Do you Lane Split

[Boneman]

Scary man...some people get upset so easily.

I don't see how riding on the shoulder during a traffic jam would pose a threat to anyone else (I wouldn't do it 99% of the time b/c of the puncture and ticket issues).

Blocking a bike that was doing it with your cage....man, I don't know what to say about that. Blows my mind.

I don't know what to say either other than having a slow night Def? Just felt like quoting a month and a half old post now.... Nothing better to do than ping on Bone on a Sunday night?

It pisses me off beacuse I sit there in traffic, OBEYING the traffic laws. I'm sitting in traffic, not moving, sweating my ass off being the "good guy" and also being concious of the image I'm 'projecting' to all the surrounding motorists. I bet every driver and rider is thinking "what an a$$hole" as he zips by illegally down the shoulder. And what kind of image does that give the rest of us riders? That's the type of stuff that sticks in peoples minds.

People say "why get so worked up about it?, It's not you doing it so who cares?". Well it's precisley THAT attitude that allows more and more people to just go about doing what ever the 'f' they want wihtout a second thought. Maybe more people should give a crap. Obviously putting a car door into him isn't the anwser.

Just becasue I think about doing something dosen't mean I'm gonna...I just like to vent.

I'm realizing that this is one of my riding faults...taking things too personally. I'm wokring on it, but I'm one of these 'hyper aware' people that I just seem to zero in on the retarded stuff going on out in the world. It's lead to a few road side "discussions" with several motorists over the years. Sure I could let it go, but I want THEM to know that what they just did was stupid/dangerous/almost killed me, (fill in the blank). Because if I don't let em know, who will? Maybe someone won't be as lucky next time. But that's just me.

 

[DefyInertia]

I don't know what to say either other than having a slow night Def? Just felt like quoting a month and a half old post now.... Nothing better to do than ping on Bone on a Sunday night?

It pisses me off beacuse I sit there in traffic, OBEYING the traffic laws. I'm sitting in traffic, not moving, sweating my ass off being the "good guy" and also being concious of the image I'm 'projecting' to all the surrounding motorists. I bet every driver and rider is thinking "what an a$$hole" as he zips by illegally down the shoulder. And what kind of image does that give the rest of us riders? That's the type of stuff that sticks in peoples minds.

People say "why get so worked up about it?, It's not you doing it so who cares?". Well it's precisley THAT attitude that allows more and more people to just go about doing what ever the 'f' they want wihtout a second thought. Maybe more people should give a crap. Obviously putting a car door into him isn't the anwser.

Just becasue I think about doing something dosen't mean I'm gonna...I just like to vent.

I'm realizing that this is one of my riding faults...taking things too personally. I'm wokring on it, but I'm one of these 'hyper aware' people that I just seem to zero in on the retarded stuff going on out in the world. It's lead to a few road side "discussions" with several motorists over the years. Sure I could let it go, but I want THEM to know that what they just did was stupid/dangerous/almost killed me, (fill in the blank). Because if I don't let em know, who will? Maybe someone won't be as lucky next time. But that's just me.

Yes, I was hunting for you. WTF?

What makes that person an a$$hole? Really, what? Not everyone thinks that...you definitly do and so do a lot of other people, but some people just shrug their shoulders and go on with life. If they want to risk getting a ticket without bother anyone else, let them! Who cares! Seriously.

If the rider is doing something remotely dangerous, I'm with you 100%. If they're blasting super loud pipes, I might play the "making us look bad" card. But riding on the shoulder in a traffic jam? 2bros annoy me more than riding on the shoulder...imagine that!

For what it's worth, I've had my share of road side discussions...with the goal of making the road a safer place, period.

chi-chi-chiiii-chiiiilll out :thumbup:

And by the way, I get pissed off about things I think I shouldn't too...everyone does....you just seem to ON A REGULAR BASIS (based on a ton of posts I've read).

 

[Boneman]

To each his own Def. I can't help it that seeing people blatantly breaking the law pisses me off. Go figure.
I can't help it that seeing people do sh$t on a daily basis that would cause them to immediatley fail a driving test anoys me. It just does and you're right, it really shouldn't...but it just does. And yes I have strong opinions about the type of people that do such things on a regular basis without giving it a seconds thought.

