a person and a policeman.

[@richardsherwin3259]

Awesome video! Lots of info in a nice short clip. Not too authoritative, just nice and advisory. Excellent! More please!

[@mrandmrswheels1142]

We so need more of these. Please!

[@prestwickfella]

Thanks, good solid sensible advice. More like this from authoritative sources would be welcome. I'll be sure to share this.

[@blackdotkiller1]

Could you do some more of these videos please 👍🏍

[@badgerlondon]

Great video. The funny thing is that I've found it through one of the Polish websites about the motorcycles and safety ;-)

[@Anderzander]

Fantastic- thank you.

[@GlobalMongrel]

Superb informative video. Thank you. I am sure that the Southampton Bike Night members will find this as helpful and informative as I have. Would be great to see you guys there too. Maybe the 'Bike Safe' team with their new BMW 1000RR?

[@ZiggySheppardUK]

Shared with South Coast Riders, Facebook group.

[@kimbee2604]

Thank you. For the advice Would be nice to see look-alike videos from police officers in our country too.

[@kgsz]

Thank you gents, much appreciated!

[@sedge100]

Excellent - more vids please!

[@Zed-kc7cr]

I rarely filter if I do I make sure I know what's going on around an infront of me at a safe speed thanks for the vid can help greatly with people with less experience

[@nexudes]

THX!

[@kenno99999]

Good to know Iv been doing this the whole time

[@ultrasardine]

Great video. That's a nice bike, is it a CBR 650 or a CBF 1000?

[@neilix05]

would like to see more videos with riding tips

[@LordBirch]

Great video thank you for taking the time and effort to create and share. May I ask one question up to what speed would you consider filtering ok? Up to 50mph, or situation dependent?

[@Zed-kc7cr]

In situations like that if traffic is moving on the other lane I wouldn't recommend filtering unless both sides are at a standstill however if one starts moving you join that lane ASAP saves a truck going by an accidently clipping you throwing you off

[@thepianoman1010]

15mph over the speed of the traffic being passed is just a little quick imo. This is my take on filtering and you all possibly have your own rules, but this is my way, not saying it's perfect but it's served me well over many years ...I've been filtering in Essex and commuting to London on and off since 1966 with few mishaps ... a few arguments … many avoidances by paying attention ... AVOID Royal Mail vans like the plague ... the reason is, … once they finish their deliveries for the day they can go home so they drive like complete idiots all over London particularly, and they drive dangerously ... that used to always be the case anyway ... I assume it still is. I wrote this some years back so could be different today. (I no longer commute to London btw.) … Look for people on their phones or looking down, distracted in any way and not looking in mirrors, or looking the other way if they’re about to emerge from a side street ... many bikers don't check for this ...look for eye contact … if not had, be VERY cautious! Get away from traffic lights fairly sharpish but bear in mind light jumpers coming from your right or left, do not assume that vehicles will stop at their red light ... filter at a speed about 5 to 10 mph above speed of surrounding traffic not much more and be prepared to move over to allow the kamikaze rider to pass you, again, always be aware of who is behind you, to the side of you and ahead of you as well as who is likely to be ahead of you pretty soon (lane changers etc.) ... look for gaps in traffic when filtering in dual carriageways, … vehicles will often take any gap available wanting to make better progress ... for example, two moving cars alongside each other present no threat to a motorcyclist but a car or van etc. with nothing next to it presents danger as you approach, … that gap is there for the driver to take and he’ll often, … very quickly, take it ... Best not to filter at all when traffic is moving at a constant speed above 30mph or so and with no sign of stop-start situations.

[@BikersPOV]

Awesome! This needs sharing! I will - WILL YOU?! ;)

[@marklittler784]

The brake lights on cars in stationary traffic give you confidence they are not about to move especially buses, maybe a rear handbrake light on cars could be beneficial to other road users, pharhaps an old smoke detector adapted to beeb whilst filtering would help notify pedestrians of a bike filtering.

