Lane splitting and safety

[978chris]

New to riding in MA and so I have a question:

What do you all do to keep from going crazy in traffic?

No lane splitting?!!?

I feel like an idiot just sitting there behind a stopped car on the highway (mostly because I've never had to - it just feels wrong).

Isn't it more dangerous for me to be stopped behind a bunch of cars than moving through them? I've been rear-ended a couple times like that before on the highway (thankfully not while riding), and I'm sure it would hurt a lot more on a bike.

Is it because lanes are so much smaller out here? It still seems to me like there is plenty of room (in fact I did it for a couple days until somebody warned me I would get fined PER car I passed if caught).

Someone enlighten me please.

[Josephd14]

Well I guess you have not been driving in New England very long... You'll see.. Just watch between the lanes as you sit there and count how many idiots change lanes just to get over and sit in another lane, like they think by some magical force that lane will move faster..

[bigred875]

i split lanes.....if i got busted i'd tell the judge why i feel sitting in traffic is more dangerous, if he didnt agreee i'd pay the fine...

i would be really suprised if a cop gave you a hard time for splitting bumper to bumper traffic at 10-15mph..

[KillBill]

It's hard to avoid traffic if your on any of the highways here (128,93,495) they are always jammed up it seems

[Pittenger5]

Whats the penalty for lane splitting? Just a fine or points? Cause if its a fine I might take my chances, if its points Ill wait.

[Josephd14]

Everything in this state is points, except Parking tickets, don't worry i'm sure they are working on that too..

[978chris]

Well I guess you have not been driving in New England very long... You'll see.. Just watch between the lanes as you sit there and count how many idiots change lanes just to get over and sit in another lane, like they think by some magical force that lane will move faster..

Yeah I hear you. People do that back home also, you just get used to it.

I mean just by getting on the bike you assume a certain level of risk. I'd rather see it happening in front of me and be able to stop or scoot by, than be stuck motionless while some truck runs me over from behind.

/shrug

[978chris]

Whats the penalty for lane splitting? Just a fine or points? Cause if its a fine I might take my chances, if its points Ill wait.

I don't know about MA, but a friend told me he was pulled over at Hampton Beach lane splitting, and was fined $75 per car he passed (like 7 cars I think he said).

I have no idea if this is complete bullshit or not so bear with me. It does sound expensive though.

[KillBill]

At Hampton the cops are always watching for bikes to make an illegal maneuver. They are used to dealing with the tank top sandal wearing type of rider

[wookie]

i split lanes.....if i got busted i'd tell the judge why i feel sitting in traffic is more dangerous, if he didnt agreee i'd pay the fine...

i would be really suprised if a cop gave you a hard time for splitting bumper to bumper traffic at 10-15mph..

My personal rule is when traffic is moving less than 20mph I'll split. Faster than that and spaces start opening up and people start changing lanes erratically. The only problem is that sometimes traffic flows at 5mph for a few miles and then speeds up to 45mph and then back to 5mph.

[Cheese]

Why don't you skim through a few "crash" and "RIP" posts on this board. You'll see that motorists have a very difficult time noticing bikes that are in the normal travel lanes. Think about that before you go creating even more lanes for motorists to try to keep track of bikes in. Lane splitting is dangerous, illegal (in New England) and doing it is bad for our biker image.

[Josephd14]

Yeah I hear you. People do that back home also, you just get used to it.

I mean just by getting on the bike you assume a certain level of risk. I'd rather see it happening in front of me and be able to stop or scoot by, than be stuck motionless while some truck runs me over from behind.

/shrug

I drive a truck, I won't run you over I promise..

[978chris]

Well the truck thing, hehe. This is what has me worried:

I was stuck (completely stopped) in traffic back home in a Toyota 4x4 and got absolutely creamed from behind by a Ford Ranger that wasn't paying enough attention. I went to the hospital then. What if I was here and stuck in that spot on my bike? Probably the morgue.

There is a ton more traffic in the CA Bay Area than around here. We all get by just fine with lane splitting (for the most part). If it's legal, then lots of bikes do it. If lots of bikes do it, people are aware that it goes on. If people are aware that it goes on, they look out for it. It promotes awareness because people know that it IS going to happen on their commute.

Probably, out here, being something that you don't really see often (because it's illegal, because we have crappy weather and less bikes, etc), it generally doesn't even cross people's minds. But anything that makes motorists less aware of me is a Bad Thing™, imo.

I'm not here to get any laws changed. Just trying to get the local take on it. In the end, I'm the "newbie to MA laws" that's going to have to live with it (and be safe), so I just wanted some opinions. If it seemed like something many riders do (despite the laws), then maybe drivers look for it anyway. If it isn't, I won't risk it.

[978chris]

Lane splitting is dangerous, illegal (in New England) and doing it is bad for our biker image.

Dangerous because it's illegal and people aren't used to being aware of it.

Bad for our image because it's illegal.

Illegal because ???? (fill in the blank).

California and Australia have both done studies about the safety of splitting vs. sitting in stopped traffic between cars. Both concluded lane splitting was marginally safer for motorcyclists:

"8) Split lanes on the freeway. It's safer than trusting the guy behind you not to rear-end you. In the Hurt study, more riders on the freeway got nailed from behind while staying in their lane than riders who crashed while lane-splitting. But don't go too much faster than the traffic flow and be really careful when coming up to a car with an open space in the lane next to it, especially if the lane with the space is moving faster than the one with the car."