What can I say, I have some anger issues.:banghead:

BTW, last time I checked a couple of posts isn't a 'ton'....what can I say, life has been anyoing me lately, well mostly just work, and I'm trying to rectify that by finding a new job. :thumbup:

I will keep the rants in check and try to find a better 'outlet' for my rage. Maybe needle point....

"Dave is getting angry....you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"

 

[Kriswithak]

You have every right to be angry and if you feel like it take it up with the person doing something wrong (obviously try to keep it polite and not be threatening). Most people will continue to do the wrong thing and put peoples lives at risk if someone doesn't embarras them enough to make them stop or at least attempt to educate them. There are still dumbasses who can't be helped but the head in the sand approach to everything in life is as bad as doing everything wrong.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

I generally only filter when the traffic is stopped, its dangerous and risky otherwise, and people will do stupid things. One of the roads I often use is a toll road with a shoulder and a bus -only- lane, bikes can use BUS lanes but not BUS only lanes, yet they expect us to pay the full toll (its also an e-tag system which is nice and dangerous/unreliable too).
In heavy traffic I use the bus only lane, not the shoulder, I can get in equal trouble for it, but I would rather be in the bus only lane (with the 2 buses an hour) than the shoulder where emergency vehicles might need to be travelling, if I got pulled over I would politely explain to the police officer my position, and then get proverbially raped by the law and given a ticket.
I do occasionally use the shoulder but generally I'm not in a big enough hurry to bother, and if I am using it its at low speed, so I can pull over quickly if I'm seen by anyone official and try an excuse like "need to stop for a minute bikes overheating" or "need to stop and call work and let them know I'll be very late" again the police generally don't care but its worth a try.

I get furious while driving when someone does something wrong on purpose and its dangerous, I will honk and abuse them, because its just stupidity, and I won't put up with it. When someone makes a mistake I try and be a bit more understanding.
On the bike I always try and keep my cool, getting angry often leads to bad riding and putting yourself at risk.

 

[Kazza]

I don't lane split, but only because I'm still a Newbie! I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as it's done safely.

You have a bike, that's the advantage, getting ahead of cars and other traffic!

:rockon:

 

[afpreppie04]

Its illegal here, closest thing to it I do is go around the line if I am right on redding and the person in front is sitting at the light to go straight.

 

[Tailgate]

Well, this might be an exaggeration, but lane splitting is near obligatory around here. it's normal practice. But, one should not exceed, say, 10MPH over the flow of traffic. Riding on the shoulder? Now, this is something different and I DON'T do that. That's blatantly illegal (I mean, there's enough room on the shoulder for cagers to do that also). When I'm in a cage in on a congested highway, light queue, I think I actually enjoy experiencing a rider filtering past me. On a bike, sometimes cagers manuever to give me even more space but, hey.....that's really nice of you but it's not necessary! A few months ago while on Int. 80, there was a Harley rider with Wisconsin plates splitting in front of me during a massive jam. He looked like he was doing it for the first time or so---I was a little amused. But, he did alright. I encourage visitors to CA who are on a bike to take advantage of the accepted practice here!

 

[Tailgate]

Well, this might be an exaggeration, but lane splitting is near obligatory around here. it's normal practice. But, one should not exceed, say, 10MPH over the flow of traffic. Riding on the shoulder? Now, this is something different and I DON'T do that. That's blatantly illegal (I mean, there's enough room on the shoulder for cagers to do that also). When I'm in a cage in on a congested highway, light queue, I think I actually enjoy experiencing a rider filtering past me. On a bike, sometimes cagers manuever to give me even more space but, hey.....that's really nice of you but it's not necessary! A few months ago while on Int. 80, there was a Harley rider with Wisconsin plates splitting in front of me during a massive jam. He looked like he was doing it for the first time or so---I was a little amused. But, he did alright. I encourage visitors to CA who are on a bike to take advantage of the accepted practice here!

 

[DamiaRhan]

Lane splitting is a bad idea if it’s illegal in your area. I can’t even count on my hands how many times I’ve witnessed a car and on numerous occasions a tractor trailer cut off someone on a motorcycle because they were riding on the shoulder and/or in the break down lane. Quite frankly, I’d have a hard time feeling bad for the person on the bike if they got hurt… Technically it’s against the law, and people in cages are angry because they’re sitting in traffic, why would you want to give them the chance to use you as a source of stress relief?? If you get hurt they’ll just tell the cop “I was pulling over because my car was over heating.”
Don’t give some people a reason to hate motorcyclists more than they already do.

