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Please sign the Petition to Allow motorcycle lane sharing on all public roads..

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I personally don't think that it is a good idea. Looking at the signature count thus far compared to the 85,600 needed it seems that I'm not the only one.

 

I tend to agree. I would love to have legalized lane splitting here, but there are too many cagers with an ego.

 

We have lane splitting here, and most cagers are likely to move over a bit when they see you coming .......
It can be great for getting through traffic BUT I was caught one day on a road by the docks with 18 wheelers both sides for about 400 yards - that was a bit scary......when they started moving.

It can also be a bit of a two-edged-sword - fine when at a traffic light where the cagers are stopped or moving slowly, but not so smart when a cager wants to share a lane with you at 60MPH in the rain.
Always ride in the middle of your lane in those conditions

All in all, a good thing.

 

Whether you prefer lane-sharing or not, it is safer than getting rear-ended sitting still in traffic.


Personally, I ride in bumper-to-bumper traffic nearly every single day, on motorized and human-powered vehicle.

I've been a bicycle messenger in SEA, SF and NYC since I was a teen, even pedaled across the NA continent.

It is common sense just to filter through traffic when it becomes congested and below certain speed, when there is no room for cars to maneuver, a motorcycle can easily move among the stuck vehicles and get out of the congested area and help reduce the congestion.

I've ridden in Asia, Europe, many different countries around the world;. US is the only country that have laws prohibiting motorcycles to filter through congested traffic.

 

Well Canada doesn't allow any lane splitting or filtering either.

Until the driver training is upgraded from the joke it is now, I don't think its a good move to just legalize something like this. As I said before, the ego of drivers in a me-first attitude that cut you off for trying to filter is one of the big sticking points. The other being the fact that with cellphones and other driver distractions becoming commonplace (eg. think of what oem car stereos are now compared to 15 years ago), the roads are full of space cadets at the wheel behind 2 tonnes of steel.

Also, this will open up every squid asshat to abuse the system, further alienating bikers from the cagers.

 

I've pedaled coast-to-coast in the USA 4 times since 1996, Mexico to Canada, Florida to Maine plus thousands of kilometers in France. I'm pedaling another USA transcontinental in May.

I've seen the mindset of drivers in the USA compared to other places and I would much rather sit in traffic and take my chances than to cut between vehicles whose drivers do not like bikes on "their" roads. That, plus when you add in the distracted driving that has become commonplace it is a recipe for disaster and a cager isn't going to lose the battle.

 

I'm not saying that lane splitting doesn't have it's moments.................
I had a Small delivery vehicle driven by an idiot try to share a lane with me on a downhill twisty road in the rain at 60MPH............
I looked across and watched him grin at me and move to within about a foot of my right leg, at which point I gave his vehicle a size 10 boot in the fender.
End of argument.
Filtering at slow speeds is fine, but when the cagers start to get speed up, it can be dangerous and is to be avoided. In any even the point is to get you to the head of the line so you can out-accelerate the cagers and get away, not get in a "peeing competition" with them at speed, that's an argument you will generally lose.
And yes, two years ago I was rear-ended on my bike by a cager, knocked me on my ***.
Why ?
Muppet was on his mobile phone and didn't see me waiting to turn right.....
I'll be filtering for sure as an alternative. The tar was bloody hard.....

 

This not about when it's a good idea or not to do it, It's about OUR freedom to decide if and when we do it for ourselves. Same for helmet laws. I want the freedom to choose TO wear one.

Now, it is legal here. All the worry about a sudden frenzy of riders splitting lanes by the hundreds is hooey. It's just not like that....

 

It doesn't mean you have to split, just that its not a ticket worthy offense.

I wouldn't do it often or hardly ever where I live. But as an example, there was a guy who split a few cars at a stoplight the other day. No one seemed to mind, and it certainly wasn't dangerous, but, had a cop seen it, the guy would have certainly been in trouble. And after the light turnes green, he was out of everyone's way and no one was in his.