lane splitting

[soyavenger]

Splitting is when you go between cars on a road right? and i feel like a noob asking this, is it legal?

Only state it is legal in is California.

Not true.  Lane sharing is legal in Texas too.

is lane splitting and lane sharing the same thing? i see lane sharing as two bikes side by side and splitting as driving down the center line between to cars. even tho its not legal in fl, the instructor touched on that in msf. if i remember correctly the faster vehicle, usually us, had to be going less than 35mph and the difference in speed between the bike and the surrounding cars had to be 15mph or less. if im right its really more for bumper to bumper type stuff.

im not sure how i feel about lane splitting, on one end, i hate being the only one stopped at a light in a particular lane, constantly checking my mirror for a car to come roaring up not seeing me/the red light. on the other end, if the traffic is crawling along at 5mph and youre whizzing between them at 20mph, itll only make them hate us more, and good luck merging in with them again. add to that they probably dont teach lane splitting to cagers at the dmv, so theyll be oblivious/think we're breaking the law, but maybe they do teach it in cali and texas, ive never been in either, but oregon is like an extension of cali...

[Custom82Hawk]

lane sharing can be between bikes or a bike and a car.  either way here in texas.  i've never tried it though in the 6 years i've been riding.

[Burgi]

Maybe I should change what I said to it is not illegal in California. I have heard TX is considering changing their laws on it but I'm not in TX and I don't know what the outcome was.
Maybe this will answer your questions?
http://laneshare.org/index.html

[LOKi]

Not sure if there is a difference in lane splitting and lane sharing. Sound objective to me. I wasn't on the line I was in the same lane with that car officer. That means I was "sharing". 

I lived in LA for a while. Didn't have a bike at the time  I saw the bikes splitting lanes and all I felt was envy. In Cal I think they do teach about lane splitting. It's illegal to open your door in traffic for this very reason.

I think lane splitting should be legal everywhere. I hate coming to a stop in traffic on the HWY when the blacktop around you is cooking at 120degrees. We fit between the cars why should we contribute to the traffic? I think there would be more people riding motorcycles if it was legal everywhere. Probably after a week of watching bikes ride by while they sit in bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours a day.

I have to admit that even though it's illegal here in Louisiana I have done it. If traffic comes to a complete stop on the HWY and does not move for a minuet I'll go ahead and start moving forward between cars. Very slow though, like 5 or 10mph.

[Laminar]

lane sharing can be between bikes or a bike and a car.  either way here in texas.  i've never tried it though in the 6 years i've been riding.

Where are you driving that lanes are wide enough for bike and a car?

[Custom82Hawk]

lane sharing can be between bikes or a bike and a car.  either way here in texas.  i've never tried it though in the 6 years i've been riding.

Where are you driving that lanes are wide enough for bike and a car?

haven't you heard? everything is bigger in texas :D

[happycommuter]

Hey, this thread title has already been used! 
I'm sure I still agree with whatever I wrote back then, but I'll take this opportunity to say that I've heard that in civilized countries on other continents, all of these activities are a given.  Two-wheeled motoring is seen as serious transportation, and almost all drivers have started on bikes and give them proper respect.  Hence, laws allow rational behavior like letting quicker, narrower vehicles get to the front.

Oh, the practice of rolling to the front at a stop light (which I find obnoxious here) is know as filtering.  Yes, once I had to wait for a stupid drawbridge and I sure as heck got up front to  lead the traffic charge...

[Laminar]

Hey, this thread title has already been used! 
I'm sure I still agree with whatever I wrote back then, but I'll take this opportunity to say that I've heard that in civilized countries on other continents, all of these activities are a given.  Two-wheeled motoring is seen as serious transportation, and almost all drivers have started on bikes and give them proper respect.  Hence, laws allow rational behavior like letting quicker, narrower vehicles get to the front.

Oh, the practice of rolling to the front at a stop light (which I find obnoxious here) is know as filtering.  Yes, once I had to wait for a stupid drawbridge and I sure as heck got up front to  lead the traffic charge...

But considering that the only thing you have to do in Iowa to get yourself legally on the road is pass a 10-question written test, I'm okay without lane splitting.

[soyavenger]

lane splitting reminds me of the way cyclist blow thru stop signs and red lights, but still "merge" with traffic going twice their speed to get into the left hand turn lane. i figure youre either a part of traffic or youre not.

