Position Is Your First Line of Defence

Most collisions involving bikes in heavy traffic come down to one thing: the driver never meant to be near you, because they never saw you. Position is the cheapest, most effective safety device you own, and it costs nothing. Where you sit on the tarmac decides whether a bus driver sees you in the mirror, whether a van driver has room to swing past, and whether you have an escape route when someone does something daft.

Start by thinking in two positions rather than one. The secondary position is roughly a metre out from the kerb or parked cars — far enough to avoid drains, grit, glass and opening doors, close enough to leave space for others to overtake. The primary position puts you near the centre of the lane, in line with the driver's seat of the car behind. You use primary when it would be dangerous to be overtaken: approaching a pinch point, a traffic island, a blind bend, or a junction where someone might turn across you.

Many riders never leave the gutter out of politeness. It feels safe, but it invites close passes and puts you in the one strip of road nobody looks at. Riding a metre out is not aggression — it is simply being visible in the place drivers are already looking.

Claiming Space Without Picking a Fight

Good road position is a conversation, not a confrontation. You are telling the traffic around you what you are about to do. A few practical habits help:

• Move out early and smoothly — signal, then drift across, rather than swerving at the last moment.
• Hold your line through pinch points. Wobbling towards the kerb invites an overtake that will not fit.
• Drop back to the secondary position once the hazard has passed, so faster traffic can flow.
• Watch parked cars for brake lights, exhaust smoke and heads turning — a door or a pull-out is usually telegraphed before it happens.

If a driver does get impatient behind you, resist the urge to wave them through into danger. A short delay costs a few seconds; a squeeze at a pinch point can cost far more.

Blind Spots, Buses and Big Vehicles

Large vehicles are the ones that hurt most, and they have the biggest blind spots. A bus, coach, lorry or long-wheelbase van has hidden zones directly behind, directly in front, and along both flanks — particularly the left-hand side, which is furthest from the driver. The area immediately in front of a bus cab can swallow a whole rider, and it exists whether the bus is moving or stopped.

The rules that keep you alive around big vehicles are simple:

• Never sit alongside a bus or lorry at a junction. If it turns left across you, there is nothing you can do and no time to react.
• Never filter up the left side of a long vehicle. The space narrows, the blind spot is huge, and you may be invisible.
• Hang back and get seen. If you can see the driver's mirror and the driver's eye, there is a decent chance you are in the picture. If you can only see the mirror housing, assume not.
• Overtake on the right, decisively. If you cannot clear the vehicle comfortably, wait behind it rather than riding alongside in no man's land.
• Beware the rear swing. A turning bus or lorry needs room, and its back end can sweep across the lane as it pivots.

Riding Predictably in Stop-Start Traffic

Predictability is worth more than speed. Drivers cope badly with surprises but tolerate almost anything they can anticipate. In heavy traffic, that means signalling early enough to be useful, making eye contact at junctions where you can, and avoiding sudden moves for potholes or drain covers without a glance behind — the mirror or a shoulder check comes first.

Filtering between lanes is legal and often sensible, but do it at a pace that lets you stop. Passing a stationary queue at 20 mph with a vanishing gap between two vans is a lottery. Ten mph with an escape route is a plan. Watch for passengers stepping off buses, doors opening, cars edging out of side roads, and pedestrians crossing between vehicles.

At roundabouts, take the lane you need. For straight ahead, holding the centre of your lane through the whole junction is usually safer than hugging the kerb and hoping. Signal your exit, look early, and be prepared to give way rather than argue.

Bus lanes are often the best piece of tarmac in town, but check the signs. Where the lane is shared with buses and taxis, remember that a bus pulling out from a stop is entitled to do so and will not always see you alongside. Pass stopped buses with care and give anyone stepping off room.

Being Seen, and Staying Calm

Visibility buys you time, and time is what you spend when you need to react. Run lights in daylight as well as darkness, use a bright rear light with a flashing mode, and wear something with contrast rather than head-to-toe black in a grey city. A mirror on the handlebar or helmet helps with the one thing bikes lack — a natural view behind, which matters most when traffic approaches from the rear.

None of this replaces observation. Ride with the assumption that you have not been seen, and you will rarely be caught out. Anticipate the taxi doing a U-turn, the van double-parked ahead, the driver glancing at a phone at the lights.

Finally, keep your head. Tense riders make jerky decisions, grip too tightly and brake too late. Breathe, keep your hands light on the bars and your eyes moving. Heavy traffic is a skill you rehearse, not a test you either pass or fail. Every commute you spend reading the road makes the next one calmer, quieter and safer.