 

[Boneman]

Lane splitting is a bad idea if it’s illegal in your area. I can’t even count on my hands how many times I’ve witnessed a car and on numerous occasions a tractor trailer cut off someone on a motorcycle because they were riding on the shoulder and/or in the break down lane. Quite frankly, I’d have a hard time feeling bad for the person on the bike if they got hurt… Technically it’s against the law, and people in cages are angry because they’re sitting in traffic, why would you want to give them the chance to use you as a source of stress relief?? If you get hurt they’ll just tell the cop “I was pulling over because my car was over heating.”
Don’t give some people a reason to hate motorcyclists more than they already do.

+1 My exact thoughts, just better said.

But we are combining two seperate actions/issues here, Lane Splitting and riding on the Shoulder/Break down lane.

Lane Splitting (going down the centerline between stopped or very slow moving traffic) is legal and accepted in many places and illegal in others.

Riding on the Shoulder/break down Lane which I'm pretty sure is universally illegal pretty much everywhere.

 

[Wavex]

It's illegal everywhere to drive above the speed limit... Boneman, have you ever ridden above the speed limit? What if I decide I don't like you doing that and take you out with my car... would that be OK too?

I don't ride on the shoulder either (I don't need to I just split lanes), but if I come across a situation where I can save 30min if I ride on the shoulder for a couple hundred yards (at 10mph passing cars that are stopped on the freeway), I will do it, and the argument "don't give people a reason to take you out" makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The law about not driving on the shoulder makes sense for cars because else it would be just another lane and emergency vehicles would have no way of getting through, but if a bike or 2 need to use a couple of feet of it to filter through traffic at slow speeds, I don't see why anyone would get pissed at that...

"I am stuck, so you should be stuck too" is sooooo junior high-school imo!!!

 

[Boneman]

Lol, I was wondering when the "but speeding is illegal too" was going to come up. I was going to address that earlier, but figured I wouldn't have to....oh well....

Sure I speed. Who here hasn't. I guess speeding is almost one of those accepted things. Still doesn't make it right, no matter how we feel about it. Just like if you got a ticket from a cop for speeding and your only defense is "well everyone else was doing it too" would fall on deaf ears. Just because you feel the shoulder is an ok place to ride also doesn't make it right. The old saying applies of 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should'.

A "couple of feet" is one thing, a few km's is another. I don't think anyone here is talking about a couple of feet.

I also think speeding is probably a far more accepted by the general public. Here where lane splitting and shoulder riding is illegal, it is far more noticeable to all.

This also isn't a discussion about speeding.

As for your "junior high" comment, I think it's just the opposite. I could easily go zipping down the shoulder, but I don't. Just because other people are doing it and I can physically fit my bike down the shoulder past traffic doesn't mean I'm going to follow the rest of the sheep and join in just because they are doing it. To me THAT'S junior high behaviour...doing something without thinking of the possible consequences or how it might reflect on other riders.

Look I do my best to ride like a professional and not to be a hypocrite. Do I succeed every time? No. But if speeding is the only "illegal" thing I do instead of 4 additional other illegal things, then I guess I'm doing pretty good.

I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill here guys. You're right is is a pretty minor issue in the big scheme of things. I always try to keep in the back of my mind of how my riding and actions on my motorcycle are viewed by others. Even more so now that I'm trying to be an instructor and I have the added pressure of now having to 'practice what I preach' to students. I just wish more riders out there would do the same.

And you guys are really embellishing the whole "Bone's gonna take you out with is car" thing. Seriously enough already. What I ORIGINALLY SAID was "have thought about blocking them with the car at times". Never said I was going to do, or have done it or anything about 'taking people out'.

By the sounds of it there are people out there in the world that do more than 'think' about it. So maybe that's something one should think about next time they go tooling down somewhere they shouldn't be in the first place.

 

[RyanK]

I don't ride on the shoulder either (I don't need to I just split lanes), but if I come across a situation where I can save 30min if I ride on the shoulder for a couple hundred yards (at 10mph passing cars that are stopped on the freeway), I will do it, and the argument "don't give people a reason to take you out" makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The law about not driving on the shoulder makes sense for cars because else it would be just another lane and emergency vehicles would have no way of getting through, but if a bike or 2 need to use a couple of feet of it to filter through traffic at slow speeds, I don't see why anyone would get pissed at that...

