Wilsons Sandbox

Dear Dusty and fellow listers, Lane splitting is a way of life over here in Asia ( especially in my country where there are 300,000 vehicles on about 650 sq miles of land area ), and most times, guys on their little 90cc Honda cubs would do it at reckless abandon... ( e.g. 60mph through gaps of 4' on the freeway ). The benefit of riding a bike, I suppose, is being able to lane split... I usually am very careful and use our bikes' height and power advantage when performing such manoeuvres, this however does not exclude idiot cagers who pull into your path to avoid obstacles or other bikes doing the same- right into your path. A suit in a Mitsubishi last night almost made me the meat of a sandwich between his car and the adjacent Mercedes. This was despite my blaring my horn incessantly... I finally kicked his car leaving a nice dent in his car's bodywork, and that made him swerve away... I've been lane splitting day in and out, but this incident left me quite shaken... it is not legal over here, I suppose, but the cops themselves do it(!)... so do it if you must, but do be careful, it would probably help if you ride with your lights on, as well... Ride safe! Cheers... JC

>From: "Dustin McCarty" >OK, still new to the motorcycle world: Lane splitting: This is going >between the cars on the way to a stop light to "get ahead" of the rest of >the traffic or whil on the highway to pass?

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I wanted to add a couple of things to Sarah's fine reply. I also live in Calif., and lane share through maybe 7 miles of solid traffic everyday. I feel lane sharing greatly reduces your chances of being rear-ended by some cager on autopilot while riding in stop and go traffic. Also speed is relative- if everybody is going 20 mph, and your going 22.5 mph while lane sharing you're only going 2.5 mph in relation to them, allowing you time to react in most cases. It's legal for bikes to share lanes with cars, but not vice-versa. ANOTHER WORDS, cars cannot lane share with any other vehicles including cycles. Don't laugh I once cruised past a person while lanesharing and next thing I know he's trying to pass me in my lane. Another thing, if you wreck while lanesharing you will automatically be found at fault, even if it's not. For example, somebody makes a unsafe lane change and takes you out, too bad -your fault. ( at least in Calif.) So be very careful, get some superstrong hand guards and Tim's side racks. While lane sharing you better assume that if there is enough space for a car to move over, they will. I like to laneshare when traffic is bumper to bumper,preventing cars from making sudden lane changes. And be careful of mean people in pickup trucks who feel it's ok to use a deadly weapon (their vehicles) to stop you from enjoying your ride. Good thing I don't live in New Mexico. :^) Conall A4 KLR650 77,800 miles

>From: "Dustin McCarty" >To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com >Subject: [DSN_klr650] Lane Splitting (color me Newbie) >Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 16:26:27 CDT > >OK, still new to the motorcycle world: Lane splitting: This is going >between the cars on the way to a stop light to "get ahead" of the rest of >the traffic or whil on the highway to pass? Is this correct? More >importantly, is this a good, safe idea? I mean, I live in Oklahoma still >and people here still haven't figured out how to use indoor plumbing let >alone turn signals! Sounds pretty foolish in the US (IMHO, of course). > >2 questions: > >1) Is this actually a legal practice (not that legality reflects what is >right or intelligent)? > >2) Is this commonly practiced in more "upscale" and "civilized" portions >of >the US and Canada? (i.e. not Arkansas, Oklahoma, portions of Texas, hmmm, >who else can I offend....) > >Please forgive my native Oklahoman ignorance of the motorized world. > >Thanks, >Dust >A14 "Rhino" >Man with BIG Grin (and the desire to live to ride another day) >Riding Level: Still in WUSS mode, but progressing. >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com >

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Check the CHP website, and FAQ no. 2 is "is it legal to split lanes on my motorcycle?"   Answer is yes.  Use this when pulled over by cops whose brains are made out of donut material crushed under pressure for long periods of time.  I have, they don't like it, but usually get back into their car with this baffled "bovine" look on their face.  ??       I feel lane sharing greatly reduces your chances of being rear-ended by some cager on autopilot while riding in stop and go traffic.

Another thing, if you wreck while lanesharing you will automatically be found at fault, even if it's not. Conall A4 KLR650 77,800 miles

> It's legal for bikes to share lanes with cars, but > not vice-versa.

That's not what I've been led to understand from reading the vehicle code... Where did you hear that? It's perfectly legal to put as many vehicles as will fit abreast in a lane with all vehicles completely contained with that lane. It's illegal for a car to force you out of a lane. It's your job to shift around in your lane so as to prevent lane sharing from happening to you.

> next thing I > know he's trying to pass me in my lane.

Yup. There's a lot of wackos out there.

> Another thing, if you wreck while lanesharing you > will automatically be > found at fault, even if it's not.

Unless you've got witnesses to the contrary (yeah, right, someone in stop and go rush hour traffic is gonna stop. uh huh. keep dreaming.). But otherwise, yeah, at least you'll get dinged for "unsafe passing".

> And be careful of mean people in pickup trucks who > feel it's ok to use a > deadly weapon (their vehicles) to stop you from > enjoying your ride.

That recent event (pickup truck mows down (literally) KTM rider) just plain made me sick to my stomach. Any update on what happened to the truck driver? ---o&>o--- Sarah Barwig sarah@...

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