[LuminousPube]

Over here in the good ol UK 'filtering' or splitting as you call it is the norm and although very risky and potentially lethal with all the F'ing school mums and useless drivers I still do it through the busiest City and even in the country infact its become force of habbit now even with my misses on the back of the bike.  It seems more out of place seeing a bike in traffic than filtering to the front.

The more confident of riders (myself included) filter on the highways aswell if the traffic is all going the same speed and its not the speed limit we get to the outside lane and fileter between the fastest two lanes.  I filter on a regular basis between 30 and 60 mph you have to be super observent and psychic but as long as you stick to the 15mph rule of never faster than 15mph over the slowest car and dont take huge risks and watch out for gaps (gaps mean idiot drivers pulling accross with no warning) its fine.

[Burgi]

This was just posted to another forum I read. Says it is didn't pass in TX, they left it pending.
http://urbangrounds.com/2009/03/17/lane-splitting-in-texas/

[Bumblebee]

haven't you heard? everything is bigger in texas :D

Yea. Including the kinetic energy of the vehicles trying to get you.  Jokes aside, rural Texans, not the transplant yutzes or city fruitcakes, are some of the best most courteous drivers I've been around outside of serious farm country.

As for lane splitting in general, someone would have to physically remove the "what if" programming in my brain to get me to voluntarily enter reduced separation environments with active hostiles. It's hard enough sometimes to avoid collision with a triple size safety buffer while using extreme caution. I mean, how do you avoid someone who is at a full stop that suddenly without warning goes to full power and yanks the steering wheel hard over, crosses 3 lanes of near stopped traffic to run down the embankment to get to the side road? I've seen that done many times.

Ride safe..and remember that on the road, legal and safe are often mutually exclusive terms.

[LOKi]

That guy who cuts across 3 lanes of traffic will still run your ars over even if you had enough room for a tractor trailer to make a U-turn. A vehicle cannot leave a line of stopped cars without first turning there wheels. Otherwise they would just run into the car in front. You must keep the front wheels of the cars your about to overtake in mind. If they suddenly turn towards your lane then that car is about to wreck your day. Slow down or even stop (not like your going so fast you can't stop on a dime anyway). Like the site Burgi posted a link for said, It's as safe as sitting in between two vehicles in stop and go traffic. All it take in stop an go for the car behind you to crush you is one text message that requires immediate replay. But while going through a line of these same cars there is very little opportunity to "suddenly without warning go to full power and yank the steering wheel hard over, crosses 3 lanes of near stopped traffic to run down the embankment to get to the side road". They would first need space in 3 lanes for their car/truck/suv. The time spent next to such a vehicle wanting to do this maneuver is next to nothing. You would need some really crappy luck for the one split second possible to move over like that to be the exact moment your passing. I think your MUCH more likely to be crushed by the car behind you in stop and go traffic.

[Laminar]

It's as safe as sitting in between two vehicles in stop and go traffic.

No it's not.

[LuminousPube]

Ive been in a car slowing down for a queue of traffic when the car in the lane next to me skidded past and stopped inches from the bumper infront of him.

Woke my mate up who was asleep in the passenger seat too.

Splitting is risky, but as with life its about being as aware as possible and not doing something stupid.

[LOKi]

It's as safe as sitting in between two vehicles in stop and go traffic.

No it's not.

Site example! just because you say it's not doesn't make it so. I sited the situation where you have a distracted driver behind you. He could miss any one of the 200 stops made in that stop and go traffic jam. While the likelihood of a car suddenly switching lanes at the exact moment your passing is actually less likely to happen.

So what happens when that car behind you is distracted for a 1/2 second?

[Custom82Hawk]

i don't know about you guys, but where i live, there are a lot of angry drivers.  since lane splitting doesn't happen here very often, it would upset people who would have no problem sacrificing their car door to stop somebody "cutting them off" in order to feed their lil angry driving monster.  i mean, they think it's illegal and he'd have to pay for their car door.  that's the mentality here anyway.

[Burgi]

It's as safe as sitting in between two vehicles in stop and go traffic.

