Lane Sharing: Legit To Quit!

[3Phase]

California is finally getting around to passing legislation in favor of Lane Sharing and making it legal. It was in the default realm of most things that are legal because there is no law that prohibits Lane Sharing.

San Jose Mercury News:-
Motorcycle lane-splitting bill passed by California Assembly

By Gary Richardsgrichards@mercurynews.com
POSTED: 05/29/2015 06:24:43 AM PDT

California is poised to become the first state to allow motorcycles to weave between cars that are slowed by traffic.

The Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved Assembly Bill 51, permitting motorcyclists to split lanes so long as they do so at speeds no faster than 50 mph and no faster than 15 mph than traffic in adjacent lanes is moving. The bill heads to the Senate after passing, without debate, on a 53 to 11 vote.


And those two-wheeled lane-splitting hooligans could be headed to your State next!

The Wall Street Journal:-
Motorcycle Lane-Splitting Could Move Beyond California

Bills would extend practice to other states as safety debate continues
California is the only U.S. state where zipping between lanes of cars on a motorcycle is legal. But now other states are pushing to legalize it too. WSJ rides along with California motorcycle commuters to get an up-close look at lane splitting.

By ZUSHA ELINSON
March 6, 2015 4:52 p.m. ET

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[motoman]

California is finally getting around to passing legislation in favor of Lane Sharing and making it legal. It was in the default realm of most things that are legal because there is no law that prohibits Lane Sharing.

San Jose Mercury News:-
Motorcycle lane-splitting bill passed by California Assembly

By Gary Richardsgrichards@mercurynews.com
POSTED: 05/29/2015 06:24:43 AM PDT

California is poised to become the first state to allow motorcycles to weave between cars that are slowed by traffic.

The Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved Assembly Bill 51, permitting motorcyclists to split lanes so long as they do so at speeds no faster than 50 mph and no faster than 15 mph than traffic in adjacent lanes is moving. The bill heads to the Senate after passing, without debate, on a 53 to 11 vote.


And those two-wheeled lane-splitting hooligans could be headed to your State next!

The Wall Street Journal:-
Motorcycle Lane-Splitting Could Move Beyond California

Bills would extend practice to other states as safety debate continues
California is the only U.S. state where zipping between lanes of cars on a motorcycle is legal. But now other states are pushing to legalize it too. WSJ rides along with California motorcycle commuters to get an up-close look at lane splitting.

By ZUSHA ELINSON
March 6, 2015 4:52 p.m. ET

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Yeppers.....saw that on the ST site from someone out that way. Even ones out there in Caly that've been doin this for yrs. as you, as it was not illegal either, had some interesting pros and cons as to its speed designations when used. Some of those set speed associated guidlines stirred up some interesting discussion anyways.

[jimbyjimb]

Seems fine to me. No matter what there will always be people who are dorks and people who aren't. Two or four wheels, doesn't matter. Californians have been doing it a long time so it makes sense, but things always get worse before they get better when introducing something new somewhere else.

[3Phase]

CHP and The State just want money from fines, that's why the Legislature wrote up the bill the way they did.

It's "Lane Sharing" and not "Lane Splitting" because two vehicles are sharing the right-of-way. I don't know how the new law will actually work in reality because up until now, neither vehicle had any real obligation to yield. It has always behooved you to be extra polite and pay attention when even the smallest and lightest vehicle you can possibly run into will turn you and your bike into scattered parts, paste, and crack filler in less than a heartbeat.

The 50MPH limit is bogus. The Basic Speed Law always applies so you can never drive faster than is safe no matter what the posted limit says and they straight up pulled 50MPH right out from under their golden Legislative seats. They want the money they can get from gigging all the riders with their knees in the breeze at 65 or 70MPH when everyone else is going 50 or 55MPH and wishing they had a bike too.

