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Lane Splitting notice

3K views 44 replies 26 participants last post by  Will 
#1 ·
I saw this on my neighborhood web page, it's from the California highway Patrol - I like it!
 

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#2 ·
Great innovative.
Lane splitting has been legal where I am for a while but I still cop it from fools in cages.
I've had the conversation with friends and shown them why it's safer for me and then they get it but it takes the conversation otherwise they never will

Sent from my TA-1033 using Tapatalk
 
#3 ·
Important to note that the notice does not permit wheelies whilst filtering, must always have two wheels on the ground.

In the UK, where filtering/splitting has never been verboten, there are still car drivers who go out of their way to block. On the other hand, there are many car/van/lorry drivers who move over, even when there is already sufficient room.

Many videos on youtube of Brit Bikers filtering, much to the horror of many transatlantic cousins. My best motorcycle for filtering was a Y*m*h* trail bike.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hi Dibnah

so in Brisbane Australia, most drivers of non two wheeled vehicles these days make space, but like the UK there is always some twat that doesn't like the motorcycle guy/girl getting ahead or still thinks it's an illegal manouvre.

It is legal to split lanes here in the State of Queensland, but you may not exceed 30kph and only do this when safe to do so. Some muppets still think your breaking the law.

"Overtaking on the left" or in an "unmarked lane" as the Police Traffic Branch refer to it are both offences and attract a fine and points.
So running down the left side of a left lane on say a motorway or "riding the shoulder" as it's commonly refered to, is illegal.
Ask me how I know all this :)

Unfortunately there are a group of riders who must persist in higher speeds whilst lane splitting, in my opinion that makes all motorcycle riders look bad.

I commute to the CBD in a large 4x4 Utility and in the last 2 years have been witness to two separate incidents where riders "clever, skilled & very confident types" who came to an unfortunate and rapid halt resulting in smashed bikes & other vehicles and injury to themselves after hitting vehilces whilst executing very high speed lane splitting.
 
#28 ·
Hi Dibnah


It is legal to split lanes here in the State of Queensland, but you may not exceed 30kph and only do this when safe to do so. Some muppets still think your breaking the law.
Same in Tassie where it's a fairly recent addition to the road rules. Most car drivers seem to hate it for some reason. It's not that they are being impeded or anything by a motorbike getting off the line a bit quicker than them.

I don't lane-split much because the Thunderbird is such a tank but it's handy on the highway intersections.
 
#5 ·
30kph Dave? Even to someone as old as me that seems very slow. Other motorcyclists sometimes filter at 70mph+ in the UK. I'm beginning to think that British bikers are a wild bunch, although the Portuguese have their moments warning: filtering and wheelie content
 
#6 · (Edited)
Hi Dibnah
yes it is very slow I agree 30kph is crawiling, I didn't say I agreed with that low a speed, but that is the law here. Riding at more than 40kph over any speed limit in Queensland will get you a loss of licence if caught:jawdrop

I don't know about you, I'm 59 and regularly riding my Daytona 955i with original clips ons :smile2: I'm not usually refered to as being slow:wink2:

But a 30kph lane split limit is a damn sight better than no legal lanesplitting at all, which is what we had here until a few years ago.

I think Australian Motorcycle racer history on the international circuit shows Aussies are not less "wild" than anyone esle >:)

Oh and that guy in the video clip doesn't have great chances of "getting old".
 
#10 ·
Oh and that guy in the video clip doesn't have great chances of "getting old".
You think? :|

I don't ride stoopid anymore, but even when I did I was never a big fan of wheelies. It was always my experience that I could accelerate quicker and go a lot faster with both wheels on the ground and going quicker and faster won races. My heroes back in my early motorcycle days were the likes of Clem Johnson, Leo Payne, Boris Murray, and Joe Smith (legendary motorcycle drag racers) and you didn't see them getting their front wheels more than a couple inches off the ground. That, I'll add, was before they started putting wheelie bars on drag bikes.

Pete
 
#7 ·
My best mate gave up motorcycles after a lane splitting smash. I regularly see guys on the Monash Freeway in Melbourne splitting at 100kph in 5 lane peak hour traffic, it makes me break in to a cold sweat. I once thought I was invincible and did a lot of stupid things on bikes, but not any more.

Can't believe the conservative powers that be legalised lane splitting. As somebody once said, 'if motorcycles were invented today they would never be allowed on the road'.

Don't know about other juristictions but here in Victoria our road toll is significantly worse than last year, and motorcycles are well over-represented. I'd rather take 10 minutes longer.
 
#9 ·
Lane splitting keeps me sane on my commute in city traffic. Not that i commute too much nowadays as I only work 2 days to mentor other managers.

I hate being at a standstill in the car and wonder what car users think as I filter past them on the bike. :) I am sure that it is not very pleasant.
 
