Triumphrat

Tbirdnz

Those last three vid examples is how not to do it and a good way of getting it banned. Lane splitting has to be done in a safe sensible manner both for yourself and others. Scaring the hell out of car drivers is a sure way to get a petition going to stop it.


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Ride on !

LaneSplitter

As you can tell by my logon name, I split (lane share) here in So. California. I do it to keep from getting rear ended and also to get to my destination quicker. I also don't split once the traffic starts moving faster than 45-50 mph. Of course it is legal to split the lanes here in southern California.
The one thing that I think when some motorcycles speed down thru the traffic is that they could become a "pinball" bouncing off cars if they ever went down, I also try to make sure that I can see the cager's face in their mirrors so that I can try to anticipate what they are going to do.

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saphena

+1

[rant]
I hear a lot about what we riders are entitled to do in respect of lane splitting but let's not forget that the cagers have rights too.

The middle vid particularly shows utter disregard for the backed up drivers and if I was sitting in traffic in my car on a hot sunny day like that I can just imagine me deciding to stretch my arm out the window for cooling or boredom relief and finding some maniac on a bike has just appeared from nowhere and disarmed me.

Showing courtesy and consideration for other road users is a requirement for all road users including motorcyclists
[/rant]

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IrlMike

vids 1 & 3 are just horrendous - suicidal & irresponsible

vid 2 not as bad but still too fast & unsafe

As with all riding, proper assessment of potential hazards should be made - '..what if..' scenarios considered & avoidance/mitigation plans worked out. Nothing is risk free, but awareness is essential to choice of odds. Riders, like these above, that don't do this are just accidents waiting to happen imo.

Lane splitting/filtering can be done safely & courteously.

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Moondogger

OK, first of all, the motorcycle rider did absolutely nothing wrong in Video 1. It looks like he was on the 110 North here in Los Angeles. As you can see in the video, the dude in the white mini-van tried to change lanes out of the carpool lane by crossing over double yellow lines. That is illegal here in CA and if you get caught, its a pretty expensive ticket.

I only watched the first 5 minutes of Video 2, but it didn't look like he was going too fast or riding recklessly.

The rider in Video 3 was definitely riding way too fast and recklessly.

Limeytwat

I used to lane split all the time in the UK, here in Texas its risking your life.
What with people cell phone yappin, putting makeup on, eating, using a lap top, shaving, reading a book and many other Idiotic practises that pass for legal driving here. It is dangerous enough
I have lost count of how many near misses I have had because of drivers not using turn signals etc deciding they own the road.
The lack of Driver education about motorcycles is horrific.
My car driver test took me a huge 10 minutes of driving involving four left and four right turns.
If you ride defensively you simply make yourself an easier target.
The motorcycle police here ride aggressively but there is a line not to cross by riding like an idiot, put yourself in a car drivers place as you ride.
As for the video's the first shows lack of driver awareness and was not the riders fault. the last video shows just how stupid some people are and they tar all motorcyclists with their stupid acts.

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Gob-ny-geay

Here in the States, it is legal in California, but I'm not aware of any other states. I live in Illinois, and could only say we would be scraping bikers off the pavement with big spatula's if it were suddenly legalized.

Cell phone a-gabbin', Starbucks latte a-sippin', Blackberry Email a-readin' and make-up application whilst driving is a state-wide sport, so the chances on getting smacked off the bike would probably be say 50/50?

Too high of odds to me. Yes, it's a pain in the neck to sit sometimes in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but better than the alternative.

Of course there are inexperienced bikers here that do it anyway, thinking their skills are so superb they are immortal, but we look at them sadly as a matter of "when", not "if" fatality statistics. You read about them in the papers all the time.

It's not worth the few travel minutes you might save.

M700R

When I lived in So-Cal twenty years ago, I used to lane split... Some guys were incredibly skilled at it. I was more cautious. Even so, it worked well for slicing through stalled traffic.

Dunno if I'd do it today. Way out of practice... And a little more mellow these days anyway.

miker

Actually, one could consider it his fault. Put yourself in the car's picture. All the cars are travelling pretty much the same speed, and all of a sudden one decides he wants to change lanes. The driver looks, (most of the time) and sees nothing as far as they can see, because the bike is too far behind, but coming up quicker than the rest of the traffic. Then the driver looks back to where they want to move and wham, the bike is all of a sudden there.

We can't expect to be doing 40mph, weaving between mirrors when all the other vehicles are doing 20 and expect to be seen, even if they do look. Splitting/filtering is only safe when the traffic is stopped, or almost stopped and there is no chance of a lane change. Any faster and it's going to be a contest to see who's fault it is. Regardless of whether it's legal or not. If you're in the right, but still dead, what could you have done differently? There is no checquered flag at the end of your journey.

Well, that's my opinion anyway.


Mick

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IrlMike

+1 miker

We surely have to travelling at a speed that other drivers have enough time to see us ? And maybe add a bit of 'margin' for less able/vigilant ones ?

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...0-0.......^...........^^u.....^...... Ireland, home of street motocross....

Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny