| Author | Message | ||
     Spike |
I'd like to hear some decent debate about lane splitting. I'm all for it, but it's against the law in most states. Why? It could be argued that it's more dangerous for the rider, but the same could be said about turning right on red or rolling through a yield sign and yet both of those are common and legal. What do you guys think? Are any of you against it? If so, why? For those of you that are for it, what do you think it would take to have it implemented in a given state? Mike L. | ||
| Wceviper |
some basic rules would help. Most states have no rules about lane splitting, so its a very grey area. and every officer has a different idea on what is safe and what is not. personally, I split in between the number 1 and number 2 lanes. Most of the time I am in the fast lane anyway. I rarely split in between any other lanes for couple reasons. 1. Most bikes split 1 & 2, I would not want to be in between 2 & 3 incase a curtious driver suddenly deciedes to make room for a bike running parallel to me inbetween 1 & 2. 2. On the right side of the road traffic is getting on and off the freeway, Alot more distractions to all drivers including a rider. So now you have new cars getting on the freeway and people trying to get out of the way moving to the left. I have also seen many cars cut across 3 lanes without even looking as they get on the freeway. 3. Splitting 1 & 2 means you watch out for cars cutting left and right, If a car suddenly cuts to the left you can move onto the shoulder (if there is one). if a car cuts right, you can hop over to the next white line, give him the finger and get back to your spot. I split lanes if traffic is stopped or moving. Its legal to white line up to 10mph faster then the cars providing you dont break the speed limit. so if traffic is moving 55, you can legally go 65 on the white line (at least thats what the MSC instructor said, but i have learned different since then.). But I rarely split when traffic is moving 55+, only if its constant slow down/speed up. When traffic is stopped, I am more cautious. Some drivers dont leave enough room to squeze through, and they cant make any more until they can role the tires again. I am sure there are different reasons for splitting different sides, such as offramps/interchanges, but I stay to the left until I feel I need to get over. Just my thoughts, anyone else? | ||
| Midknyte |
I'm not for or against so much as not comfortable doing it, unless it's in a state where it is explicitly ok and people expect you to do it (i.e. California). If traffic were congested enough to warrent it, I'd rather be allowed to ride on the shoulder. | ||
| Buell_less |
The trouble with riding on the shoulder is all the crap (gravel, bottles, dead cars) that builds up there. I lived in California for a couple of years and split lanes routinely. It's a little nerve-wracking the first time you do it, but after awhile it becomes second nature. I've been told that lane-splitting is not expressly allowed; unlike almost all other U.S. states, however, there's nothing on the books that forbids it. Ohio, where I live now, expressly forbids sharing lanes, and that terminology is interpreted by every LEO in the state and every judge as meaning you can't split lanes. | ||
| Xb12burner |
How do you go about finding out if it is legal in your state. I've done it occasionally, and like others just don't feel comfortable. I feel like full time cagers become more prone to retaliate. | ||
| Eeeeek |
"I split lanes if traffic is stopped or moving. Its legal to white line up to 10mph faster then the cars providing you dont break the speed limit. so if traffic is moving 55, you can legally go 65 on the white line (at least thats what the MSC instructor said, but i have learned different since then.). But I rarely split when traffic is moving 55+, only if its constant slow down/speed up." As you said, that is false. Lane splitting is legal because it isn't illegal. There is nothing written in the vehicle code about speed differencials and such. Vik | ||
| Tramp |
actually, in california there IS. you are not supposed to exceed the ambient speed by 5 or 10 mph (can't remember which) | ||
| Tripp |
i'm not sure if it's legal in massachusetts, it just plain scares the bejesus outta me! most cage people drive like freakin idiots round these parts. i think it should be legal everywhere, especially in bumper to bumper traffic! unfortunately i just can't bring myself to do it for fear of scaring the driver and then he/she doing something stupid and killing me! | ||
| Steve_a |
"you are not supposed to exceed the ambient speed by 5 or 10 mph (can't remember which" Lane splitting at no more than a 10 mph speed differential had long been the CHP recommendation. It's in the training manuals for motor officers for both CHP and some California county sheriff departments. It also makes sense from a human factors/machine-performance point of view: At a 10-mph-an-hour speed differential, if you start seeing a problem when you're even with the back of a car, you can just get stopped before you pass its front if you can brake well and are very alert. However, none of this is written in the vehicle code, and the CHP no longer explicitly recommend the 10 mph maximum differential. Citing for excessive speed when lane splitting still falls to the officer's discretion: he knows when you're going too fast when he sees it. You would likely be cited for unsafe passing or violation of CVC 22350, the basic speed law -- you shall not go at a speed unsafe for conditions. On LA and Bay Area freeways, the CHP has a lot of tolerance for lane-splitting, and they typically won't cite you unless you're doing something incredibly stupid. In other parts of the state and with local departments, you may find something different. I was stopped for lane-splitting a couple of decades ago in Oceanside on surface streets, much to my surprise. And none of this applies outside California. | ||