[@TheRabbitFear]

I don't know why, but most drivers only use their handbrake when they have the engine off. My car has a hill start system designed for drivers who always hold the car with the footbrake, but with a manual I find I have better control with the handbrake on a hill

[@rcraven1013]

When he spoke about not going faster than 15 mph than other vehicles being overtaken what he meant was that they were going at a slow speed. Its no use filtering at 70 mph through traffic that is going at say 55 mph. Its got to be considered to be reasonable. There was a case recently where the rider was actually on the far side, the wrong side of a road and by his own admission was doing some 45 mph whilst passing two lanes of traffic were stopped on his nearside. That to me is not a filter its an overtake. What happened was that he was hit by a vehicle exiting a junction he did not see to his nearside and the stopped traffic had given him space to come out Something that is advised in the H.C. . The driver then continued out and collided with the motorcyclist. To my mind both the driver and the motorcyclist were to some degree to blame as he should not overtake when approaching any junction be they nearside or offside and he failed to see the gap that other stopped traffic had left at that junction. S whilst the driver was wrong and apparently admitted that the rider should have been apportioned some degree of blame. In the first court case he was and he took the case to a higher court of appeal and there it was found in his favour that he had done nothing wrong as his defence council only mentioned that he was 'filtering' and that filtering was legal. . The court Judge failed to realise or was badly informed that there was a difference between filtering and actually overtaking which to my mind he was at that time.

[@Shazzkid]

Mirror check instead of a lifesaver when moving off??

[@AW8UK]

Thanks for sharing I can be genuinely progressive when appropriate, balancing this against risk & conflict reduction. Comments should be read in this context. 1.05.... Narrow gap offside to van, (including in van o/s blind spot).....Mini in L2 afforded rider more space after drop in. 1:35..... Yaris had set a static front safety gap, then shortened & dictated by rider. BMW driver, (window open), aware of m/c but would not know intentions of closely positioned rider. Static when on/over hazard line , (NOT a solid), perhaps not ideal in eyes of some. Fine line between assertion & causing others to change position/speed. I wonder how tolerant many riders would be if drivers positioned similarly close to motorcycles in queues. Far better filtering here than often seen on UK roads....Roger clearly an experienced police instructor/rider & used to making progress, (including filtering on blues & two's).

[@123croydon]

More of these

[@dyslexiksteve2488]

Good video, however you may want to explain nearside and offside to people.

[@barnbersonol]

The biggest nuisance whilst filtering is other bikes that can't be bothered to filter so just get in the way!

[@TheBubbleMoo]

That would be me at the moment, though it’s more nerves than cba. Reading and watching as much as possible before putting into practice as I’ve only been riding a month or so.

[@judgedredd49]

Should not be filtering at any speed over 15 mph of the speed of other traffic. So does that mean that if the traffic is doing say 50 mph its ok to filter through and that means between that traffic at speeds up to 65 mph. I don't think that that would be recommended at all. Filtering should only be done at slower speeds. Overtaking yes, filtering no. When it comes to filtering at speed then what we must remember is that a police officer who is required to be somewhere fast can basically do what he wants or needs to do in order to perform that duty and its correct that he can. So if he needed to ride at100 mph then he can do so, he can go through lights etc. and he is trained to filter through traffic in order to be able to fulfill his requirement to save life or protect property. We must admit to ourselves that we are not police officers with a duty to perform and that we are civilians and must appreciate that whilst the police and other emergency service personnel are trained in advanced riding techniques in order to do their job we are not police officers and therefore we should not be placing ourselves in such an insidious position.

[@thepianoman1010]

Do not filter at speed!

[@stephenjohnson7519]

You will need a bacon sandwich after all that riding

[@PHILIPWATSON82]

I ride safe and sensible and still get taken down by incompetent drivers

[@oddjobtriumph1635]

drivers as in plural? ... you say this as being a regular thing?

[@PHILIPWATSON82]

Oddjob Triumph yeah I've been taken down 9 times

[@bertsimpsan]

@@PHILIPWATSON82 maybe the problem is you

[@bertsimpsan]

@@PHILIPWATSON82 and by maybe I mean definitely

[@donlunn792]

Sorry don't agree.Was it safe? No.Was it necessary? No.How many seconds did you save? If you were on a shout yes absolutely! But filtering up to traffic lights,with hardly any room? For what you gain,you might as well just stay in line.Few seconds of your life for a chance of a broken leg? Or worse!

[@balex96]

I don't think you have ever ridden a motorcycle.

[@Addy29plus5]

I don't think you ride. Lol

[@keithgreig7136]

also it was a video about filtering not much point if he didn't err filter

[@chilly9883]

Let's just sit at the back of the queue and have some twonk rear end us while we're at it.