Spodman,
If grey between two Flight plan tracks is not enough to be assured that " a collision risk does not exist" what is?
passed by 2 minutes?
5 maybe?
The way I see it, the only way a controller can assess a collision risk is by the existence of an appropriate IFR seperation standard. If the standards are too conservative (and I agree that in some cases they are) then they need to be changed.
If no standard exists - a collision risk does. If a pilot wishes to take total responsibility for this risk thats OK by me but everyone needs to understand that ATC wont be the police on this. If a citation driver wants to do something foolish and climb thru a bunch of conflicting traffic I should not be the one responsible for any consequences.
My concerns about the confusing nature of this procedure appear to be supported by the lack of understanding shown by some posts. I am comforted by the fact that most PROFESSIONAL pilots will recognise this procedure for the nonsense it is and ignore its existence.