Go on then, read it and pass it on to others (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/9272532/Why-commuting-by-motorcycle-is-good-for-everyone.html).
(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02225/Commute_2225803c.jpg)
Always struck me as odd that this is illegal in most US states. For me it would make owning a bike far less useful.
Shame it can't be put up on the Motorway matrix signs, to show car drivers that we are really doing them a favour.
Perhaps if more motorcyclist dressed like this (with protective gear) and had reasonable exhaust we would get more respect in the good-ol'-USofA. I hate being passed by bikes with open exhaust, and lane splitting would get the bike even closer to the cars they pass. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of lane splitting and would welcome it in the other 49 states.
Two thoughts.
1. Was hauling through Az. once on the way back from my home in N.M.to my home in Ca. west of Flagstaff somebody flipped an r.v. I lane split through 40 miles of stopped traffic, got to the front of the line and instantly was approached by AHP, and she was pissed! I explained sitting in 110 degree weather in leathers was not an option for me, and how the hell a state with no helmet law could frown on lane splitting. At that point she was fuming and asked if I was carrying any firearms....... Well just as I was getting ready to get thrown in the pokey, a biker club rode up, and they were Az. bikers, this tossed this woman into a frenzy as she rushed to confront them, I saw an opening and rode my butt off to the border.
2. Lane splitting for some reason sets people off. I have an ex-father in law who would just froth at the thought of bikes lane splitting. He's sitting at an intersection once and sees a biker coming up on his left, so mr. bright idea guy decides to open his door.....in front of a CHP!!! He lost his liscense for six months, and the fines were astronomical....
I'm all for lane splitting, but not at freeway speeds, if traffic is stopped, I split, but never trust somebody at speed with your health, you may not win the confrontation....
My understanding is that lane splitting is only legal when traffic is stopped or in stop and go gridlock. You may also approach the front of a queue waiting at a traffic light. If any lane is moving consistently at a speed anywhere near the posted limit splitting is a no go??
tim
Quote from: axiom-r on May 23, 2012, 04:12:26 PM
My understanding is that lane splitting is only legal when traffic is stopped or in stop and go gridlock. You may also approach the front of a queue waiting at a traffic light. If any lane is moving consistently at a speed anywhere near the posted limit splitting is a no go??
tim
Here's how the unwritten rule is as I understand it, and by no means do I have anything in writing to back it up. You can lane split up to 35 m.p.h but no faster than 10m.p.h. faster than the flow of traffic. I don't know how accurate this is, but I've pretty much followed it over the years and it's kept me out of trouble...
The law as I understand it states that " Two vehicles can occupy the same lane " or something to this effect. So when lane splitting you are doing just that. It doesn't work for two cars obviously due to size but works well for bikes.
You will get a ticket if spotted doing something that is dangerous -- unsafe. Some of the stuff has been mentioned - passing while speeding or passing at speeds greater than 15mph than the flow of traffic. A lot of this is up to the officer perception too.
Generally speaking I have been told you can lane split when traffic is stopped -- but limit it to 15mph ( which only makes sense - but I have witnessed persons going 30+ up the lane in stopped traffic -- very dangerous as you can't react to whatever may occur ). But you can also lane split when traffic is moving but typically not moving faster than 30 mph. We get that here; traffic may move around 15-20 and you can lane split to keep moving. But moving too quickly through stopped or slow traffic can always get you a ticket for dangerous driving.
When I was in LA -- the normal lane splitting lanes were between 1 and 2 but lately most just ride in between the carpool lane and the 1... not sure this is entirely legal as you are riding on double yellows but they do.
just my 4 cents worth
Quote from: axiom-r on May 23, 2012, 04:12:26 PM
My understanding is that lane splitting is only legal when traffic is stopped or in stop and go gridlock. You may also approach the front of a queue waiting at a traffic light. If any lane is moving consistently at a speed anywhere near the posted limit splitting is a no go??
tim
At least common sense would dictate. Why would anyone need to split lanes with traffic flowing at near or close to the posted limit? In town in a commute situation, splitting lanes at speed constitutes reckless driving. Just my opinion.
