beardy wrote:mjr wrote:Rule 163 wrote:stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left
My comment was about undertaking within the same lane, I have repeatedly said it could be different with separate lanes. Your quote from the highway code is about traffic in separate lanes.
So please cut out the condescending "Please reread it" comments.
That quote from highway code says queues not lanes. As others have pointed out, there are other places where filtering is expected. I'll stop suggesting rereading it once people stop appearing to reword it to mean what they think.
The closest we've currently got to an official rider training manual is the Bikeability Delivery Guide and Level 3 includes filtering, opening with "Upon encountering queuing traffic, the trainee may pass it (on the right or left) or may choose to wait in the queue" and there is a later caution against passing long vehicles on the left.
Another official publication, Cyclecraft, includes filtering on chapter 11 if you've got a copy. It's not online, but
http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/how-to/filtering references it and contains similar advice - there is a big warning about left-hand overtakes, but basically advice on how to do it.
In short, left-side overtaking is normal and widespread and has been taught to people for years, as well as the associated infrastructure encouraging it with narrow left-side lanes. Even if outlawed immediately (which I think is politically improbable as described before), it wouldn't stop overnight because it would take ages to retrain people (including changing all the official publications) and the afflicted junctions won't be rebuilt any quicker than if we rebuild them with proper infrastructure... so let's just redesign and rebuild them to make it unnecessary. It'll be quicker and fairer.