Yes, We Should Let Motorcycles Ride Between Cars

[Capt Caveman]

Everyone who freaks out about this is not from California.

Yep, folks here don't realize that this has been going on for pretty much forever in CA. Drivers have been accustomed to looking in their sideview mirrors before turning. Just like people looking in their passenger sideview mirror on the lookout for bicyclist.

When I lived in CA, never saw an accident from it.

 

[BoberFett]

Despite the fact that it is actually safer than sitting in stop and go traffic?

I've looked at the "evidence" for that, and it appears pretty flimsy, using numbers that appear to be related at first glance, but really aren't.

"40% of all accidents are people getting rear ended"

Yeah, and how many involved a motorcycle? Almost none.

"Lane splitting accidents are less dangerous than other motorcycle accidents"

Yeah, because you're going slow. If you were sitting in traffic like everyone else, you wouldn't have gotten in an accident at all.

The "facts" around lane splitting are garbage.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Moving any faster than other traffic at all seems insane to me. All it takes is one person to change lanes without signalling and you're going to be eating your meals through a straw.

Bullshit. When I lane split I'm going maybe 10-15mph faster than traffic. Most people aren't going to just change lanes into another car so I figure if I have cars on both sides I'm probably okay but I still scan front tires to see if they're still pointing straight ahead. The thing that makes me nervous is an open lane on one side when splitting because that's when a car is going to move over. I usually try to put a little more room between myself and a car in those situations but I have been clipped once because of this. I didn't go down though and am not eating through a straw either. Now, if someone crashes into me from behind I'd be far more likely to be injured from that.

Maybe you should try to be less irrational about things you know absolutely nothing about. :whiste:

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Can someone answer this for me?

Why is shit like this A-Okay (In addition to COUNTLESS other items Motorcyclists are able to do such as drive without a helmet)..... but someone driving a tank of a car has to have his WIDDLE belt strapped in at ALLLLLL times?



I'm not against seat belts per say, but it just blows my mind how things for cyclists are legal but aren't for a car.

 

[MongGrel]

"I see dead people"

Almost everyone I know locally that has lived in the Tampa Bay area for 10 years at a minimum has seen some twit on a bike get major injuries or killed doing things like that.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Can someone answer this for me?

Why is shit like this A-Okay (In addition to COUNTLESS other items Motorcyclists are able to do such as drive without a helmet)..... but someone driving a tank of a car has to have his WIDDLE belt strapped in at ALLLLLL times?



I'm not against seat belts per say, but it just blows my mind how things for cyclists are legal but aren't for a car.

I wouldn't ride a motorcycle without a helmet or decent protective gear (leather jacket, boots, gloves etc). I have no issue with helmet laws or seatbelt laws. Fact is they both save lives. In states with no helmet law only about 50% of motorcyclists wear a helmet. In states with helmet laws it is nearly 100%.

 

[IronWing]

I'm okay with lane splitters. The only change I'd like to see wrt motorcyclists is a license requirement that they wash their freaking hair at least once a season.

 

[Oyeve]

Then there is this...
Woman Accused of Running Down Navy Chief Petty Officer in Road Rage Killing: CHP

Awesome! we need more of this!

 

[Dirigible]

I concur.

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/yes-california-let-motorcycles-ride-cars/

Of course lane splitting should be legal.

It should also be legal to give a smack upside the head to people who get their panties in a bunch over it.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Of course lane splitting should be legal.

It should also be legal to give a smack upside the head to people who get their panties in a bunch over it.

That's fine, as long as anyone driving a moving vehicle can't be held liable for any injuries caused by a biker doing such action(s).

 

[MongGrel]

That's fine, as long as anyone driving a moving vehicle can't be held liable for any injuries caused by a biker doing such action(s).

