Re: motorcycles between cars on interstate

 

wrote:


I don't believe it is 'specifically' legal in CA. It's a grey area in
the law.  If a cop sees you doing it, and he doesn't like the way
you're doing it, he can pull you over.
'
The law allows two vehicles to share a lane.  But what bikers are
doing here is riding on the line between the lanes.  So if a cop sees
you doing it in a way he considers to be unsafe, he gives you a ticket
for 'unsafe lane change'.

 

In California, 'lane sharing' is legal, but 'lane splitting' is a grey
area in the law.

I used not to think it was very safe, but it depends on how you do it.
Here in CA, during 'rush hour' traffic is often either not moving at
all or moving very slow, like 10 mph.  At times like this it's fairly
safe to go between the lanes.  Generally you are only going 10-15 mph
faster than the traffic.  Usually there's plenty of room, in fact I
often see Goldwings doing this!

It scares me to see kids on sportbikes splitting lanes at 60 mph
(which I do see sometimes), or going 50 mph between two lanes of
non-moving traffic.  This is why the legality of it is ambiguous, so
cops have the prerogative to pull these people over.

Also, if you do this you have to realize that any accident you have
will be considered to be your own fault, whether it was legal or not.
I've never heard of someone getting killed, but occasionally someone
clips a mirror (theirs or a car's).

Years ago I used to occasionaly see someone pull over to narrow the
opening to keep me from passing.  This never works, there is always
enough room for me to squeak by.  But these days more often if people
see me they'll pull over the other direction to widen the space.  I
yell 'Thanks!' as I pass their window.

 

 blazing laser <> wrote:


My BMW is 980 mm wide with saddlebags; there's generally room enough.
I've heard of a CHP officer in a cruiser using his PA to tell the driver
of a van to allow the motorcycle traffic to pass.


IMHO those guys are foolish. But it's not my job to stop them doing
that. When it's safe, I'd pull over and let them by. (I did that once
when a CHP motorcycle came up behind me when I was splitting.)


And if they pull over far enough, sometimes you can swing around and
pass them on the other side. Alternatively, I assume that they just want
to see my very bright headlights. Usually, after they've examined them
enough, they let me by.


I wave. :-)

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com>
faq:  http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/faq.shtml

 



Maybe you should wash your car?


I'll remember that the next time some dirty car drives by me. I'm sure
that if I pitch a bucket of water at it, the driver will not mind.


Were you badly injured? How many months of therapy did you have to
attend to recover? I can't tell you how much sympathy I have for your
ordeal.


So you were in a two-ton cage with steel and glass all around, with seat
belts and air bags to protect you, and some guy on a quarter-ton
motorcycle, wearing leather and maybe a helmet, made you feel
threatened? You should reexamine who is threatening to whom, just by
your mass.


I don't know about yours, but my car has these funny little mirrors on
either side, right at the front of the window, and another one in the
middle of the top of the windshield. I didn't know what they were for,
so i set them up so I could see out the back. And now I can see those
lanesplitters coming!


Well, it depends. If the biker was going no more than, say, 15 MPH
faster than you were, and no more than, oh, 40 MPH, then that's within
CHP guidelines, and in my personal experience, quite reasonable.

Let me tell you some stories.

Once when I was riding to work, I was where you would want me to be:
between the business ends of two cars, where they have the best armor. A
guy I took to be a highway patrolman (not an unreasonable assumption,
given that he was wearing a highway patrol uniform and was rising a
highway patrol motorcycle) passed by, splitting lanes. He waved at me
and motioned that I should follow him. He led at a reasonable pace, and
I followed at a reasonable distance. After a while we parted ways, and
he waved.

As for an accident, one time a cager noticed a biker coming by. He
opened his car door just in time and caught him, causing an accident. He
got out of his cage and said, "Hah! I got one!" The highway patrol
arrived and someone reported that to the officer. The cager was arrested
for attempted murder.

--
Timberwoof <me at timberwoof dot com> http://www.timberwoof.com
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.

 

message

well, they sure don't
"tend to leave more than a meter between each other"
here in my state :-)
--
"Key"
=====