Bit of a rant here. Last Friday the M62 was stationary due to the fog and accidents. I pretty much had to filter from J24 all the way to J18. Now the GTR is a big bike and to be fair most motorists try to make room for you. There are some however that are totally oblivious to the presence of the bike. The altercation is with a BMW driver (surprise surprise). He's in the fast lane but positioned towards the middle land and resolutely refuses to move his car, although there is a good 10ft of space between him and the car infront. The truck driver in the middle lane makes some room but there still isn't enough for the GTR to filter through. I pull in my mirrors and slowly inch forward until I'm parallel with his window. I had to knock on his window to get his attention and make him move. Not that he wanted to - but a few choice words made him think again. Absolute cock.
Then, as the traffic starts to pick up, I notice a car that is drifting from the right lane into the middle lane. The driver is reading a book - WTF. One day I'm going point my Go Pro camera towards the drivers and put it on YouTube just to show what a bunch of cocks some of them are.
Not to say us motor bikers are saints ...
Filtering, its a bit of an unknown entity. If you do it and you do it well, all well and good. If you do it and you do it badly and there's an accident you can very quickly have the finger of guilt pointed at you and be held responsible for the consequences. Some insurance companies severly frown upon claims caused by filtering. I like your style though of knocking on the guy's window. Got to admit I've done that myself, admittedly not on a motorway but in town at traffic lights, e.t.c. with people on their mobile phones.
I suppose if you had your Go Pro on your helmet you would be able to record all sorts of weird & wonderful stuff drivers get upto.
Here's an amusing one from Friday. Chavs in some chav mobile didn't want to move out of the way. I'm level with them, truck on the other side, and all that is in the way are the wing mirror of the chav mobile.
Chav in drivers seat laughs and sticks middle finger at me. I lean over, pull in my left wing mirror (in hindsight should've pulled in Chavs instead) which gives me enough room to get through.
I stick up my middle finger and ride on through ... ;D
8)
Always think before you filter. You are creating another line of traffic and cars won't be aware. My rules:
1. Over 30 mph no point in filtering
2. Read the situation ahead
3. Look at the positioning of the cars before you go through. Tyres give a clue as to where the car is heading
4. Don't sit in the drivers blindspot
5. Where traffic is merging onto motorways there is significantly more chance of cars chaging lanes
6. In the wet the white lines and cats eyes will make the bike slide about
7. Don't hesitiate to use the horn
8. Always be planning an exit