+1

 

[brianmanahan]

it's their funeral, i suppose

live and let die

 

[BUTCH1]

Then there is this...
Woman Accused of Running Down Navy Chief Petty Officer in Road Rage Killing: CHP

Not really applicable to the topic at hand, this woman was clearly pissed off to the extent that she slammed into his bike from behind and then proceeded to run him over and intentionally kill the dude. She is being charged with murder 1, her story is "he kicked my car" which may or may not be true but she had no right to take a mans life unless he presented a deadly threat to her and he did not. As for lane-splitting I don't ride a bike so I can't give a validated opinion as to how safe it is or isn't but seeing all the whacky things people do on the road these days I don't think I'd do it, just too much unpredictability IMHO.

 

[marincounty]

Fine with it but the motorcyclist should be presumed at fault for any accident that happens while they're doing it. Better hope you don't get doored while lane splitting on a crowded highway.

Why the fuck would you open your door on a crowded freeway?
Better hope the motorcyclist you clock lives, or you could go to prison for manslaughter.
I understand the stress of being in traffic, and the jealousy some have for motorcycles speeding by while you are stuck in traffic- but you need to get over it.
Jealousy is a poisonous emotion.

 

[BUTCH1]

Awesome! we need more of this!

No, we don't. None of the details of the incident have been told, you have no idea who did what first to who first. If you approve of barbaric acts on the roadways that result in a man dying your an asshole plain and simple.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Why the fuck would you open your door on a crowded freeway?

Dump out a cup

 

[Puppies04]

This is the dumbest idea ever. If you want to know why just watch some bike crash youtube videos.

There is no way you can see a bike in time if you are changing lanes in traffic and there is a big vehicle behind you.

 

[brianmanahan]

Why the f*** would you open your door on a crowded freeway?

what else am i supposed to do when somebody farts in my car?

 

[Mandres]

I don't think lane splitting should ever be legalized in places where it hasn't already been legal and standard practice forever (ie California). There are far, far too many car drivers who react negatively to it (just look at this thread). It won't be a safe practice for at least a generation. People don't understand that smaller vehicles filtering to the front in traffic eases congestion for the whole mass - they take it as a personal insult when a motorcycle passes them. That reaction will be hard to condition out, and until it has we'll have a whole lot of road rage incidents and injured motorcyclists.

 

[Capt Caveman]

This is the dumbest idea ever. If you want to know why just watch some bike crash youtube videos.

There is no way you can see a bike in time if you are changing lanes in traffic and there is a big vehicle behind you.

The bike is not hidden hidden by the vehicle behind you but would be in your sideview mirror like the vehicle to your right/left. Do you people realize that his been going on in CA for like ever? You all act like this doesn't occur already.

 

[MrPickins]

No Way would I want to be going that much faster than the flow of traffic on a motorcycle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve

 

[MongGrel]

I actually saw a bike do this once, with a Pinellas County Sheriff ibehind me in the middle lane on US 19.

I kind of looked in my rear veiw at the Sheriff.

The light changed and yeah, the rollers came on, if he hadn't have done that I would have been surprised.

I think the biker was almost face palming when he did it at that point.

 

[bradley]

At 55MPH, in two seconds you've traveled almost half the length of a football field. The average 3 lbs human brain can't as quickly comprehend or react to 4,000 lbs of steel in motion. That's why it makes sense to add the redundancy and predictability of lanes and enforce the rules for all drivers.

Lane splitting when traffic is in motion is a selfish disregard for safety of others. Stop with the BS green excuses.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I don't think lane splitting should ever be legalized in places where it hasn't already been legal and standard practice forever (ie California). There are far, far too many car drivers who react negatively to it (just look at this thread). It won't be a safe practice for at least a generation. People don't understand that smaller vehicles filtering to the front in traffic eases congestion for the whole mass - they take it as a personal insult when a motorcycle passes them. That reaction will be hard to condition out, and until it has we'll have a whole lot of road rage incidents and injured motorcyclists.

Well, they're idiots who need re-education.

 

[bradley]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRawjlH8Img&t=5m40s

Bye little ragdoll, enjoy the laws of physics. Notice how the second cyclist filming the incident then thinks twice about lane splitting. Many other examples exist on Youtube of these witless riders.