Yes, We Should Let Motorcycles Ride Between Cars

[CZroe]

For a given distance, a bike that gets 85 mpg will put out less CO2 than a bike that gets 50mpg. You burned less fuel, so less CO2 will be produced. Physics.



But, in the end, that CO2 is pretty darn meaningless.

I agree, but efficiency is still a huge factor if that is what you are attempting to regulate or reduce by allowing/encouraging lane splitting.

 

[Charmonium]

I didn't miss them at all. Police already measure your speed relative to theirs. Heck, they can even pull you over in many (most?) place for visually asserting that you were breaking the speed limit. It happened to me and I got the whole lecture about being trained to tell visually how fast another vehicle was going.

Have you ever tried to maintain a low speed like 15MPH? It's almost painfully slow. You will be seemingly crawling past cars at that speed (normal relative speed for passing). A cop car traveling at 45MPH will be able to tell if you blow by at 65MPH. You will register on his equipment at 20MPH and you will appear relatively 33.3% faster than someone going only 15MPH over his speed, which is significant. The existing guidelines were to keep it at 10MPH over traffic speed which, while painfully slow, is a hell of a lot better than stopped in bumper to bumper traffic.

The extra 5MPH cements that someone doing 20MPH or more to violate the legal limit is being truly reckless. No doubt, CHP will still suggest 10MPH for safety reasons. I've already seen their old guidelines quoted in this thread, so it seems that they are still on the website.

Right. That's how they did it in the days before radar or lidar. But that's subjective and means that you can get attorneys arguing about the officer's subjective perceptions.

As for determining relative speed, I have no idea how fast other cars are moving. I know that if I'm passing someone doing 70 then obviously I'm going faster, but I can't judge how much faster. I can probably be accurate to plus or minus 15-20mph, but that would be my margin of error. If you think most people have a more finely tuned sense of relative speeds, that's fine. That's your opinion. I disagree.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Right. That's how they did it in the days before radar or lidar. But that's subjective and means that you can get attorneys arguing about the officer's subjective perceptions.

As for determining relative speed, I have no idea how fast other cars are moving. I know that if I'm passing someone doing 70 then obviously I'm going faster, but I can't judge how much faster. I can probably be accurate to plus or minus 15-20mph, but that would be my margin of error. If you think most people have a more finely tuned sense of relative speeds, that's fine. That's your opinion. I disagree.

Who gives a fuck? By that point it's just a matter for the courts and most people probably don't fight these types of violations anyway and those who do end up paying lawyers a good bit of money so it is stimulating the economy which is a good thing right?

I haven't met a lot of really wealthy motorcyclists but the ones I have met and ridden with don't tend to break a lot of laws and if they do they own up to it. Oddly enough the poor ones tend to own up to it too.

 

[Ns1]

No, I'm going to continue commenting on this video.

If you locate the article that goes along with this video, the biker starts out ranting about how horrible his commute is with tons of irresponsible "cagers" all around him.

So, this guy identifies one such irresponsible "cager" and what does he decide to do?

(1) lane-split to get right up next to him within inches of the car
(2) yell at him
(3) pass him
(4) coast down to a slower speed

Every normal person's response to that is "I need to get away from this guy asap." The motorcyclist had every opportunity to get away, either by speeding away, or by changing to the right-lane and letting the car go by.

The biker decided to do neither, the biker decided to be a full-on jackass, likely caused a panic in the car driver, and panics cause accidents. If I were king, the biker would be the one with the majority of fault in that incident.

Sure blame the guy that didn't break a single fucking law.

 

[Wuzup101]

Sure blame the guy that didn't break a single fucking law.

Except for impeding traffic in the left lane by slowing down in order to get them to pass him (by his own admission). §21654

And being a D-bag

Still didn't deserve to be hit.

 

[Ns1]

Except for impeding traffic in the left lane by slowing down in order to get them to pass him (by his own admission). §21654

And being a D-bag

Still didn't deserve to be hit.

Does that apply since the statute says "highway"? If so I stand corrected.

 

[Wuzup101]

Does that apply since the statute says "highway"? If so I stand corrected.

§360 “Highway” is a way or place of whatever nature,
publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for
purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

Again not saying that he deserved to get hit... but getting in front of someone and intentionally slowing down is a big "F U" in my area (so it would seem really stupid to me to do on a bike). I don't know if it's different in California.

When he rolls during the accident you can see the traffic behind him and the BMW. There is one pickup truck (that stops momentarily at the crash and rolls off) that was well behind the BMW. There was no one else behind/side of him... no one in that right lane. He was being a self riotous bag of douche trying to stick it to those cagers (and now beg for money).