| Chainsaw |
I wish it were legal here. I have written the Governor of Colorado suggesting he make it the law. Over a year, no luck yet. Damn Cager!  | ||
| Baybueller |
I "share the lane" in Ca. Bay Area 60 mi. each day. There is much to consider and be aware of, but my 2 points are, when entering the 'zone' between lane 1&2 (only) check for other bikes coming up and check mirror for faster splitters behind you. | ||
| Bigj |
I lane split 45 miles(90 round)one way each day on the 60/10. Lane splitting, in general, is MUCH safer than not. When I drive a car, I feel very unsafe in traffic  | ||
| Skyguy |
I have been splitting lanes for 20 years here in California. Safe IF you apply some rules and FOCUS. Rule 1. Ten or fifteen over traffic is top speed. Rule 2. Only split the very left lane (1 & 2) Rule 3. If there is a space large enough for half a car in the lane either lane you are aproaching WATCH OUT some cager thinks he needs to fit there if that lane is moving ANY faster than the lane they are in. Rule 4. Some people HATE lane splitting and will do their best to make it "difficult" for you to get through. There are a few more rules but these are the basics. | ||
| Chellem |
I think the most dangerous thing about lane splitting is that most drivers just plain don't expect it. When I'm in a car, stuck in traffic, and a motorcycle buzzes by on the line, it scares the crap out of ME, and I hear that noise all the time! Imagine someone who isn't used to it! Plus, people aren't looking down the line when they're changing lanes. So even if they don't mean to, they could pull out right in front of you, not QUITE make it into the lane next to them and stop until traffic starts moving again, creating quite the solid object in your path. They just don't think about it. And yes, they are jealous of you getting through traffic. Heck, *I'm* jealous of you when I'm in my car. Darned bikers. :P But I'll resist the urge to open my door. (That was a JOKE BTW) | ||
| Eeeeek |
"actually, in california there IS. you are not supposed to exceed the ambient speed by 5 or 10 mph (can't remember which)" That is a myth. The only thing you'll find in the CA vehicle code is a vague reference to sharing a lane and another to passing on the right. Vik | ||
| Stevem123 |
Hey, interresting thread! Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a piece on this in their "Street Smarts" column. I sent the writer an email with my comments and they're going to publish it in the next issue on Monday! BC Steve 99 Road Glide 01 S3T 06 XB12X (1st in the south bay area!) | ||
| Norcal_blast |
According to the Hurt Report (motorcycle safety report done by a Dr. Hurt at USC) lane splitting was safer than stopping in stop-and-go traffic. In 35 years of riding I'd never even scratched a street bike, two weeks ago I got rear ended while stopped in traffic on Hwy 101 & totalled the bike. I was taking it easy that day, if I had been doing my normal lane splitting I wouldn't have gotten touched. I don't lane split if traffic is moving over 35 mph or so but when it slows down if you keep moving you have some control over what happens. Stop and you're helpless, totally dependent on the hope that everybody else is paying attention. | ||
| Tramp |
norcal, that is one of the most intelligent arguments FOR lane-splittinbg that i've ever read. I lane-split here in NY, as well, and, as i'd said above, have done it in cali since the mid-90s. | ||
| Newxb9er |
I lane split, and a lot of times I have to let guys go past me. They are probably doing 30 or so above the cagers speed. Being in the bay area CA, if you don't split lanes, I don't feel safe. People are so focussed on everything else except driving. It gives me somewhere to go when people are not paying attention. I would hate to be between two cars and have the car behind me smash me when they aren't paying attention. Once while driving my car, I was in lane 2, and I saw a guy on a Harley coming up on my left, so I move over a little to my right, and wouldn't you know it, the Harley's idiot buddy is splitting 2 and 3 at the same damn time. He revs to warn me, and I just stay put, then the guy flips me off and smacks my hood! A-hole!! He shouldn't have been the idiot splitting 2 and 3 when his buddy was doing it on 1 and 2. So the moral here is don't split 2 and 3!! | ||
| Blake |
I like that, "ambient speed"; gotta add that to my basket of cool terminology.  | ||
| Blake |
In Kilgore and the parts nearby I have no need of lane splitting. The one time I took up lane-splitting was in Friday rush hour traffic riding from Queens, NY back to Rockaway, NJ. Silly me would have been sitting in traffic if not for the example of a Ducati 998 that cruised by lane-splitting. I thought, "that's for me!" and so got on his tail, but he was going too fast for my comfort, so I slowed to my own pace. It was stop and go traffic and I kep the speed down to 15 mph or so. Fun stuff. I like Norcal's philosophy. | ||
| Seth |
I split lanes when traffic is at a stand still. With an air-cooled engine, the only other options would be to either shut it off or overheat. I putt along no faster than 15 or so, just fast enough I figure to keep the engine from cooking. It is scary though, here in Mass., drivers are insanely mean to one another. You have to keep your eyes open for the jerk who'll swerve at you on purpose (as I recall the time my boot rubbed against a tractor trailor tire...) | ||
