SMIDSY doesn't just happen to bikes...

[Dead Eye]

on the bike I do my very best never to follow any car traffic,I overtake swiftly or hang back...... I hate mways and filtering....Anything which involves relying on a cage for my safety always gives me the shudders.

I'm mostly the same, especially when I'm riding solo. Keep way back and then gun it to get past to spend the least amount of time on the wrong carriageway. Unfortunately, this usually requires a longer distance and for there to be a decent sized gap in front of the vehicle(s) you are trying to overtake. Thankfully, I'm patient and I'm rarely trying to actually get anywhere when out on the bike.

As for motorways - I find them to be the easiest type of road to drive on. I find 99.9% of traffic is predictable (or predictably unpredictable ) and I've only ever had one case otherwise where the traffic went from 70 to a stand still in a very short distance without any warning in all 4 lanes on the M25. Still, I had plenty of braking distance and magically no one smashed in to one another...