This is a very dangerous maneuver, and I would not lane-split.
The masses of motorists are simply not smart enough, talented enough, focused enough or even awake enough to be around motorcycles. This is something I remember everytime I mount up - Stay AWAY FROM THOSE CARS.
Lane Splitting is a mind-bending risk that isn’t worth it. If you’re in traffic on a motorcycle, you chose the wrong route.
Rather than causing another person a lifetime of guilt, if a person wants to be an organ donor, they should just go to an emergency room, inform the staff that they are an organ donor and commit suicide.
I’m not in favor of “Lane Splitting”. It can be hard enough to switch lanes in heavy traffic without worrying about a motorcycle in between lanes. Any type of vehicle that rides on the road should follow the same laws.
Someone lane-split in Atlanta traffic and knocked my mirror off of the passenger side of my car. Needless to say, I don’t like this idea because too many morons can’t judge the distance between cars.
And if some poor sap in a stopped car happens to stick his arm out the window? Whaaap! Boooom! Awwwwww!
When you split lanes and die as a result, you can bet it will be the four wheeler’s fault.
I started riding in CA 40-some years ago, split lanes
constantly and never had a problem. I found getting rear-ended or being cut off a far more common experience.
In some states they would need to change more than the law though. In Texas for example, the car drivers take it personally when a motorcycle tries to slip by and will
often try to cut him off or even open a door. Once had
a pissed off cau-boi wannabe stalk me for 7 miles up I-35
for daring to pass him on the right while he was on the phone.
Motorcyclists and bicyclists should make up their minds. Either ride on the road and follow the same rules as cars, or stay off the road altogether.
I did lane splitting, but only when the traffic was stop/go or at a crawl. And then I would stay focused on the cars, anticipating their actions for the asleep or hostile driver etc., and I did not go over 35 mph.
But when the freeway was jammed up it sure was nice to do.
Hell, then why not allow EVERYONE to lane split. Cars, too. Those Smart cars could fit.
Sounds like another group requesting special privileges unavailable to others.
Maybe we could also allow mopeds and golfcarts on the highway system as well, while we’re, as was so nobly put, “honoring the Goldwater legacy of personal liberty tempered by individual responsibility “.
When their bikes comply with noise regulations, I’ll consider some sympathy for granting them added privileges.
Do you have any idea how many of you lane-splitters I have almost killed?
Traffic is moving at ten to twenty miles per hour and all off a sudden just as you are about to make a land change, here comes a guy at 30 miles an hour out of nowhere.
As hard as you try, it’s literally impossible to spot folks like this, especially if there’s a slight bend in the road.
As convenient as it may be for you and other bikers, it’s just not worth the risk to your life and limb IMO. And the drivers of cars shouldn’t be exposed to having to feel guilty for taking one of you out by accident for the rest of their lives either.
This seems reasonable AS LONG AS: Motorcyclists ALONE accept ALL FINANCIAL LIABILITY for any accidents resulting from a collision that occurs because a lane splitting motocyclist flies out of nowhere into a motorist who has the misfortune of trying to change lanes when the lane-splitter shoots through.
Lane splitting is FINE, depends on the speed. Lane splitting at 5mp fun. Lane splitting at 30mph and up=Russian Roulette.
Some of the most frightening times in my life have occurred since I moved to California. I am a good driver, a damn good driver and 2-3 times a year I am shocked out of my gourd to have a cycle zip past me just when I have been initiating a lane change. I literally have to pull over to get my heart beating normally again.
The nation needs more organ donors; I am in favor of this going nationwide.
There's the catch. We're talking American roads, where it takes little more than parallel parking right once to get a driver's license. In Germany, it takes about $2500 in formal training, plus a five-part all-season all-weather driving test to get a license; in addition, the culture there adheres to a very precise, orderly, mechanical driving style. Driven there myself, and was struck by how it resembled a well-oiled machine: people would merge so long as there was an inch to spare, EVERYONE _stayed_right_ if they weren't passing, and nobody got sloppy or obnoxious or stupid. Germans know how to DRIVE. "Lane splitting" makes sense there, where all drivers are fast but not stupid; here, 99% of drivers don't even know what it is, think it's illegal when they find out, and otherwise make it dangerous to do.
Lane splitting is a matter of personal liberty? Interesting.../s
This change of law doesn’t require anybody to lane split, if they are not comfortable with it.
It is about freedom; freedom to do something if you desire.