• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

lane splitting

Illegal here

It is not allowed here; but I do it all the time. Once I was going to the right shoulder at a light and looked in my mirror and saw a motorcycle cop on a BMW coming up behind me. He stopped behind me at the light and as soon as the light changed shot around me. I followed him through town.

I do it quietly and safely.
 
In NC I don't think it's 'legal', but I do it at lights. When there's a line of cars at a light, I filter up to the front for the green. But I don't do it in moving traffic like I did in my home state of California. Drivers out here don't expect it or understand it, and in moving traffic, it won't end well.
 
I got socked on the helmet in Richmond CA by a disgruntled trucker when I was splitting at a light. I watch the their side mirrors now on my right when I see a window open.
 
I got socked on the helmet in Richmond CA by a disgruntled trucker

Not recently, but back in the mid-80's when the main road into Vandenburg AFB was under repairs, and morning rush hour traffic was virtually creeping, disgruntled cagers would idle along with their car doors open to prevent splitters ...
 
Last edited:
I have done it , but it scares me the way cage drivers react sometimes. So I do not make a practice of it.

I just read an article about how it is supposed to be safer if done properly. I think it would take a lot of education of the driving public before it will ever be widely accepted.
 
all the time around here, there is a lot of construction. very few issues normally. last time was a friggin prius :banghead
 
I get upset when a car passes me and uses part of my lane. I consider it a violation of my safety envelope. So, I don't do the same to cars.

I suppose if I lived in CA maybe I would see it differently.
 
I think I agree...I don't even split lanes on my bicycle. Just doesn't seem right, somehow. Thank goodness it isn't required down here.
 
I think I agree...I don't even split lanes on my bicycle. Just doesn't seem right, somehow. Thank goodness it isn't required down here.

You're fortunate then, that you haven't been stuck in the I-80 traffic I've seen between Sacto and the Bay Area!

Lane splitting seems to be de riguer in the Bay Area. I've never had a hassle from an angry driver and while I've had to wait for an openning when a driver didn't give me a bit of room, it still wasn't a problem. Many drivers move over and I try to give them a wave if I have the "attention budget" to do it safely.

There's nothing new about lane splitting, but it has perhaps been done differently and at different places. For example, this mid 1970s BMW safety film says not to split but to ride on the left side of all the traffic.
 
Lane Sharing

In the LA area it is the only way to get through traffic. This is done by most motorcycle riders in a sane, safe, and courteous manner. I certainly don't do it normally at more than 30mph because once I am going that fast the cars are spread apart. The more the cars are separated - front to back, the more dangerous it becomes for the rider because that is when cars decide to change lanes. A line of stopped cars is relatively safe and one can proceed safely down the lanes at 5-10mph faster than the stopped or almost-stopped cars. For the most part the LA drivers are also courteous and know bikes will be sharing. And, sharing is generally done in the lane between the fastest and second fastest lanes. We call those the numbers 1 and 2 lanes.

Regardless of my take, this is a biased read until you look at the data - the bias shows there is safety in lane sharing. http://www.ridetowork.org/files/docs/LANE_SHARING_A_GLOBAL_SOLUTION_FOR_MOTORCYCLE_SAFETY.pdf

Get with the program boys and girls...
 
The problem I had with it, growing up in california, was when you were traveling in a car at say 55mph in some traffic (say speed limit is 65) and some jackalope zooms between you at 80 mph just flying up the road. That's dangerous and crazy, but still no reason to make proper use of it illegal.
 
and some jackalope zooms between you at 80 mph just flying up the road.

that isn't "lane splitting"... that's just pure stupid. Not to mention more than a little discourteous, and a lot dangerous ... to everyone.
 
Back
Top