CraigO
Quote from: craigo on May 23, 2012, 05:49:37 PM
Quote from: axiom-r on May 23, 2012, 04:12:26 PM
My understanding is that lane splitting is only legal when traffic is stopped or in stop and go gridlock. You may also approach the front of a queue waiting at a traffic light. If any lane is moving consistently at a speed anywhere near the posted limit splitting is a no go??
tim
At least common sense would dictate. Why would anyone need to split lanes with traffic flowing at near or close to the posted limit? In town in a commute situation, splitting lanes at speed constitutes reckless driving. Just my opinion.
CraigO
The vehicle code is vague. The CHP's have an official guideline, vague as well, publiched on the CHP FAQ's on the internets. I guess you know safe and prudent when you see it.
Can motorcycle riders "split" lanes and ride between other vehicles? - Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible but must be done in a safe and prudent manner
I know when i rode with Tom out in LA we rode between the carpool and lane 1 on the double yellows..... we went faster than traffic all the time... even when traffic was moving at or close to the speed limit.
we even pulled over to lane one once to let a fast running CHIPS officer past.... he was doing 80MPH at least with traffic doing about 55. (we were going about 65) scariest riding situation ever for this Southern boy!
KOokaloo! (preferably more than 10" away from cars on both sides!)
I split/filter every day and evening on my commute. Common sense prevails...
My rules are...
Gridlock
To get to the front of a traffic light que to avoid being rear ended
Minimise splitting at night
Dont split where the traffic is moving any more than 15kmh
Quote from: eddohawk on May 24, 2012, 02:59:28 PM
I split/filter every day and evening on my commute. Common sense prevails...
My rules are...
Gridlock
To get to the front of a traffic light que to avoid being rear ended
Minimise splitting at night
Dont split where the traffic is moving any more than 15kmh
+1 on all that, except I will split up to about 30kmh. It's really a judgement call on the traffic situation, are the lanes tight, are drivers frustrated and lane hopping quickly without too much indicating, a million little factors you assess and make a judgement call based upon how far am I willing to risk myself today?
Somedays I take the risk, somedays I tootle along in the fastest lane watching other riders risk their lives.
Generally I notice I am in the lower 50% of the speed range for splitting, most other bikes I see on the motorway do it faster than I do.
James
When I was living and working in Melbourne and commuting each day, I split/filtered lanes. On the freeway I kept my speed to no more than 15-20kph faster than the cars, and kept a keen eye on the cars' front tires (first thing to move). I also kept the brake lever covered.
At stop lights, I almost always filter to the front if there's room between the lanes. When its too tight, I still stay to one side of the lane to minimize my chance of being rear ended.
Arnie
(http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae97/gqmad/bike%20stuff/haha.png)
Lane splitting is what we call filtering it is not only legal but expected in Great Britain, I have filtered past a police car that was doing 40mph on the motorway where the speed limit is 70 mph..slow traffic can cause the stop go riding that causes rear enders and stalls and most of the car drivers over here will move over a bit to allow a motorcyclist to pass..in many cases our roads are not as wide as yours so filtering or lane sharing is often not very easy..maybe we have different ideas about what lane splitting is..we ride over or on the lane dividing line to overtake, unless the dividing line is a continuous unbroken line which means no overtaking.
John.
No lane splitting in Idaho..... I would like to see a law on the books allowing this under certain circumstances. I would assume the lane splitting law in Calif was put into effect to relieve grid lock or to get beyond an accident. I think there should be a low defined speed limit when lane splitting. It annoyed me in Calif when a bike would scream by lane splitting. All I could think about is what if he or she lost control or clipped a mirror or a door opened.
Once outside Portland Oregon in the Columbia Gorge my wife and I were caught late at night in pouring rain storm colder than heck stuck in a freeway pile up for a long time. I finally took it in hand and got all the way over to the right edge of the road and idled by very slowly for a few miles up the road until we came upon the accident blocking the freeway. The the LEO there saw us idling up and greatfully waved us on by. Glad common since over ruled written law. I like to think the LEO was a fellow biker or that the slow and respectful way we approached the problem is what got us on by. The truth is he probably had his hands full and didn't want to deal with us :).
