LANESPLITTING

[Klavdy]

Support Lanesplitting everywhere, it makes sense.

Motorcycle Lane Filtering -- Why It Should Be Legal -- Maurice Blackburn Lawyers -- Stop SMIDSY

You need to know how to do it, if it makes you uncomfortable or scared, don't do it.
Just don't think that because you can't do it, no one else can or should.

[Firehawk068]

I wish it was legal here!
However, I always worry about the driving population who deem themselves the rules police....................................Even though something is legal, they feel that it shouldn't be, and they'll act accordingly to prevent you from passing them........

[Capn Ron]

When I left the state of California on my big trip, I wondered if lane splitting was legal in ANY other state.  To be on the legal side of the law, I assumed it wasn't legal and resisted doing it around the country and throughout Canada.  To someone who has 100,000 miles on motorcycles...60% of which is on Los Angeles freeways (filtering), this was absurd!  It makes absolutely NO sense!

If I can't lane split, I might as well choose to drive my car with the windows up and the AC and tunes on.  Legal lane splitting policies encourage me to chose a two-wheeled option each morning over a four-wheeled one.  That reduces the sheer mass of rolling stock on the freeways and reduces congestion.  For the drivers who are upset about me filtering my way to the front of the line at redlights?  Would you rather I drove my SUV and clogged up the roads even more?

Pro lane splitting laws...and general education about the benefits...would go a long way in making freeways run smoother.

Oh...and it keeps air flowing over my air-cooled engine!   

Cap'n Ron. . .

[Flynt]

I wondered if lane splitting was legal in ANY other state...

Diane and I just rented a bike in TN for a ride Friday...  splitting is not legal there (I asked the guy who rented us the bike).  Fortunately the bike was water cooled and I wish we were, because not splitting is f'ing ridiculous!!  Hard on the bike, hard on the rider, adds to traffic issues, takes away one of the biggest advantages of riding (at least from traffic benefit point of view).

We have info spots on the radio up here explaining why splitting is good for traffic, the environment, and for safety.  I hope the cages are listening!

Legal splitting is one more reason CA is the place for me.  Expensive yes, but well worth it in so many ways.  Splitting just jumped up a notch or two on that list for me.

Frank

[ribbert]

I think here we define lane splitting and lane filtering as two different things, the former being passing between lanes at speed, which IS dangerous.

But lane filtering (stationary and slow moving traffic) is brilliant and the only reason I ride around town. I not only filter, but if the gap narrows simply move between two stationary cars and try another one.
Here you can also get away with using dedicated lanes such as bus lanes, bicycle lanes, transit lanes, emergency stopping lanes, turn only lanes even the wrong side of the road if there is no oncoming traffic and when you've done all that and made your way to the head of the traffic, you just pull in front of the first car knowing you will get the jump on whatever it is when the lights change and launch yourself onto an empty road.
I do this a lot and my only experience with cagers is they will turn their wheels and move forward a couple of feet to give you more room when they see you coming in their mirror. It is such a widespread practice here they just accept is as normal.

BUT we go one better here. I live in Australia's second largest (and best) city and it is legal, not just tolerated, to park on footpaths anywhere providing it does not cause and obstruction.
You can ride into the heart of the CBD and park right out front of where ever you are going. Park no more than 3 or 4 metres from you destination 100% of the time, FOR FREE and with NO TIME LIMITS.
If you work in the middle of the city, just park your bike right outside the door all day. The bloke who gets helicoptered to the roof each day has to walk further.
Amazingly there are virtually no complaints and tens of thousands of motorcyclists do this every day.

In the mid eighties some bright spark at the Council decided to change this. Motorcyclists by their thousands poured into the city early one morning and legally occupied all the carparks (below) and that was the end of it. It was dropped immediately.



It will never be challenged now because of the rise in popularity of bikes and scooters and the city would be chaos overnight.

Footnote:  Arnie, Jeff308 and myself met in Melbourne for a coffee last year and had just parked our bikes in normal car parks. A traffic cop approached and told us if we wanted to park there we would have to pay (metered parking) but if we put them up on the footpath it was free and without time limit.  Yes sir!

Noel

[Capn Ron]

I...and most here I imagine...are a bit biased.  I think in a city with traffic issues, everything possible should be done to encourage motorcycle over car use by individuals.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I was a student at UCLA and only had a motorcycle for my transportation.  It seemed I was getting a parking ticket every month!  I'd park in a space and put my money in the meter...three other motorcycles would see that there was unutilized space and would add their bikes to my parking space.  Of course this appears to any thinking person to be the ultimate in efficiency...four vehicles in the space of one!  The city of Los Angeles would issue FOUR parking tickets...one for each of the bikes because only one registered vehicle is allowed per parking space.

