Lane splitting thoughts

baz said:
As a side note does anyone know if those cars fitted with sonar that tell you if you are too close to something go off when a bike passes you in traffic?
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We've been deemed insignificant and expendable by the autonomous vehicle AI a while back. This movie highlighted it clearly. It has been censored as well.

Watch The Last Motorcycle on Earth | Prime Video

When custom bike builder Conrad Mendel learns that motorcycles have been banned from public streets, gasoline is illegal and the shift to autonomous vehicles has begun, he starts a battle with global corporations that most think he can never win.
www.amazon.com

www.nbcnews.com

Tesla driver in Seattle-area crash that killed motorcyclist told police he was using Autopilot

The 56-year-old driver was arrested for investigation of vehicular homicide.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

 
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marshg246 said:
Also, 17% of motorcycle accidents involve lane splitting
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Statistics can be manipulated to support various agendas, and not to nit pick, but,,,, the article, written by a personal injury law firm (not much surprise there) that marshg246 quoted, and was posted above said 17 per cent of motorcycle accidents involve lane splitting. Assuming that number is correct, if you wanted to look at that number in a different way, what if there were no such thing as lane splitting allowed? Would that mean there would have been 17 per cent fewer accidents, involving motorcycles, altogether? It could be looked at in that way.
 
baz said:
I "lane split" all the time or filter as we call it
If I didn't I wouldn't get anywhere especially on the M25
But I do it carefully at low speeds
Plenty of drivers move over when they see you coming
Overs close the gap to stop you passing
Also beware of giant poodles sticking their heads out the windows!
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Agreed. Every time I ride.

This copper didn't agree tho. I suspect because he too was stuck in the jam....



Am pretty sure had it been a traffic cop on a bike the response would be different!
 
quawk said:
Statistics can be manipulated to support various agendas, and not to nit pick, but,,,, the article, written by a personal injury law firm (not much surprise there) that marshg246 quoted, and was posted above said 17 per cent of motorcycle accidents involve lane splitting. Assuming that number is correct, if you wanted to look at that number in a different way, what if there were no such thing as lane splitting allowed? Would that mean there would have been 17 per cent fewer accidents, involving motorcycles, altogether? It could be looked at in that way.
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Yes, statistics and wording can attempt to sway thinking. It actually says: "A Berkeley traffic study found that just 17% of motorcycle accidents involved lane splitting over two years. Many drivers assume that lane splitting is more dangerous than it is. " The word "just" means exactly the same thing as "only" in this case as proven by the second sentence. In other words, trying to make it look minimal.

One thing I found: "Motorcycle accidents in California result in approximately 16,000 accidents per year, with 532 fatalities. In 2021, a total of 13,381 injury and fatality motorcycle crashes ocurred in the state."

So, without lane splitting:

2720 less motorcycle accidents
2184 less injuries in those 2720
90 less deaths in those 2720

Yes, I know the numbers are a mix of averages and 2021 data.

I have no idea why the law firm is trying to minimize this. It turns out that most related articles are from law firms. I suspect that they get a good bit of business from lane splitting as apparently the police try to figure out who is at fault in accidents and if you get killed and it is determined (somehow) that the car was at fault while you were lane splitting a big payday is instore for the lawyer.
 
AndyDMC said:
Agreed. Every time I ride.

This copper didn't agree tho. I suspect because he too was stuck in the jam....



Am pretty sure had it been a traffic cop on a bike the response would be different!
Click to expand...

Interesting. The law they tried to pass in Virginia to allow filtering required two lanes to filter. Since one lane was closed in the video, had the Virginia law passed, he would have been illegally filtering. Also in Virginia, no one can ride/drive on the shoulder so that excuse would not work either.

It may be a British/US language thing, but the cop in the video said "You're not filtering in one lane", meaning what he was doing was considered illegal.
 
British guys: What speed do you consider safe to filter?

I mentioned before that the Virginia law that failed to pass would have allowed filtering when the cars were doing 10mph or less and the bike was doing 10mph or less faster (max 20mph).

Apparently, California allows it when cars are doing 40mph or less and the motorcycle is no more than 10mph faster (max 50mph).
 
marshg246 said:
British guys: What speed do you consider safe to filter?

I mentioned before that the Virginia law that failed to pass would have allowed filtering when the cars were doing 10mph or less and the bike was doing 10mph or less faster (max 20mph).

Apparently, California allows it when cars are doing 40mph or less and the motorcycle is no more than 10mph faster (max 50mph).
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Personally no more than 15 -20 mph
 
marshg246 said:
British guys: What speed do you consider safe to filter?

I mentioned before that the Virginia law that failed to pass would have allowed filtering when the cars were doing 10mph or less and the bike was doing 10mph or less faster (max 20mph).