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#12 ·
:Fencing
 
#14 ·
I actually feel that lane splitting is safer, and it definitely makes my daily commute much much better. I find that the vast majority of cars make room for me, sometimes it's even like the Red Sea with cars getting out of the way on both sides.

Even the people that block usually do it because they are not paying attention. I have only encountered one or maybe two people doing it maliciously. In both cases, the car on the other side made extra room to let me pass.

We need to be courteous when doing it, though. I make sure that my speed is not so far above the regular traffic that I am scaring people. I also wave to everyone to thank them. I also patiently wait behind other motorcyclists that move slower than I do while splitting. It is really dumb to split on two sides of a single lane and I am sure car drivers don't like that.

I think people understand the trade off that motorcycles have. We get to split lanes, but we don't have heat or air conditioning. They know that.
 
#17 ·
I to live in la the land of splitting, but a couple things that bug. For one some people lane split while traffic while rare is going 70 mph. That’s straight up nuts to go faster and scare a driver into you. Once traffic goes 30 mph I will wait to slow down and then split. Blasting the middle a good 20- 30 mph faster then the cars or go by a stopped car going 40-50 is crazy. I move over for those cats. I don’t want to get tangled in their mess. The second and I see this a lot since my commute is an hour is a car inadvertently moves a bit and the biker smacks his mirror purposely with his fist or punches at the window. All this while going 40+ mph. More than once I thought he was going to eat it since the bike is swerving from the asinine swing at car. Split all we want is cool but be responsible and not a douche. My buddy got squeezed between 2cars on the 110 fwy which is the thinnest here and hit the deck. Luckily he was being mindful and keeping his speed real so he only had a few bruises and bike had scratches. Be safe and smart.
 
#19 ·
I find it troublesome that most motorcyclists always seem to blame car & truck drivers when they hear about another motorcycle-down incident. The truth of the matter is many (if not most) of those incidents are the direct result of motorcyclists riding like idiots. I see it every day when riding or driving my car: Riders splitting lanes when the traffic is going the speed limit or faster, splitting lanes MUCH faster than the traffic is going, dangerous lane changes at absurd speeds,... The list could go on-and-on.

There's rarely a day goes by that I don't find myself thinking someone's going to kill themselves if they keep riding like that, and it's sad how often I've been right. Sadder yet is the fact that the closest I've personally come to going down was the result of another motorcyclist riding stupid. That's happened twice in the last year.

Pete
 
#21 ·
I realize the "Hurt report" is now quite old now and should be redone. But it stated that the significant cause of motorcycle accidents involving another vehicle is that the other vehicle violated the motorcycle's right of way (aka turned across their lane, a left turn by the car in the US, a right turn in the UK, Australia). That is still the case. A study by our local news source, which was trying prove the riders that rode like idiots had the most accidents, confirmed the right of way violation was still the major problem. They still make it sound like a motorcyle accident is the motorcyclists fault, he couldn't stop when the car turned in front of him. When I find that article I will post the link - it is from the Grand Rapids Michigan area.
 
#44 ·
I have been stopped and ticketed. The officer inevitably asks me if I'm aware that I'm not in California. They are generally somewhat surprised by the thin grey hair when my helmet comes off. They still tell me not to split lanes.
 
#23 ·
Short Story

Some years ago I was walking around Paris filling in time on a business trip. The traffic was heavy and I was waiting at a traffic light controlled intersection. Beside me waiting at the lights were two motorcycle cops, visors up chatting to each other. In the distance I heard the unmistakable shriek of a Ducati at full stick (I used to own one). Suddenly the Duc came howling through the intersection at about 4 times the speed of the other traffic, lane changing continuously and disappeared into the distance.
The two cops observed this carefully, looked at each other, shrugged in a very French fashion and kept talking.

Gotta love it.
 
#24 ·
I really don't like thinking about how long ago the Hurt Report came out or Joan Claybrook's Backwards Bike. It makes me feel a wee bit not young.


As far as Lane Splitting not legal here in Illinois. If a rider has a problem while doing it he will get as much pity from me as if he got into trouble doing wheelie on the Expressway. All that type of Rider does is get Oscar Grope in his cage ticked off at all Riders.


K
 
#25 ·
The lane splitting debate has been going on in California since the first motorcycle was sold here. For dacades the situation was lane splitting was not on the books. There was no law AGAINST it. It has been common practice here for decades ! Only in recent years has it become OFFICIALLY legal. ...J.D.
 
#27 ·
I have lived in both Illinois and California, and l can tell you that riding a motorcycle feels safer in California.