Thanks Noel for the insight on "filtering" vs "splitting"...it seems that filtering is the moving forward of motorcycles to the front of the line, utilizing the space between vehicles as traffic comes to a stop (sign or light).  On the other hand, lane splitting is riding between cars in a rolling traffic situation.  California doesn't make a distinction between the two as it's just a matter of degree.  If traffic is stopped it's splitting.  If traffic is slowing to a stop, it's splitting.  If traffic is going less than 30MPH it's splitting.  They also specify that lane splitting is legal up to 10MPH faster than surrounding traffic...so, by the book, is legal up to 39MPH.

It's definitely not for the beginner and takes some practice.  In the traffic hell which can be the LA freeways, it's an ever-changing puzzle that you have to solve with every car you pass.  Speeds will surge, then slow...then stop...then open up to high speed...all in the span of a few minutes.  You have to be on your game and look for the protections available.  lane split between the car pool lane and the #2 lane.  Only split when two cars are side by side (they can see each other and won't change lanes).  Don't ride in anyone's blind spot.  Don't split between two wide vehicles or trucks with wide mirrors.  Wait for the openings, be aware of your surroundings, look for clues of impending driver actions and as the following guide from the California Highway Patrol says, "If you don't fit, don't split!"

http://www.chp.ca.gov/programs/lanesplitguide.html

Cap'n Ron. . .

[ribbert]

It's definitely not for the beginner and takes some practice.  
Cap'n Ron. . .

You're right, it's quite a skill and I find stringing a succession of creative manoeuvres together in the traffic a lot of fun and very satisfying. It's like a game with the outcome determined in part by experience, chance, luck, observation, judgement, nerve etc. The bike that makes it nearest to the front wins. Like one of those impossible hill climbs, but on the road.

I love it when one by one I pass motorbikes that have ground to a halt somewhere in the traffic line believing they can go no further.
A lot of people think it involves no more than cruising down an enormous gap left for you between the cars, yeah right.

It's surprising how close you go to cars when they are stopped and you are travelling slowly. When I fitted my CBR mirrors, which can't be any more than an inch longer, I clipped a number of car mirrors in the traffic over the following weeks.

Just so you don't think we have it too good here. The Government is on a relentless drive to get front number plates fitted to bikes, they have been trying for 7 years. The have just recently re invigorated their efforts after we all thought it was over last year and finally put to rest.

Their motivation is of course safety (the same reason they gave when they banned them 25 years ago). They tell us it will cut the bike road toll dramatically and they are so worried about our welfare they will do and spend whatever it takes to save us from ourselves. They claim it has nothing to do with the stuff up of investing in forward facing speed cameras, they are just worried about our safety.

Sort of makes you feel all warm inside knowing you have a government that loves you.

Noel

[Bminder]

Or you could live in a place like Wyoming where the kids ask if traffic jam tastes like strawberry.

[Country Joe]

Or you could live in a place like Wyoming where the kids ask if traffic jam tastes like strawberry.

Yep. I sure miss Wyoming. If you don't want to see anyone, you can go to places where you don't see anyone.

Joe

[skymasteres]

It's definitely not for the beginner and takes some practice. 
Cap'n Ron. . .

You're right, it's quite a skill and I find stringing a succession of creative manoeuvres together in the traffic a lot of fun and very satisfying. It's like a game with the outcome determined in part by experience, chance, luck, observation, judgement, nerve etc. The bike that makes it nearest to the front wins. Like one of those impossible hill climbs, but on the road.

It's surprising how close you go to cars when they are stopped and you are travelling slowly. When I fitted my CBR mirrors, which can't be any more than an inch longer, I clipped a number of car mirrors in the traffic over the following weeks.

Noel

You know, the thing that I find amazing is the completely NEGATIVE reaction I get from most drivers when I self-identify as a "lane filterer" (I say lane splitting over here, but I do it like your above described filtering method)  They always say "it's dangerous" or "it's annoying". Generally they have a very negative opinion about it and think it shouldn't be legal.

I offer you this. "LANE SPLITTING IS SAFER THAN PRETENDING YOU ARE A CAR!" Motorcycles are not cars, they do not pull off this charade well. In your typical drivers mind we are invisible until we are lane splitting and moving though nearly stopped traffic.  I think this is why there is such a negative connotation associated with lane splitting.  We are advancing through traffic that they can't.

I have been in a few accidents with vehicles in California traffic.  Each and EVERY TIME I was hit, I was NOT LANE SPLITTING. I was taking my spot, occupying an entire lane, and "pretending" I was a car. Each and EVERY TIME the driver said they didn't see me.  They saw that spot that I was in, in the dense traffic, as an open spot that they could dive into. 

