I ride for transportation and pleasure. I first started riding purely for pleasure and decided to ride for transportation because of gas prices and traffic. It takes me an hour and a half to get to work by car and about 35 minutes by bike. Anyways, I hope one day to be up to your level of buffness, my friend.

Don't you get tired of almost dying daily, audicbr?

 

Lol I agree with this guy. It almost happens to me so much I dont even notice it anymore. I guess after riding like 23k miles in less than two years you get used to it.

 

It amazes me about lane splitting, i have thought about it a few times and then realized thats crazy, i realize its legal, but i know i would probably for to look for bikes coming between me and another car.Anyhow glad your ok, maybe take afew days off of riding or get out to the country, may do you some good.

 

me and my g/f were out riding sunday and the same happened. i noticed three cars up ahead kinda tailtgating eachother, so as i got closer to them i slid my thumb over the horn in preperation for what i knew was bound to happen. sure enough, as i get DIRECTLY beside the middle car, the girl switches lanes. my g/f had her head over my left shoulder and felt me dip the **** out of the bike to the left, then lay on the horn. it scared the hell out of her (and me). the girl looked over and as you said...........................................sta yed in BOTH lanes all nervous and scared! she finally got all the way over into my lane as i slowed down. she sped up a bit and got back over after passing a car. i got next to her and stared at her waiting for a reaction. she repeatidly kept mouthing "omg im sooo sooo sorry" over and over and over (her AND her b/f). i think they were in the car arguing, thats what it seemed liike.

 

I actually blame a lot of this on the way they advertise cars. New cars are so insular, designed to seperate the drivers from reality, and this is backed up by ads that either feature happy smiling teens shooting through the burbs, or some tool in a sporty hot version (read alloy wheels & spoiler), & they try to fool everyone into thinking they can attain Mach three in a 4 cylinder **** box on the roads or pulling out of some parking lot. They depict that its really ok to drive like they do, cos they will look cool. We have an ad at the moment that features a new Mazda sports type wagon, shooting past a Truimph Speed Triple on some back road, so fast that the guy on the Truimph wobbles & drops his lunch. Wot a piece of ****e. zoom, bloody, zoom.
Nothing to do with the reality that even a 250cc bike would blown em into the weeds.
I ride down one local main road, that has lots of cafes & pubs & such, so it attracts a lot of posers (hey I go there), and I invariably have to swerve out of the way of some guy/girl as they pull out from the kerb with out looking or indicating just like they do on the tube.

 

On the highway, I get extremely frustrated at the lack of intelligence around this area. If I notice someone isn't paying attention, I usually blip the horn once before I pass them, just so they know I'm there. I can care less if they get all pissed because I honked at them for no reason..........at least they noticed I was there.

When I see someone digging for something in their glove box, talking on the phone, putting on makeup, etc., and they are swerving or crossing the lines, I usually lay on the horn. That'll snap them out of it.......and I pass them as quickly as possible, and continue to monitor them in my mirrors, making sure they don't get behind me.

Lately, I found that I'm much safer if I'm doing 10-15 over the speed limit. This allows me to escape the pack of retards. Riding at the same speed as other cars is just way too freaking dangerous..........that's when I get the most "close calls". Now, I usually just speed off quickly, then prop right back down to about 5-10 miles over the limit, unless traffic starts catching up, then I speed up again. Usually, I never do anything more than 15 over (which is mainly on the highway).

 

I agree with you, legal or not, it's just a BAD idea, especially knowing all of the idiots that are out on the road, that one split second your not on your game, so a** hole pulls out in front of you to keep from rear ending someone else....BAM. No thanks. Riding a bike is hazard enough without adding to it by lane splitting! Be safe!

 

lane splitting isnt legal in maine, but if it was, id be very nervous trying it......too many bad things in a very tight area at a high speed.

 

I kind of know what your going through. I have to deal with Seattle area traffic and drivers. Not as bad as L.A. So my testies are a wee bit smaller. I get people trying to hit me non stop (I know they are trying to hit me). They want to try to pass a lane spliting law here. But you would only be able to do it if traffic was backed up and you were traveling 30 in a sixty. Any faster and you would have to get back into a lane.

 

I think you've nailed it here. Psychologically, people in a car feel like they're in private, even though they're on a public road. So they behave antisocially, yelling and cursing and acting aggresively in ways they never would do in public. Just like a guy who will curse out a politician he sees on the news, but wouldn't act that way if he were in the room where the politician was actually speaking. As unpleasant as the subway is with late trains, and crowding, and people accidentally stepping on your foot or poking you with their briefcase, there's a lot less 'transit rage' than road rage around here, because most people will behave decently when they're in public

Plus, with the radio and blackberry and cellphone and dvd player and all those cupholders, it's easy for a person to confuse his car with his living room and feel like he's too busy to pay attention to his driving.