He also has his cell phone mounted to his handle bars for maximum distraction (I assume that he doesn't need GPS to get to work - which is where he was going).

 

[Ns1]

§360 “Highway” is a way or place of whatever nature,
publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for
purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

Again not saying that he deserved to get hit... but getting in front of someone and intentionally slowing down is a big "F U" in my area (so it would seem really stupid to me to do on a bike). I don't know if it's different in California.

When he rolls during the accident you can see the traffic behind him and the BMW. There is one pickup truck (that stops momentarily at the crash and rolls off) that was well behind the BMW. There was no one else behind/side of him... no one in that right lane. He was being a self riotous bag of douche trying to stick it to those cagers (and now beg for money).

He also has his cell phone mounted to his handle bars for maximum distraction (I assume that he doesn't need GPS to get to work - which is where he was going).

Fair points.

 

[olds]

California set to slow lane-splitting motorcyclists
This works for me. But I do occasionally split above 50 MPH if some idiot is causing congestion because he has his head up his ass.

California is a motorcyclist mecca. It has the sunny weather. It offers up picturesque mountain and coastal roads. But here’s what really sets it apart: It’s the only state that allows motorcycle riders to cut freely between other cars on crowded roads and freeways.

That controversial maneuver, known on the street as lane-splitting, is not addressed in the state vehicle code. As a result, the California Highway Patrol has taken the stance that it is legal.

That may be about to change. Prompted by safety concerns, the Assembly last week approved a bill that would formally legalize lane-splitting, but would place restrictions on when and how cyclists can do it.

The bill, AB 51, limits motorcyclists to 15 miles per hour faster than the cars they are passing. It also prohibits motorcyclists from lane-splitting at speeds above 50 miles per hour.

That means, for instance, if freeway traffic slows to 35 miles per hour, motorcyclists can cut between cars at up to 50 miles per hour. But anytime freeway traffic is going 50 miles per hour or faster, motorcyclists legally would be banned from lane-splitting.

The bill, currently in the Senate for debate, is prompting mixed feelings for motorcyclists and drivers.

Bill coauthor Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, a science-based guy with a PhD in astrophysics, said his goal is safety.

Lane-splitting has become habit in California, he said. About 80 percent of motorcyclists report that they lane-split. It will continue to happen, in part because it’s hard for the CHP to chase down illegal motorcyclists who don’t want to be caught. The CHP hasn’t taken a stance on the bill, but has shown it too wants to curtail lane-splitting excesses.

Quirk and his coauthors say the bill will help tamp down on the most extreme splitting, but still give motorcyclists the opportunity to avoid getting rear-ended in tight traffic.

“I think we came to a reasonable compromise about what would be safe,” Quirk said.

The bill isn’t popular with car drivers who complain lane-splitting cyclists startle them by coming seemingly out of nowhere, sometimes flying by at high speed, just inches from cars. If an unsuspecting driver makes a lane change at the wrong moment –bam!

“Motorcycle driving in and of itself is very dangerous,” says Tom Freeman, a San Diego commuter who founded StopLaneSplitting.com. Freeman wants the Legislature to ban lane-splitting entirely. “Throw in distracted driving. Lane-splitting adds to this predicament. It is dangerous not just to motorcyclist, but to other drivers.”

Quirk, however, is basing his proposed law on a recent UC Berkeley study that found that lane-splitting injuries are notably reduced when the speed differential between cars and cyclists is less than 15 mph, and if cyclists travel at less than 50 mph.

Motorcyclists seem to understand that the pressure is on to do something to curtail the worst lane-splitting.

The American Motorcyclist Association officially opposes the bill, but not adamantly. Nick Haris of Placerville, the western states representative for the AMA, said he plans to meet with Quirk next week to request the bill be amended to allow lane-splitting in some instances at speeds greater than 50 miles per hour.

Quirk said this week he likes his 50-mph maximum, but said, “I’m always willing to listen.”

 

[piasabird]

Each vehicle is suppose to be allotted a full lane to use but often people driving cars don't respect that and people who drive motorcycles often abuse it also. Cars quite often don't see a motorcycle until it is too late. The other problem or issue is that Motorcycle drives have to be careful of Oil and gas and water dropped on the road by cars and trucks. So normally they don't drive or stop in the middle of the road for safety reasons. I just about fell off a bike once using the center of the lane. Motorcycles also have to be careful of those stupid man hole covers. Gravel is fun too.