Now, while I am lane splitting, I have found that roughly 10 miles per hour of speed advantage works well. Maybe a little less, but definitely north of 5mph. The reason that this is important is it limits the time that you spend next to individual and often disgruntled drivers. (I have had people try to pinch me against tractor trailers) That being said, when you are lane splitting you are occupying a space that CANNOT BE UTILIZED BY CARS.  So if a car can't get there, it can't get you.  Unlike trying to occupy an entire lane which motorcycles are too small to do anyway. We are small, nimble, and fragile out there. We don't have the same safety tolerance for contact that someone driving a four wheeled vehicle has. For us contact with another vehicle often has severe consequences.  I like to avoid that at all costs, and LANE SPLITTING IS A CRUCIAL WAY TO MITIGATE THAT RISK.

[Capn Ron]

I have been in a few accidents with vehicles in California traffic.  Each and EVERY TIME I was hit, I was NOT LANE SPLITTING. I was taking my spot, occupying an entire lane, and "pretending" I was a car. Each and EVERY TIME the driver said they didn't see me.  They saw that spot that I was in, in the dense traffic, as an open spot that they could dive into. 

LANE SPLITTING IS A CRUCIAL WAY TO MITIGATE THAT RISK.

Nicely put!  Before I moved to LA, I used to ride my Seca 550 up here during the week to visit my girlfriend.  While she was at work, I'd ride around exploring Los Angeles, but it was early enough in my riding career that I was afraid to try lane splitting.  One day, I was riding down the 405 South around where the Getty Center now is.  I was "pretending to be a car" and traffic was thick...stop and go...lots of people changing lanes to try and get ahead.  I was thinking I wanted to get off the freeway and whatever exit came up next would do just fine as this was getting hairy.  I put on my signal to lane change and a girl to the right of me in a Mazda RX7 was coming into MY space as if I wasn't there!!  I veered back to the center of MY space and a guy in a Toyota to the left of me wanted MY space.  Neither one of them saw me...OR each other...just an open slot in the traffic they both wanted!  I was about to be the filling in a Toyota/Mazda sandwich!  I did my best to anticipate where "center" was going to be and both of these cars hit me in the footpegs at the same time!  I wobbled, cars behind me slammed on their brakes assuming I was going down...chain reaction brake squealing followed...then the two drivers figured out what just happened.  I will never forget the shocked look on the girl's face as if to say, "WTF are YOU doing here?" 

Having cheated death, I immediately lost my fear of lane splitting and got the hell out of there!  I exited at Sunset Blvd, hooked a left, over the freeway and a right onto the UCLA campus.  I put the kickstand down and walked out to the middle of the sculpture garden and nearly passed out.  I layed on the lawn for nearly thirty minutes normalizing my nerves.  At some point, I was thinking..."Wow...this is a really nice campus!"  A year later, I was accepted and was studying Economics there.   

I now lane split and filter all the time...as you said, it's safer.  Because of my 405 incident, I became convinced that we're just not seen or expected to be "there."  What I often do is time it so I split between two vehicles that are rolling next to each other.  I know they see the other car and won't try to "shoot the gap."  The overwhelming majority of cars will just never know I was there as I pass...or will shift slightly in their lane to give me some room.     There is an occasional asshat that will close out the splitting option because HE made a poor choice that morning to drive a car and is frustrated, jealous or both.

Cap'n Ron. . .

[Capn Ron]

BUT we go one better here. I live in Australia's second largest (and best) city and it is legal, not just tolerated, to park on footpaths anywhere providing it does not cause and obstruction.

In the mid eighties some bright spark at the Council decided to change this. Motorcyclists by their thousands poured into the city early one morning and legally occupied all the carparks (below) and that was the end of it. It was dropped immediately.



It will never be challenged now because of the rise in popularity of bikes and scooters and the city would be chaos overnight.

Noel

I LOVE this!  In places where there is no motorcycle-specific parking...or no "Leftover corners" of parking spaces, I'll take a full parking spot.  I've had drivers confront me on this because I was taking up THEIR space.  "So, you'd rather I drove my SUV this morning, plugged up the freeways and still used up the SAME parking space?"  We get it from that end...and as mentioned previously, if we try to jam four bikes into metered parking, we'd all get tickets...so we get it from that end as well.  I've even received a ticket for utilizing those "leftover corners"...the wasted spaces that only a motorcycle could fit in!!

Cap'n Ron. . .

[movenon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WBP2xEyx0

[Dan Filetti]

The lesson in all of this, seems to me, is that you need to assume that cars do not see you, and ride accordingly.  Whether you are pretending to be a car or not, whether you are lane splitting or not. 

Dan

[FJmonkey]

What Dan said, even with bright Red Power Ranger colors I have no false beliefs that the cagers see me. Keep looking an out and be just as ready to grab the brakes as twist the throttle. I could use a really loud horn though....