From Ruth Pilkington.
CAN anyone enlighten me as to the correct procedure when approaching a filter-in-turn and finding oneself alongside a regiment of large, shiny, and very noisy Harley-Davidson motorbikes?
Driving west along the right-hand lane of the Avenue towards Bel Royal on Friday, I found myself alongside about half a dozen such monsters, travelling fairly slowly – as one has to do at that place – and nicely spaced in the left-hand lane.
My car took its place after the first bike, presuming one such machine was equal to one vehicle, but the second Harley rider objected strongly to such a move.
Perhaps pride was hurt by an elderly woman in a comparatively insignificant (and certainly not as shiny) motorcar taking precedence, or maybe he was just unaware of the filter system operating in Jersey (his number plate was not local).
He then tried his utmost to edge me out of line, but there was little I could do at this stage as the road was narrowing and the order in line ahead was already resolved. After finding no slot in front of me from the left, he then pulled back and up beside me on the right and tried similar tactics from there.
One expects small bikes and mopeds to weave around a bit and overtake on either side and up the middle of the lanes, but they are generally well behaved and I have great respect for them. I am usually more worried about their safety than my own. But this afternoon was something different. I found the incident intimidating and was shaking when I got home.
What to do in future? When approaching such Knights of the Road en masse, does one slip gently into the gutter and wait in respectful subservience for them all to go ahead, as one would for ambulances and fire-appliances?
Or does one press on, a vehicle from each lane in turn, and trusting to the respect and undoubted skills of most of the motorbike riders to get the message and take their turn in the filter?
97 Rose Mews,
L’Hermitage Gardens,
St Peter.