| Oldog |
I split lanes only in stopped traffic, I took the bullie with me to Miami, 116th ave at 7:00 am backs up where it crosses the okeechobee this can add 20 min to your commute when I split lanes, 10 mph watching for doors, mirrors and no signal lane changes, Yes I got some sour looks, the locals do it no helmet! Just came back from Honduras, the locals there use the painted lines on the pavement as special bike lanes watched a guy split between 2 directions in slow moving traffic! the rider went between the car I was in and a buss coming up behind him he had may be 6" total clearence for his bars ( he angled out in front of the buss as he passed ) I believe that we riders should be able to do it as an optinon in slow or stopped traffic, and I also believe that running over a cyclist motor or other wise should result in an automatic loss or restriction of licence for at least 1 year, hit and run loose the licesnce for life and a few years in jail. talk on the phone all you want but weigh the concequences. | ||
| Tramp |
yeah- what's WITH mean-a*s mass drivers, anyway? It's NO wonder that Mass was the first state in the east to spawn an Angel charter. meanness in automobile drivers creates the outlaw m/c phenomenon. those Lowell boys had gotten so sick of it, evidently, that in the '60s they all rode straight out to the Bay Area (on rigids) to meet sonny and his crew to show them what east coast hardcore meant. they thundered home across the great plains with 'heavier backs', and the rest is Mass. history... What a country we have  | ||
| Socalbueller |
Lane splitting should be legal in all states, as long as it is done safely. I mean the rider on the bike doesn't want to get into an accident any more than the next guy. Most motorcyclist I know take driving a lot more seriously than your typical cager and would be able to make a relitivly safe desion to lane split. SoCal would be easier to split than in Massachusetts though. Streets are wider and everybody drives like they are on valum. Mass isn't as congested as Cali and where it is congested the streets are narrower. Plus the drivers are more aggresive and you are less likly to find a spot you can slide into when traffic starts rolling. I use to lane split in Boston on rollerblades while I was going to college and there were times I had to turn sideways to fit inbetween two mirrors. I'm 6'2" and weighed 150-160 then. (Message edited by socalbueller on August 21, 2005) | ||
| Jprovo |
Lane spitting is good. I remember Lanesplitting for over 150 miles from Primm NV to Victorville CA on labor day weekend coming home from Buell's 20th anniversary. I don't know how long I would have been on the road, or if I would have even made it home without being rear-ended that evening it I hadn't been lanesplitting. I lanesplit up to the front of the line at most stoplights that I pull up to. It protects me from being rear ended and shortens the line waiting for the light. I WILL NOT stop on the freeway unless it is unavoidable, I have a fear of being punted by some jerk talking on a cell phone. Most of the time I go between 10-15 MPH faster than the surrounding traffic. I won't lanesplit if traffic is going above 45 or so. You have to keep an eye out for out of staters when you lanesplit, espicially pickup trucks from Texas (I don't know what it is, but they don't like me splitting traffic). I usually won't share lanes with someone in the carpool lane unless they give me room. I think that it's going to take some serious work to get lanesharing declared legal in another state. I would probably take a group of police motorcyclists that commonly Lanesplit, and support the law to make this happen. James | ||
| Prez |
funny u say that last line jprovo...cuz here in las vegas(if u have been here u know how many bike cops we have,)they split lanes all the time..i have even split lanes rite behind them..i stopped next to one at a light,and he told me that during the heat of the summer it is widely accepted by all cops...but if traffic is movin at a decent rate you will get fined..but i never really asked the "legal definition" prez | ||
| Seth |
"...Mass isn't as congested as Cali..." I see you haven't been around these parts in awhile. With the "Big Dig", the H.O.V. lane taking-up travel lanes, the new tunnels no one seems capable of navagating, potholes the size of turkeys.... it's all men for themselves around here. | ||
| Seth |
A guy I know bought a Road King afew months ago. He decided to go on a little ride with it after he picked it up... to the tune of 1200 miles. Not one problem, not one complaint. Two days ago he was riding down 93N toward Boston when he was rear ended by someone who claims her foot "slipped off the peddle"  He was lucky, the only damage was the tail lens, both directionals, the rear fender, and a luggage rack; he could have been hurt himself! Is lane splitting possibly dangerous? Perhaps. Could it possibly be safer than remaining idle in traffic? DEFINATLY! | ||
| Skyguy |
Here is a little known fact: Lane splitting being legal in California was because of the early motor-cops riding air cooled Harleys. They could not sit in traffic without overheating. I am not sure it was ever written into law or if it just became acceptable. Funny side note I was riding in Colorado a few years ago and not thinking I rode up in between cars at a stop light (right in front of a cop) and promptly got pulled over. He took one look at the California plate and said "I shoulda figured you were from California. You cant lane split in Colorado". Let me off with a verbal warning right before telling me that the state police had a speed trap a few miles up the highway..... |
