Lane Sharing: Legit To Quit!

[3Phase]

Tod, it's totally baffling to me how anyone can be cited for something that's not illegal but that's America today.

On the road it is not against the law to share the right-of-way but it is against the law to pass on the right. To share, you should stay to the left side of the lane and keep the vehicle you are trying to share it with to your right.

It is totally illegal to ride on the median or the shoulder of the road because that's not the road so you have no right to ride upon it. Yeah, we have the same kind of homicidal nutjobs here that you do back East and they'll try to clothesline you, block you or run you over. I had a lady go berserk a while ago and try to chase me down on the freeway and run me over at 70MPH. I never did find out what her major malfunction was.

There is a new law that makes it Attempted Murder to do anything at all that can prevent someone from completing a pass and merging back into the lane. That one was long overdue and might save some bullets.

It's actually kind of an inspiring sight when you ride through traffic out here in California because it's like watching the Red Sea part before you. Most people are paying attention to what's going on around them and as you ride up through traffic the cars and trucks will move slightly to the right or to the left and make room for you. I don't believe for a skinny minute that it's entirely altruistic, I think it's because they don't want their mirrors snapped off or their paint ganked but it's the action that counts, not the thought.

Every now and then someone will see you coming and they don't just make a little room, they totally freak out and pull almost diagonal in the lane trying to move away from you but that doesn't happen very often. I just smile and wave.

.

[TopCatGr58]

Marty,

Funny you should mention Japan. I lived there in the early 80's while in the USNavy. I rode my XS750 triple for 1.5 years while there. Even back then they had a policy of allowing lane splitting when coming to a stop light. I would ride up between the cars so that I could pull ahead of the crowd once the light changed.....Japan knew that bikes were much quicker in traffic and permitted it.

My bike was a rare one/size compared to most of the bikes on the road back then. Part of their licensing process was that they had to ride the bike, stop and lay it down, and then pick it back up. IF they weren't strong/big enough to do that, then they couldn't register that size of bike or get their driver's license...and most of the residents were not very big or strong, so 300-500cc's were about the biggest that you usually saw.

My bike license plate had an English "A" on it which meant it was licensed by a foreigner.....so all of the other bikers could tell I was a GAIJIN when they rolled up from behind me.....not that my 6'6" frame sitting tall in the saddle wasn't also a clue! And they all wanted to RACE an American biker!

Mine didn't have any number/XS750 badges on the side covers, so it was a bit of a sleeper. It was fun having a guy roll up on his little 2 cycle, rev it to get my attention, and nod at me egging me on to a little street race. I would just nod once, then CLUNK the bike into 1st gear, and let that big triple roll on the power and usually walk away from them in 1st gear rapping it up to 7k rpm.

T.C.

[motoman]

Marty,

Funny you should mention Japan. I lived there in the early 80's while in the USNavy. I rode my XS750 triple for 1.5 years while there. Even back then they had a policy of allowing lane splitting when coming to a stop light. I would ride up between the cars so that I could pull ahead of the crowd once the light changed.....Japan knew that bikes were much quicker in traffic and permitted it.

My bike was a rare one/size compared to most of the bikes on the road back then. Part of their licensing process was that they had to ride the bike, stop and lay it down, and then pick it back up. IF they weren't strong/big enough to do that, then they couldn't register that size of bike or get their driver's license...and most of the residents were not very big or strong, so 300-500cc's were about the biggest that you usually saw.

My bike license plate had an English "A" on it which meant it was licensed by a foreigner.....so all of the other bikers could tell I was a GAIJIN when they rolled up from behind me.....not that my 6'6" frame sitting tall in the saddle wasn't also a clue! And they all wanted to RACE an American biker!

Mine didn't have any number/XS750 badges on the side covers, so it was a bit of a sleeper. It was fun having a guy roll up on his little 2 cycle, rev it to get my attention, and nod at me egging me on to a little street race. I would just nod once, then CLUNK the bike into 1st gear, and let that big triple roll on the power and usually walk away from them in 1st gear rapping it up to 7k rpm.

T.C.

Twas a good thing you never tangled with an ole' Kaway MachI or MachII tripple two-stroke......if they even allowed those locally there.

[jwhughes3]

Marty,



My bike license plate had an English "A" on it which meant it was licensed by a foreigner.....so all of the other bikers could tell I was a GAIJIN when they rolled up from behind me.....not that my 6'6" frame sitting tall in the saddle wasn't also a clue! And they all wanted to RACE an American biker!

Mine didn't have any number/XS750 badges on the side covers, so it was a bit of a sleeper. It was fun having a guy roll up on his little 2 cycle, rev it to get my attention, and nod at me egging me on to a little street race. I would just nod once, then CLUNK the bike into 1st gear, and let that big triple roll on the power and usually walk away from them in 1st gear rapping it up to 7k rpm.

T.C.

Imagine if you had the 1100!!

John