Triumphrat

punisher

I have been researching motorcycle safety since my two get offs last year. It seems that the freeway, where both of mine happened, is a scary place. I came out pretty lucky, but the speeds, and proximity of cages, makes me wary of getting on the freeway again if and when I get a new ride. In so-cal, no one uses thier turn signals, and alot of people make crazy lane changes- the cause of my first wreck. Also, the freeway condition in so-cal is a joke. A large expansion joint that caused a tank-slapper was the cause of my second wreck. I just read an article where a guy said that avoiding the freeway is suggested in MSF courses. I wonder if this is true,and what folks thoughts are on that.

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Live and let live

TripleThreat

Don't know if that's true or not, but I can tell you that I will go a long ways out of my way to avoid riding on the freeway. The traffic is lighter, the roads are better and the scenery is far more interesting! Any road that is 4 lanes or more where cars merge back and forth from lane to lane is bad news if you are on a bike if the cagers aren't paying close attention to what they are doing and I find that most people who regularly drive the freeway are doing so in a pretty numb minded fashion. Scares me...

TripleThreat

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DaveC

The problem with living in LA is that I have to ride a long way to get to any good biking roads. If I had to take surface streets, I would rather give up biking. So, since I have to take the freeways, I only ride on weekends when, hopefully, the cagers are more relaxed and less prone to making fast lateral moves.

As for riding freeways in weekday commuter traffic, I think that's suicide. Almost every day when I'm driving to work, I catch some news of a motorcycle down.

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Dave

Joe-Dirt

I've read that per mile, freeways are much safer than city riding. Lets say you ride 70 mph on the freeway, in an hour you have traveled 70 miles. Just think of how many intersections you will cross riding 70 miles city riding, and that is where most fatalities occur.

Treehugger

here i love motorways, i use them often but we tend not to have 4 lane, they are mainly 3. I have to say that i only use one lane, the fast lane which here is the overtaking lane. I heard that you can overtake in any lane in the states? by riding in the fast lane im away from merging traffic and traffic pulling off the motorway. being in any other lane means you can get hit from any side with traffic speedign up and slowing down ect ect. i dont sit in the fast lane if the lane next to it become free i'll take it, i dont remember the last time ive ever been overtaken or had someone up behind me when I've been on the motorway. its that ride with pace not haste thing, I find on motorways if your not fast youre f*&ked.

its interesting reading your thread tho cos i'm likely to be heading over to LA soon and i'll be riding upto Vancouver BC and back again. is there a good place to hire in LA that you guys would suggest?

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Jwilly

Tree, Are you running the freeway the whole way? LA to
BC? Maybe you could hook up with a few of us for different legs to get to ride some fun stuff, tour guide.

BlackSpeedFour

When my wife and I bought our bikes on the same day two years ago, she was nervous about riding on the highway, since the only riding she had done was in a parking lot for the MSF course. She thought that because she was getting a fairing-less SV 650 she would get blown right off the bike by the higher speeds. She wanted to ride from Baltimore down RTE 1 to DC, which is essentially a four lane city street for about thirty miles at about 35 mph. She thought that it would be safer.

The salesman that we bought the bikes from also taught the MSF course, so we asked him what he suggested. He strongly recommended taking the interstate (BW Parkway) back to the District. He said, and it made sense to me, that you are better off riding in traffic that doesn't constantly start and stop at intersections. It seems to me that the MSF class also said that most accidents that are the fault of other drivers happen because of an oncoming car turning left in front of a bike. You don't have that happening on a divided highway.

Now most interstate riding sucks, but I'd have to say that it is much safer. Just stay in the left lane as much as you can. Fewer morons merging into you and higer visibility.

Joe-Dirt

I think it is legal in every state, but laws can differ from state to state, so I can't say for sure. Passing on the right side is best to be avoided though, if possible. The problem is the dreaded Left Lane Bandits that creep along in the fast lane. They will drive the speed limit or less in the fast (left) lane without giving it a second thought. And over here, if you flip your passing lights, you might be more likely to insight road rage, than to get the message across to move over. I think it is safer to move faster than the rest of traffic on multi-lane highways, but the po-po might not agree. Rural two lanes are certainly the most fun and least stressful, so I always avoid interstate highways if possible.

keithu

I don't think it's so much a matter of "can" as "must" sometimes. A lot of American drivers have no lane discipline and will trot along in the so-called "passing" lane at or below the speed limit, oblivious to all others :hammer:

Technically speaking, passing on the right is illegal in most states. However, I don't think it is ever, ever enforced.

I sure hope you aren't planning to ride the freeway (I-5) from LA to Vancouver, B.C. That would be a really boring and pointless ride. A much better route would be to follow CA-1 (Pacific Coast Highway) and US-101 north, and then US-395 back south. This will give you a nice taste of the best coastal and mountain scenery in western North America.

Another thing to consider: There are motorcycle rental companies in LA, but most (maybe all) probably won't allow you to take the rented bike into Canada. You'll want to check into this.

sangsters

Passing in the right lane (undertaking to our English friends) is rarely enforced but it (Copper?) can be used as a "pil-on" to a ticket. "Improper passing" as I recall.

I don't recall MSF (took the ERC not the BRC) saying to avoid the interstate but I do remember, quite clearly, that you should move slightly faster than the surrounding traffic.

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