Now the 15MPH speed differential they're listing is actually 5MPH faster than the 10MPH limit I was told about in Traffic School (I know, right? ) and used for years to stay alive, safe and sane in traffic. The law may have changed but there is or used to be a 10MPH speed differential limit that applies to all vehicles not just motorcycles. 15MPH is a step up but basically you do not blast past people that are stuck in traffic or you're going to be one very short-lived Lane Sharer.

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[motoman]

A bit more of the general consenses out your your way..........


Originally Posted by ST Gui

I don't think it's a big deal. I also know how fast I'm going without constantly checking the speedo. Who gets a ticket for going 2-3-5mph over the speed limit? Most cops don't start tagging for speed until at least 10mph over. Even though the CHP say "zero tolerance" nobody gets stopped on the freeway for 5-8-9mph over. (Ok SOMEbody will have an anecdote to the contrary here. Traffic Darwin is thinning the herd.) Just how is a cop going to get your speed when your splitting? Lidar? Not likely. Radar? No way. Pacing? Maybe. A little more likely than Lidar.

Personally I think if somebody is going 15mph over the flow of traffic they're knocking on Darwin's door especially if traffic is approaching 50mph (which would put Max splitter at 65mph).
Lidar is the most likely and safest way to get a speed in traffic when there is a speed differential between motos and cars. But it will almost certainly take 2 officers - one on the lidar and one to chase the speeder down. And out of many thousands of tickets written, I have written for less than 10 over in maybe a half a dozen cases ( two 120' long permit loads weaving through traffic if you can believe that, and one driver that refused to take a "white door" warning to slow down). So it happens.

My vague memory of why the law was written (I read it somewhere) was that when the CHP posted the guidelines on their website, they were forced to take them down because people complained the CHP was encouraging an unsafe practice which while not strictly illegal, was not explicitly legal.

And just so you know, if you get in an accident while splitting traffic you will almost certainly be found at fault or at best, unable to determine fault. That is, unless a witness says the car driver swerved into you (that witness may have happened somewhere sometime but I've never heard of one).

[jetmechmarty]

I know those times I'm stuck in GA400 traffic, I'd gladly be moving at 15 mph or even 10! It's certainly safer to squeeze to the front at a signal than to be stuck in the pack. When all those folks see you moving in rush hour traffic, they'll want a bike, too! DL650 sales will go up. We'll start seeing the TDM900 sold here as well. One more bike is one less car, and easier to sell than the train!

[3Phase]

Marty, it's hot out here and they allow it to keep bikes from overheating in traffic.


Brant, that read like it was written by a LEO and he's mostly correct but it doesn't sound like he's from California.

The place where every rider I've seen -- followed, led, paced, whatever -- goes 65 or 70MPH is in the faux motorcycle lane created by the extra spacing between the HOV lane and the fast lane: "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!"

You really should stay off the paint for the double and double-double yellow lines and be very careful because that beautiful open smidgen of road is filled with the usual road hazards like: rocks, bricks, buckets, clothing, angry or impatient drivers, vehicle parts, ladders, rivets, 'gators, whole tires, slow or inexperienced motorcyclists, rims, nails, lug nuts, tarps, TARPS! <shudder>, and other things not good for you or your motorcycle.

There are also the specs in the vehicle code for freeway and highway traffic that spell out in black and white the minimum vehicle spacing and distances that are allowed and constitute a legal lane change. If you pass and merge or change lanes as if you were riding a two-wheel motorcycle instead of a four-wheel land-barge, a nimble import or a 18-wheel commercial truck you can and probably will be cited. Before the new law, "weaving" was one of the favored terms for pulling you over. "He was weaving! In and out of traffic he was weaving!" Okay, I don't carry a shuttle or a loom and what they call "weaving" for their motor vehicular money shot is Lane Sharing, passing and lane changing like a motorcycle instead of a car or truck.

