lane splitting
- Thread starter chrisnlb
- Start date
Same here! I live in Pa and it's illegal here as well. Not sure why they don't allow it here. Not as many bikes or cars on the road. Would make it safer than in places like CA.
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Not legal here in MD or DC. Of course, I have friends in DC who have been waved to the front of stop lights by cops... and when I try it I get pulled over.
Lane splitting in motion I can see being dangerous, but considering most of the time when cars hit bikes the driver says "I never knew he was there," they should consider letting us cut to the front of the line at lights. Then everyone sees us, and gives us a chance to get away from the cages.
Lane splitting in motion I can see being dangerous, but considering most of the time when cars hit bikes the driver says "I never knew he was there," they should consider letting us cut to the front of the line at lights. Then everyone sees us, and gives us a chance to get away from the cages.
I live about 2 hours north of LA and traffic flow is pretty laminer and lane splitting not really needed for the most part you have to be going 100 or 120 to pass the sea of cars going 90mph.... ocasionaly i will hit a red light with a good amount of cars waiting so ill split there thats about all...
and for those of you who dont know why cars hate bikes lane splitting (and you will see this in LA a lot) is because the crazy daredevels do it at crazy speeds or while standing on the bike with a death wish... then it becomes a thing where one stupid guy messes it up for the rest of us because now they have that image that we all are insane
and for those of you who dont know why cars hate bikes lane splitting (and you will see this in LA a lot) is because the crazy daredevels do it at crazy speeds or while standing on the bike with a death wish... then it becomes a thing where one stupid guy messes it up for the rest of us because now they have that image that we all are insane
Invader Jim
New Member
He said rear-end collisions are the most common form of MC-car collision. He needs to check his facts.
If I could legally lane-split I would do it. In my opinion the benefits outweigh the risk but he is wrong about rear-end collisions being the most common accident.
If I could legally lane-split I would do it. In my opinion the benefits outweigh the risk but he is wrong about rear-end collisions being the most common accident.
I think most common accident for motorcycles is a collision at an intersection, but I found this article on the Hurt Report of 1981 which the guy in the video mentions
Lane splitting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lane splitting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Good video. I agree with those guys too. I know there are those that think lane splitting is stupid, but once I learned to do it and do it safely, I can't imagine not lane splitting. I feel so much safer getting through traffic and not being so vulnerable to getting rear ended. In stop and go traffic, the primary thing that's going to kill you is getting rear ended, so the intersection stat isn't applicable. Those that get hurt splitting traffic are those that are going too fast through the traffic and not paying attention to the cars/drivers inputs. You have to be 100% focused and keep your eyes moving when splitting....and always look out for Prius drivers!! (I swear they are the only ones that have a severe case of HUA!!)
I used to commute 51 miles one-way into San Francisco on my motorcycle and I split traffic everyday, each way. I don't split traffic on city streets and believe its unsafe in those conditions EXCEPT up to the front of the traffic lights. On city streets, there's just too much other distractions, like pedestrians, cars entering from driveways or turning left in front of you and such. So, I only recommend splitting on the freeways in stop and go or splitting to the front traffic lights.
I used to commute 51 miles one-way into San Francisco on my motorcycle and I split traffic everyday, each way. I don't split traffic on city streets and believe its unsafe in those conditions EXCEPT up to the front of the traffic lights. On city streets, there's just too much other distractions, like pedestrians, cars entering from driveways or turning left in front of you and such. So, I only recommend splitting on the freeways in stop and go or splitting to the front traffic lights.
Completely agree. I commuted for a year 22 miles each way, 19 of which is freeway at 10 mph or less in a car. I used the general rule of splitting if traffic is going less than 35 or 40 and i never exceed 10 mph faster than theyre going. Ive heard the stat MANY times about rear enders being far more common but put differently. The way ive heard it is just comparing splitteres to non splitters in california alone. The exact numbers elude me but it was something like there are 10 times as many car/bike crashes caused by the car rear ending thr bike than cars pulling into a bike splitting. And compound that with the fact that 90% of riders lane split, you now have 10% of riders getting in 10 times as many crashes by not splitting.
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Should legalize it everywhere. One of the perks of having a bike is being able to slip between slow or non-moving cars. Great stats Jon!
Its better for your bikes too. My dad and i were riding in vegas on the strip in september. It was 105 out. We had to pull off the road into the aria parking structure to cool his bike because traffic was so bad and we couldnt split the lanes. Even my bike that has water wetter in it and usually stays under 200 in the canyons and never gets above 210 in town was at 235. Thats actually the main reason they made it legal in the 70s in cali. Traffic was so bad and was being made worse by all the air cooled bikes overheating and breaking down on the freeways.
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I've been riding for almost 3 years now, but I still get a little nervous when I lane split here in LA. overall I think its a good thing. I remember leaving a concert at the hollywood bowl one night and the parking lot was complete gridlock, if I couldnt lane split it would have taken me forever to get out
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Z3roFlaw
New Member
I know I'm posting on a thread that is several months old :zombie: but it's relevant to an experience I had this morning, so I wanted to post it here.
On my way to work today I was riding in the carpool lane and I got behind two people on choppers. For some reason they either a) weren't happy with me riding with them or b) think that every person on a sport bike wants/is planning to lane split. I say this because the lead biker immediately moved over to the left side of the lane (near the k-rail) and when he did that, his riding partner took a staggered stance (as I would have too) but then the lead biker gestured for them to move straight behind them. After that was done, the leader biker gave a waving hand gesture of come on up. I wasn't originally planning to lane split, but because they went through the trouble I passed them up and gave both of them a friendly wave.
I dunno where I'm going with this lol. I just thought it was weird about the assumption but nice that they allowed me to pass. If they didn't move I was honestly just going to ride with them. I think we were doing 65mph anyways (which is the speed limit).
I ride in the carpool lane every day when I ride my bike to work and I only lane split when traffic isn't flowing. I don't see the point of intentionally splitting lanes when I'm currently doing the speed limit. Albeit I see other bikers do it constantly.
Lane splitting in general makes me really nervous. I NEVER do it while in the carpool lane during a spot where the carpool opens up for people to merge out/in. That is always a sketchy spot.
On my way to work today I was riding in the carpool lane and I got behind two people on choppers. For some reason they either a) weren't happy with me riding with them or b) think that every person on a sport bike wants/is planning to lane split. I say this because the lead biker immediately moved over to the left side of the lane (near the k-rail) and when he did that, his riding partner took a staggered stance (as I would have too) but then the lead biker gestured for them to move straight behind them. After that was done, the leader biker gave a waving hand gesture of come on up. I wasn't originally planning to lane split, but because they went through the trouble I passed them up and gave both of them a friendly wave.
I dunno where I'm going with this lol. I just thought it was weird about the assumption but nice that they allowed me to pass. If they didn't move I was honestly just going to ride with them. I think we were doing 65mph anyways (which is the speed limit).
I ride in the carpool lane every day when I ride my bike to work and I only lane split when traffic isn't flowing. I don't see the point of intentionally splitting lanes when I'm currently doing the speed limit. Albeit I see other bikers do it constantly.
Lane splitting in general makes me really nervous. I NEVER do it while in the carpool lane during a spot where the carpool opens up for people to merge out/in. That is always a sketchy spot.