Odd laws. Here in Idaho if you are on a Bicycle and come up to a stop sign or red light and there is no traffic you can bust on through.... Go figure.... Every place has those odd laws.
I read not long ago in England I think they took a section of road and made it a free for all , you can cross walk anywhere and cars can go anywhere with in the boundaries of the road (hopefully one way), and guess what, accidents went down. Everyone was on guard (minimum rules to baby sit people). Personal responsibility....
Here is info if you ride in California: http://www.chp.ca.gov/programs/lanesplitting.html (http://www.chp.ca.gov/programs/lanesplitting.html)
On #2 my rule is to not lane split as soon as traffic opens up enough for vehicles to change lanes. That is normally below 30mph in most cases. Simple logic, you are invisible when lane splitting and the cagers are thinking the other lane is faster.
Quote from: movenon on January 17, 2013, 10:53:49 AM
I think there should be a low defined speed limit when lane splitting. It annoyed me in Calif when a bike would scream by lane splitting. All I could think about is what if he or she lost control or clipped a mirror or a door opened.
Once outside Portland Oregon in the Columbia Gorge my wife and I were caught late at night in pouring rain storm colder than heck stuck in a freeway pile up for a long time. I finally took it in hand and got all the way over to the right edge of the road and idled by very slowly for a few miles up the road until we came upon the accident blocking the freeway. The the LEO there saw us idling up and greatfully waved us on by. Glad common since over ruled written law. I like to think the LEO was a fellow biker or that the slow and respectful way we approached the problem is what got us on by. The truth is he probably had his hands full and didn't want to deal with us :).
Odd laws. Here in Idaho if you are on a Bicycle and come up to a stop sign or red light and there is no traffic you can bust on through.... Go figure.... Every place has those odd laws.
I read not long ago in England I think they took a section of road and made it a free for all , you can cross walk anywhere and cars can go anywhere with in the boundaries of the road (hopefully one way), and guess what, accidents went down. Everyone was on guard (minimum rules to baby sit people). Personal responsibility....
Here it is legal when it is safe to do so and at a safe speed..a guideline to a safe speed is 15 mph over the speed of the traffic as long as you remain under the speed limit and safe to do so means not at the front of a school or fire station, and not on a blind curve or the brow of a hill it's mostly down to common sense because these places have a continuous white line separating one side of the road from the oncoming traffic.
I think the road thing is fairly standard practice in Britan, lane changing unless marked is legal everyone can cross anywhere, we don't have Jaywalking laws, we don't call it a free for all we just do it..we are supposed to get in the correct lane at roundabouts but if we get in the wrong one we simply go round again and of course if we are in the wrong lane on a motorway we could miss our turnoff..we use the Mirror, signal manouver system..mirror to see if we can get in, signal to ask the driver behind to let us in, and then move..
John.
Roundabouts are rather new here to Idaho and you would be surprised at all the stupidity that go's on resisting them to being built. I got use to them overseas and love them. Turn signals that's another story... In Idaho the turn signal switch's will never wear out because that's one option that they haven't mastered and the few that do use them, well it get interesting.
A VERY few will give you 5 second notice or appear to request.
A lot of them will tell what they are going to do no matter what. Its great when they miss there off ramp and dive across 2 lanes of on coming traffic.
A few like to tell you what they have just done, just in case you didn't see it.
Some just jink in front of you and figure you are on your own and to get the hell out of there way. That's usually when the none verbal gesture's start flying..
Oh, and then there are the ones that IF you do give a signal correctly and "check six" they close up quickly because you must stopped at all cost's from getting into there personal lane.
I pick on California a lot (its another Idaho thing) but I will say that they do drive better as a group and have figured out about how traffic flows. When you give a turn signal there they almost invite over into there lane. Or so it seems. In Idaho if you give a turn signal its like picking a fight. You might as well give them the finger as a turn signal. I vote for motorcycle only lanes :).
http://jalopnik.com/5974948/heres-why-lane-splitting-should-be-legal-for-motorcycles?post=56059490 (http://jalopnik.com/5974948/heres-why-lane-splitting-should-be-legal-for-motorcycles?post=56059490)
Nice video. Wish I could ride.... 6 degrees tonight.