I got chased down and cited on the 4th of July back in 1986 for Lane Sharing. The speed limit was 55MPH back then and a CHP Officer chased me for 45 miles through holiday traffic from Gaviota, Ca. to Santa Maria, Ca. where two CHP units boxed me in and guided me to the side of the freeway to wait for the Officer from Gaviota. I had absolutely no idea that he was following me until I got the boxcar surprise; CHP pulled out from in front of a motor home and cut me off, a second one pulled up on my left, then they both slowed and guided me out of traffic.

When the Officer from Gaviota finally arrived and started to get out of his car he just... kept getting out of his car. He was the stereotypical huge police officer with the crisp uniform and 'Smokey' hat, shiny shoes and the classic, "You's in a heap o' trouble, boy!" sunglasses which then proceeded to remove in a way that, decades later, Horatio from CSI:Miami could only envy: "Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

That man was not a fan of Lane Sharing or yours truly and he did his level best to convince me that I'd broken a non-existent law prohibiting Lane Sharing before he pretended to relent and flourished a two-hundred dollar ten-over, 65MPH, moving violation; declined his option to immediately place me under arrest for reckless and impound my bike, then told me the CHP would be watching me for the rest of my trip to Salinas, Ca. And they did. Oh, brother, yes indeed they did.

.

[motoman]

Very intuitive Scott!.......right on both counts ...LEO/Montana.

[3Phase]

Very intuitive Scott!.......right on both counts ...LEO/Montana.

Heh, Montana was a fun ride when I was there but I didn't do any Lane Sharing; didn't really need to, either.

.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Hey, Scott-
I read about this on COG this morning, myself.
Guess it's making all the motorcycle site rounds today.

Have you also read the UC Berkley study about it?
Made me shake my head and wonder what in the world's in the water out at that place...?

Interesting read... nonetheless.

I know last week, when I was stuck sitting in 2 miles of stopped traffic out on I-40 in NM I was thinking how I wished I could lane-split!

Turned out to be construction. They had re-paved both lanes of East bound I-40, but had the RH lane shut down, making 2 lanes merge into one. Shouldn't have been a problem, but for some reason, the semi's just couldn't seem to do it. So, 4 thousand of them stopped, and piled up, blocking the road! Took me 2 extra hours to weave through that mess. Couldn't believe that was the cause.

Lane-splitting was looking pretty good as an option then!

But the rest of the time... I dunno... At least not here in Oklahoma... we got a lotta road rage morons here... Not to mention, absent-minded texters...etc.
Kinda skeery!

Don't think these cats have the calm temperament you Cali guys have about it..,
Lol

[3Phase]

Thanks, Bob! I hadn't read the Berzerkley study but I have now!

I'm forced to agree with it because they didn't go down the usual route with an agenda and studied facts. Some of the conclusions are a little, uh, skewed. The facts in the study are difficult to dispute but there's always a horse lying around somewhere next to a shredded stick.

A lot of people in California and elsewhere have been wondering for the last half of the 20th century and into the 21st what's in the water up there. I have my own suspicion that it has something to do with old rye bread but welcome to the club! There are no dues, fees, or registration forms but bottled beverages are required for all meetings.

There are a few amusing items to come out of the study, like trying to dismiss the fears of riders that are worried about being rearended by pointing out the low number of actual accidents where a motorcycle was hit from behind. The reason there are fewer rearend collisions with motorcycles is because most riders have already moved up or are prepared to move up between the cars at the stop to avoid getting pancaked in the first place. Keep the bike in gear; watch the mirrors and jam-boogie the heck out of Dodge when a crash is incoming!

There's not much you can do about rearend collisions while riding, remember Ivan? Stuff happens and that's how I got my XJ parts bike. Thankfully, Ivan and Aaron are both okay!

.

[motoman]

Hey, Scott-
I read about this on COG this morning, myself.
Guess it's making all the motorcycle site rounds today.

Have you also read the UC Berkley study about it?
Made me shake my head and wonder what in the world's in the water out at that place...?