-and-

"A study conducted four years ago by a University of Southern California researcher supports that claim.

The study, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Transportation, concluded that lane splitting is safer than sitting in stop-and-go traffic, where bikers are far more likely to be "sandwiched" between two cars.

"For a motorcyclist, that's the safest place to be," Professor Harry Hurt said shortly after releasing his study. "A lot of people think it's a hazard, but the cold, hard facts are that it's not.""

I would stick the link in here but I guess I need to make 4 more posts before I can do that.

[Ri_De_bike]

^ +1
as long as we're getting a list of laws that need to be passed... well, wish list?
moving to the front of the cue at red lights.

[978chris]

^ +1
as long as we're getting a list of laws that need to be passed... well, wish list?
moving to the front of the cue at red lights.

Think that one falls under the lane splitting category.

Can't believe I can't do this either, though.

[DucXl]

I've split lanes here in Rhode Island.Very cautiously nowadays'.And only in gridlock.One time,while riding through(splitting) traffic in nearby Newport i got a car door abruptly opened in traffic.The Bitch later told me,"See,you can't do that"! You see,she was metering out punishment with her door,she never intended to exit the vehicle in traffic.The driver was cited for that,I was cited for splitting.Be careful,people can be vindictive out there.

[Cheese]

I'm not saying don't be aware. I've seen plenty of motorists shoot into the breakdown lane to avoid getting rear-ended and I'd suggest doing the same on a bike if you know you're about to be the meat in a cage sandwich. That's the reason MSF teaches riders to stay in gear while slowing and stopped.

[978chris]

Be careful,people can be vindictive out there.

I've noticed. Everyone on the roads out here needs a serious vacation it seems like. People are crazier and in more of a rush than anywhere else I've been. Getting there 10 seconds sooner isn't gonna make a difference to anyone, I promise.

[Cheese]

Getting there 10 seconds sooner isn't gonna make a difference to anyone, I promise.

What an AWESOME statement in a lane splitting thread.

[Josephd14]

People amaze me.. You must be better tempered than I.. I would have dropped her ass right there infront of the cop.. When I stop in traffic, Stop near the line so I have somewhere to go in the event I look in my mirror and see someone who might not stop..

[978chris]

What an AWESOME statement in a lane splitting thread.

My concern is with the safety in always staying moving, not with getting anywhere faster, so yeah. I'm on a bike, if I want fast I can go find it somewhere off the highway.

Like I said, I went to the hospital after getting rear-ended in a 4x4 simply because I was stopped and had nowhere to go. I don't want it to happen on a bike.

Go through it sometime and then come back here and talk to me.

Lane splitting is SAFER. It has nothing to do with the getting there, other than if I'm headed somewhere I'd certainly like to arrive in one piece, and not in an ambulance.

If you're still confused, please re-read the content of my original post, and notice that the subject was NOT "Lane splitting and getting home faster".

[Cheese]

Go through it sometime and then come back here and talk to me.

I sat trapped behind a car at a red light watching a cement truck that couldn't stop in my rear view mirror. The high bumper on the cement truck clipped my car at the trunk and folded the trunk, rear window, and roof into the back seat. The hit was so hard I busted the drivers seat with my body weight and then was pushed by the folding metal and glass up onto the headliner where I burned the skin from my forehead and tweaked my neck. So my friend, I've been for that ride in the ambulance already and spent a good deal of time learning how to lift the weight of my own head off a pillow as a reminder.

Several years later I was standing in the breakdown lane of a 2 lane divided highway with my broken down Pathfinder getting pulled up onto a tow truck. I watched a driver drift into the breakdown lane and run over 4 flares. The tow truck driver and I jumped over the guardrail just in time to watch her cream into the back of my SUV, sandwiching it between herself and the tow truck. I have no idea how she could miss the cop's blue strobes, the 4 flares in the breakdown lane and the yellow flashers on the tow truck but none of that mattered. I stood beside her bleeding face trying to comfort her and distract her from her knees that were embedded in the dashboard. It was a Christmas Eve I will never forget.

I'm actually a pretty easy going guy and I know that a good part of riding is about personal freedoms. In this case it's the freedom to do as you wish without my preaching so I won't trouble you further on this subject.

[spicy]

i've seen people do that. IMHO the most dangerous thing is mostly that, while drivers generally absolutely SUCK, more than half of them seem to think it's their personal duty to prevent other people from speeding or breaking the law or driving spiritedly or whatever else. when they go and take things into their own hands (swerving between lanes to block someone trying to pass, brake-checking, blocking people on bikes looking to split lanes), that is where the greatest danger is.

to jackasses that do this: if you want to enforce the law, get a fucking badge. otherwise, stop swerving around in front of me like a douchebag in your colossal SUV. just because you're on the way to your shitty job so you can support your miserable existence, doesn't mean you have the right to potentially end mine because i'm enjoying things more than you.

[/end rant]





sorry guys, just had to get that out there. *whew*

[Nate Dawg]

Personally I lane split from time to time. It really depends on how traffic is moving and how safe I feel at that time. I will also move to the front of the lane at a red light. Depending on how many people are sitting at the light.
I'm not going to tell anyone else to do it, or frown on people that don't.
To each his own.