Lane splitting in CA at 90 mph?

 That long boring stretch of I-5 in the mid-section (valley) of California
must have taken it's toll.  I got passed (me at 79 MPH and pretty much with
the flow of traffic) by a Ducati and he was long gone once he zoomed ahead
and then split between some bus and a semi-truck.  He was just gone!

Speed on I-5 is posted as 70 MPH, but everyone is doing much faster than
that and the CHP is rarely spotted pulling someone over until Kern County
which has some CHP station south of Buttonwilllow where they congregate.  I
don't know what speed alerts them to "speeding" but I suspected I would have
seen the Ducati pulled over at some point but never did.  Don't know if
10-15 over is tolerated out there as even trucks or 10 over at least.

May as well make I-5 an Autobahn.  Never hear much of accidents on it even
if everyone is rolling at 80-90 MPH.

B~

 
There may be some practical difficulties with pulling over a speeding bike
that is willing to lane-split in medium or dense traffic:

a)It may be difficult to separate the vehicle from others to get an accurate
radar or laser speed reading, and it may be a smaller target.

b)The bike may be harder to spot from the air or harder to notice as a
potential speeder that needs to be timed.

c)The CHP may have difficulty working through traffic as easily as the bike
would in order to catch it.

d)Because the bike is smaller and more easily fully concealed by other
vehicles, it could be easier for the bike to accidentally slip off at an
exit if the pursuit vehicle is too far back.

I think it depends on how aggressive the bike is at lane-splitting.  I think
beyond a certain density of traffic ... game over for the CHP.

I just can't imagine the CHP keeping up with this:



Datesfat

 

Have you ever been on I5 in the central valley of CA? A CHP cruiser
would have little trouble "working through" traffic, as the shoulders
are paved and quite wide enough for that.

-Keith
'03 Blackbird

 
Never been, but thanks for the information.  I'll never come to California
because I might be riding during an earthquake, causing my rear axle to
break.

Datesfat

 

I once asked a CHP moto cop what training he got that I couldn't get,
and he said the main thing was high-speed lane splitting.

--
Turby the Turbosurfer