Interesting read... nonetheless.

I know last week, when I was stuck sitting in 2 miles of stopped traffic out on I-40 in NM I was thinking how I wished I could lane-split!

Turned out to be construction. They had re-paved both lanes of East bound I-40, but had the RH lane shut down, making 2 lanes merge into one. Shouldn't have been a problem, but for some reason, the semi's just couldn't seem to do it. So, 4 thousand of them stopped, and piled up, blocking the road! Took me 2 extra hours to weave through that mess. Couldn't believe that was the cause.

Lane-splitting was looking pretty good as an option then!

But the rest of the time... I dunno... At least not here in Oklahoma... we got a lotta road rage morons here... Not to mention, absent-minded texters...etc.
Kinda skeery!

Don't think these cats have the calm temperament you Cali guys have about it..,
Lol

Hmmmm....... motorcyclist lane-splitting in a WORK ZONE...........details at 10o'clock news.

[3Phase]

Hmmmm....... motorcyclist lane-splitting in a WORK ZONE...........details at 10o'clock news.

Right, right. Yeah, so what about it? I wouldn't do it at speed in moving traffic in work zone but riding through stopped traffic is riding through stopped traffic. It isn't any more dangerous unless you're a researcher at Berkley or a cop at the end of the zone with a radar gun looking for weavers.

The real news is about the millions of orange barrels that have been bought and used along thousands of miles of I-40 and other US highways to set up a bogus "WORK ZONE" when there is no actual work, it's just trap with a seriously heavy-duty multiplier applied to the fines because someone has to pay for all the orange barrels they bought to set the traps.

And why do they always aim the traffic in the "WORK ZONE" right at those new cheese slicer cable barriers that have been installed to divide highways into separate directions and divide motorcyclists into separate pieces?

.

[trbig]

Oklahoma doesn't have any laws specifically against lane splitting either, but if you tried it, you'd earn a visit from the local tax collector for illegal lane changes. There's been times on road trips that traffic is moving at less than walking speed, stop.. ease up, stop.. just the type of thing to melt down an air cooled motorcycle and wear out a clutch hand. So, many times, I'll just hit the shoulder and slowly ease along.

I've had, on several occasions, been easing up the shoulder, had cars seen me coming and pull onto the shoulder and try to block me. "If I have to be stuck, so do you!" mentality. I just ease by them, look at them and shake my head. The tantrums they can throw in a car are quite animated and amusing.

All this is to say.. I think it would take a serious change of MENTALities around here for it to work without lots of FATALITIES first... Like some idiot opening the door on you and saying, "Oops.. Tee hee.." I believe it's a good thing in theory though. The public just doesn't understand that some vehicles HAVE to keep moving or there'll be an even bigger traffic jam to deal with when they break down.

But, while we're changing mentalities, how about we work on the ones that like to drive the speed limit or less in the left lane who refuse to move over for anyone. I believe this type of person.. it should be absolutely legal to be able to put 2-3 rounds through their engine block on the way by. But maybe that's just me?

OK, back to your regular scheduled topic. lol.

[jetmechmarty]

But, while we're changing mentalities, how about we work on the ones that like to drive the speed limit or less in the left lane who refuse to move over for anyone. I believe this type of person.. it should be absolutely legal to be able to put 2-3 rounds through their engine block on the way by. But maybe that's just me?

OK, back to your regular scheduled topic. lol.

Around here, many in the V-twin crowd have a strong tendency to move more slowly than a logging truck. Logging trucks get stuck behind them. They are the least likely to get out of the way.

Point being, we're all part of the motorcycling community. We all have to get along. We want the cagers to wish they had a bike, so they could get where they're going faster, too. For every one that gets on a bike, that's one less car on the road. At this point, we'd all do we'll to take a lesson from the Japanese. In my experience, they drive politely, and everyone gets where they're going faster because of it. We're a bunch of crappy drivers over here, and it's getting much worse.