Apparently, California allows it when cars are doing 40mph or less and the motorcycle is no more than 10mph faster (max 50mph).
Click to expand...

I refer you to my previous response, although I did go through Euston Underpass at over 100mph during Friday rush hour when I was racing Dave Martin to Hanger Lane
He beat me......
 
Seeley920 said:
I refer you to my previous response, although I did go through Euston Underpass at over 100mph during Friday rush hour when I was racing Dave Martin to Hanger Lane
He beat me......
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Did you used to do the Friday night thing of hang out on Chelsea Bridge till the Feds started kicking folk off around midnight, then race through London to Heston services ?

I used to go down t’ smoke from Mansfield to do that. Then ride back up the M1 at 3am WOT for miles on end, on my Gixer 750.

Sleep seemed optional back then.

Them were t’ days lad !
 
Fast Eddie said:
Did you used to do the Friday night thing of hang out on Chelsea Bridge till the Feds started kicking folk off around midnight, then race through London to Heston services ?

I used to go down t’ smoke from Mansfield to do that. Then ride back up the M1 at 3am WOT for miles on end, on my Gixer 750.

Sleep seemed optional back then.

Them were t’ days lad !
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Never really did that, I was usually getting ready for Brands on Saturday morning! Back then I racked about 25 meetings a year, and it felt like we never left Brands ... CRMC, Kent Combine etc. although it was only about 10 meetings at Brands per season between early March and October

Luckily it was pre camera days, and plod were still on RT BMWs so couldn't follow you through traffic.

I couldn't imagine doing it now, but I was doing over 80,000 miles a year on the road. 300 miles a day without going outside the M25 wasn't unusual, so you had to be quick to earn money.

Dave Martin held a few lap records around Brands on GSXRs at the time, and Damon Hill was still a courier and racing bikes too. There were quite a few couriers who raced back then

Glory days never to return
 
If you are in a big tailback and there is only one lane you will be well served to
simply pass by it the best you can. An aircooled motor does not like to sit and
if you are not blessed with the electric leg you will do as you need do.
 
As I suspected when I started this thread, it has brought many responses with many different viewpoints and opinins and maybe even controversy. I didn't start this looking for support for my viewpoint. I know how I feel about the topic (lane splitting), but was wondering, as I stated initially how others felt about it. I guess I could be called lazy as just about everthing I've learned about it has been from responses to this thread and don't know if this topic had been discussed on previous posts. I have learned from responding info that here in the U.S. only California allows it currently, with proposed law to allow it in Virginia and both states are talking about relatively low speed situations. Our UK members have apparently been allowed to do it for as long as some can remember. A few may have gotten a little off track with saying they "needed" to be able to lane split at 80 mph regularly as a courier to keep their job and another talking about doing 100 mph through an underpass during Friday rush hour and another running WOT for miles on end at 3a.m. Not to make any enimies of any U.K. members, but these few responses seem, to me anyway, to be well beyond what the intent of allowed lane splitting/filtering is and is more like reckless behavior/riding. I'm sure the majority of U.K. motorcyclists ride responsibly.
 
quawk said:
As I suspected when I started this thread, it has brought many responses with many different viewpoints and opinins and maybe even controversy. I didn't start this looking for support for my viewpoint. I know how I feel about the topic (lane splitting), but was wondering, as I stated initially how others felt about it. I guess I could be called lazy as just about everthing I've learned about it has been from responses to this thread and don't know if this topic had been discussed on previous posts. I have learned from responding info that here in the U.S. only California allows it currently, with proposed law to allow it in Virginia and both states are talking about relatively low speed situations. Our UK members have apparently been allowed to do it for as long as some can remember. A few may have gotten a little off track with saying they "needed" to be able to lane split at 80 mph regularly as a courier to keep their job and another talking about doing 100 mph through an underpass during Friday rush hour and another running WOT for miles on end at 3a.m. Not to make any enimies of any U.K. members, but these few responses seem, to me anyway, to be well beyond what the intent of allowed lane splitting/filtering is and is more like reckless behavior/riding. I'm sure the majority of U.K. motorcyclists ride responsibly.
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Sorry to have offended you with our past recklessness.

We’re all good boys now tho (I think !)
 
marshg246 said:
We could start a new poll:

How many times have you run from police, and how many times were you successful? For me, one run, one successful!
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That’d be a good thread. Although I do wonder if some if it could be ‘used in evidence’ ?!
 
If lane splitting becomes an option, I know I took the wrong route. I don't do it, and don't care if anyone else does as long as they don't knock my mirrors off when I'm driving a car.

I haven't commuted to work for 20 years. It must be hell out there.
 
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