No it's not.

and you are basing this on??
When I moved to CA I thought the idea of splitting was crazy. If you have never done it or live in a area with limited traffic it may seem nuts to ride between cars. I continued to be wary of the idea until the first time I put my foot down in traffic sitting on the freeway. I'll tell you, I never felt more vulnerable at any time in my life.
I spent far to many years commuting to downtown LA in bumper to bumper traffic. I can't even begin to count the number of rear end accidents I've seen. When I came to a full stop on the freeway the reason for splitting became crystal clear.
Between cars I have more room to maneuver. I never go more than 10-15 MPH faster than the cars near me so I can easily stop if the situation warrants. Also the majority of cars will give way to let me through. Shocking as it may seem most people do not want to damage their car by hitting a motorcycle!!
Many motorcycle commuters in LA will tell you if it weren't for lane splitting they would not use motorcycles. It encourages people to ride. If you are a proponent of people getting on bikes it seems this is a good thing? If it is something that so much of the world does, doesn't it seem that there is a reason?
Without it, riding my NH here would be extremely difficult. It can take two hours here to commute 20 miles in a car. How long would my air cooled bike that discharges at idle last in these conditions without splitting?
As far as people feeling that they are somehow "cheating" other drivers, I also disagree. Do you feel cheated when the guy next to you has some gigantic SUV with all sorts of creature comforts? I'm guessing you wouldn't if you had to pay his gasoline bill. On motorcycles we take more risk, we get hot, cold, and possibly wet. In CA one of the rewards for those sacrifices is being able to get through traffic more easily than a car. It is a trade off people are willing to make. In the end we take nothing from them. In fact we, in our small way, actually reduce congestion. Every motorcycle out there is one less car on the road and possibly more parking space. These are positives for everyone.

[LOKi]

i don't know about you guys, but where i live, there are a lot of angry drivers.  since lane splitting doesn't happen here very often, it would upset people who would have no problem sacrificing their car door to stop somebody "cutting them off" in order to feed their lil angry driving monster.  i mean, they think it's illegal and he'd have to pay for their car door.  that's the mentality here anyway.

Where do you live?

The attitude changes when it's made LEGAL. If it was made legal there would be PSA's and signs made to inform the public. LA has some of the most aggressive drivers in the country. It's a place that cutting someone is just as likely to get a bullet in your head as anything else. Yet these same drivers actually move over to give a little more room in there lane to share with a motorcycle.

I'm in favor of anything that gets more motorcycles on the road. The more of us out there the more people get used to seeing them on the road. End the end it makes it safer for us all.

[Custom82Hawk]

it's legal here as far as i know. i'm in texas.  there's never really enough traffic to need to do it though, i think that's the problem.  at least not here in san antonio.  so when you mix never seeing lane splitters, and angry texans, it's not pretty.  people here will cut you off and when you honk your horn they give you the finger as if you were in their way when they decided to turn left in front of you.

[Laminar]

Site example! just because you say it's not doesn't make it so. I sited the situation where you have a distracted driver behind you. He could miss any one of the 200 stops made in that stop and go traffic jam. While the likelihood of a car suddenly switching lanes at the exact moment your passing is actually less likely to happen.

So what happens when that car behind you is distracted for a 1/2 second?

You want me to cite an example? That wouldn't make any sense - I'm sure there are as many "I got in an accident while lane splitting" stories as there are "I got rear-ended" stories out there, so arguing using anecdotes as support is worthless. The last study (that I could find) on motorcycle traffic patterns was done in 1979, and didn't even focus specifically on lane splitting.

In light of this lack of actual, scientific evidence, it'd be foolish to vehemently defend either side.

[Custom82Hawk]

see, that picture was of a harley...too slow and undermaintained to make a getaway :)

[Bumblebee]

see, that picture was of a harley...too slow and undermaintained to make a getaway :)

A rider on it at the time might have helped it at least attempt an escape.
IMO, it's a parallel parking oopsie, not a classic rear ending at a traffic signal.

[Moedad]

IMO, it's a parallel parking oopsie, not a classic rear ending at a traffic signal.

Maybe, but where's the curb? Wonder if the girl sitting cross-legged looking down in the background was the red car driver.

[Bumblebee]

Maybe, but where's the curb? Wonder if the girl sitting cross-legged looking down in the background was the red car driver.

The curb is right under her in the image. It's probably on the other side of the street based on it's size compared to the motorcycle's rear tire. Though it could be one of those low curbs that you find in some small towns occasionally. The bike is most likely in the parallel parking on one side of the street or the other.

If it was a generic motorcycle sandwich, where are the rider's remains? There would at least be some goo on things since the cage is still sitting on the seat and fuel tank.