One of the reasons for this is legal lane splitting. It makes you a more focused rider and more capable of seeking out safe spaces. I have learned that going between cars can actually help you stay out of an accident in many situations. I've also learned exactly how much space you have when cars move into and out of your lane when they don't see you. This kind of stuff doesn't really even make me nervous anymore, because I know I have room in between. Very rarely do drivers get mad at motorcyclists for splitting, in fact, they usually move out of the way.

Another reason its safer here is probably due to the fact that motorcycles are on the road all year in California and only part of the year in Illinois. Thus, motorcycles are everywhere all the time and drivers are more used to them.
 
#31 ·
I am not much of a lane splitter myself. I see too many riders get "splattered". In all fairness many times the cars cannot see you coming. I live near the interstate between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Many times I have seen big Harley baggers trying to split in heavy traffic. The drivers in 4 wheelers in that situation have to have thier eyes forward constantly. Bikes slip up on them. They have tried to blast thier loud pipes at me when in my crew cab pickup. Make all the noise you want. I take up "X" amount of space. I am not going encourage you to squeeze by and risk an accident. Just be patient. I see big Harley baggers down every time I am out there at rush hour. I am going to avoid trying to hit one, but if I do ...THEY lose, not me. Just a fact of physics. ...J.D.
 
#32 · (Edited)
I'm glad that most drivers are far more polite than this. I mean you ride a bike. You know how friggin' hot it is out there. Yet, you feel the need to block a fellow rider from getting by from your air conditioned cab. Nice

You should read that notice that was posted at the top of this thread, especially the message to drivers. It clearly states the drivers in the far left lane should move to the left to give riders ample room to pass. DO YOUR PART!
 
#33 ·
I see both side of the story to be fair, filtering is legal in the UK, but ironically its the fair weather riders that really screw it up for everyone usually.

I ride through the year in all weathers, okay snow and high winds I will jump in a car as both are just dangerous on motorcycle and I have done my time in both to say I done it. But I think riding in the winter does teach you to respect the road a bit more and to take into account what other road users are doing, if your doing a morning run its dark most of the drivers are struggling to wake up so you are less visible, most will not be looking for you, so you have to make sure you make some kind of eye or visual contact with the driver as your going to go past. This is something I do all the time out of habit, even during the summer months.

When it comes to spring you have the rocket bike brigade wheeling out their bikes and screaming through traffic at eye watering speeds, expecting their loud pipes to to warn the driver, I have seen some shocking filtering from these types of people, I often think as they go past "he might be getting buried soon" or " funeral waiting to happen......soon".

Filtering for the most part is a good thing, but its better to take it easy and get to where your going than flying like a loon and dying.
 
#34 ·
I used to lane split. All the time when commuting to school year round.
I was riding a small computer bike. Through city traffic at rush hour. Just move up slowly to the front of the line at the lights.
Chat to the other bikes as you wait for the light to change. No big deal.
Trying to fit between all the traffic on a Harley might not be so easy.

I find it strange everyone is so against it here.
Flying through tight gaps in fast moving highway traffic just doesn’t fit with Darwin’s theories.
 
#36 ·
Grew up biking in London. Lane splitting was the norm. Dispatch riders were the demon of the day, taking more risks than I dare, but driving down the middle of two almost stationary lines of traffic, particularly at traffic lights, along with easy parking guaranteed the two wheel commute for me, come rain or shine.

Now living in Michigan, lane splitting is illegal. Asked why when I returned to biking at my refresher class and was advised it would be a blood bath. Drivers are too unaware and over aggressive, switching between lanes to get one car length ahead. No lane discipline. Hyper defensive driving has saved me many times. Assume the worst...often you won't be disappointed. The concept of braking distance doesn't seem to exist. And the potholed roads are terrible! Our governor was elected on the mantra "Fix the dam road!" Will see if she delivers.

On a previous post on my return to two wheels I had asked "Where are all the commuter bikers?" Now I know! Lucky if I see two or three bikers, even in mid summer on my run into Detroit. I guess old habits die hard, but I enjoy the morning run to clear my thoughts in readiness for the day ahead.
 
#37 ·
Lane filtering was just legalized in Utah in May. The department of transportation did not do a great job of letting the public know about the change in the law, until a viral video of a pizza hut delivery driver (blocking a motorcycle with his car door) made the rounds on the local news stations.

I am gradually seeing more and more bikes lane filter, but cars are not used to it yet and are often not leaving enough room to squeeze through at lights...
 
#42 ·
UDOT has two different sponsored posts/videos up on Facebook on Lane Filtering. Plus, I seem to recall seeing the at least one of the videos in a TV spot or two. It would be nice to see it up on billboards as well.

For those not in the know, Utah's only allowing filtering. Traffic must be stopped. Speed limit on the road must be 45 mph or less. Two travel lanes. The speed limit restriction is kind of a bother, because it means you can't filter through stopped traffic on the freeway.

So, not California style lane splitting, but a definite improvement over no filtering at all.
 
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