"I am stuck, so you should be stuck too" is sooooo junior high-school imo!!!

You've obviously never ridden over here near the east coast... Sucks huh...

If you were to try splitting lanes in Atlanta or Detroit, I could very easily see some cager opening his door on purpose before you have time to stop . I dunno if it is jealousy or what

 

[Wavex]

Lol, I was wondering when the "but speeding is illegal too" was going to come up. I was going to address that earlier, but figured I wouldn't have to....oh well....

Sure I speed. Who here hasn't. I guess speeding is almost one of those accepted things. Still doesn't make it right, no matter how we feel about it. Just like if you got a ticket from a cop for speeding and your only defense is "well everyone else was doing it too" would fall on deaf ears. Just because you feel the shoulder is an ok place to ride also doesn't make it right. The old saying applies of 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should'.

A "couple of feet" is one thing, a few km's is another. I don't think anyone here is talking about a couple of feet.

I also think speeding is probably a far more accepted by the general public. Here where lane splitting and shoulder riding is illegal, it is far more noticeable to all.

This also isn't a discussion about speeding.

As for your "junior high" comment, I think it's just the opposite. I could easily go zipping down the shoulder, but I don't. Just because other people are doing it and I can physically fit my bike down the shoulder past traffic doesn't mean I'm going to follow the rest of the sheep and join in just because they are doing it. To me THAT'S junior high behaviour...doing something without thinking of the possible consequences or how it might reflect on other riders.

Look I do my best to ride like a professional and not to be a hypocrite. Do I succeed every time? No. But if speeding is the only "illegal" thing I do instead of 4 additional other illegal things, then I guess I'm doing pretty good.

I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill here guys. You're right is is a pretty minor issue in the big scheme of things. I always try to keep in the back of my mind of how my riding and actions on my motorcycle are viewed by others. Even more so now that I'm trying to be an instructor and I have the added pressure of now having to 'practice what I preach' to students. I just wish more riders out there would do the same.

And you guys are really embellishing the whole "Bone's gonna take you out with is car" thing. Seriously enough already. What I ORIGINALLY SAID was "have thought about blocking them with the car at times". Never said I was going to do, or have done it or anything about 'taking people out'.

By the sounds of it there are people out there in the world that do more than 'think' about it. So maybe that's something one should think about next time they go tooling down somewhere they shouldn't be in the first place.

When I said "a couple of feet" I meant using a couple feet of width in the emergency lane to move ahead... not to use it for a couple of feet

And I agree, while everyone speeds, it does not make it right... riding on the shoulder is not "the right thing to do"... no-one ever said that.

I think we agree that systematically using the shoulder is not a good idea. It is also not a good idea to go 65mph in there while everyone else is stopped on the freeway...
The point we're making is that while we understand it is illegal, there is NOTHING dangerous or annoying about doing it, if done appropriately (just like splitting lanes). If I pass a car going 5-10mph in the shoulder (because there's an accident and I can't split elsewhere) and it pisses someone off, they can go to hell! Being stupid enough to drive a cage in LA traffic (using a lot of room and gas for no reason), and being pissed about it, does not give you the right to take the law into your own hands and take it out on me...

If more people would ride a bike and split lanes in a responsible manner, life in LA would be much much better for everyone.

 

[Boneman]

Agreed. Appreciate the discussion and your insight.

I wish lane splitting were legal here, but sadly it isn't so I'm not going to even attempt it. Not beacuse it's illegal, but becasue the motorsits don't expect it, understand it or are aware of it.

I drove from LA airport to Passadena once on business....holly crap! Nerves were shot after that drive! Don't know how you guys deal with that mess on a daily basis...

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Boneman....once you become a motorycle safety instructor, you will be held to a higher riding standard. You'll have to keep the illegal things to an absolute minimum.

 

[Tailgate]

I think other states ought to include in their DMV handbooks some info on lane splitting by motorcylists, so that in order to pass the test, one is required to have some knowlege or better perspective. Also (and this could even include CA), applicants for the motorcycle endorsement on their license should also have to demonstrate a knowledge of lane splitting techniques. I think lane splitting (gulp) should be learned as something to be looked at in a positive, or neutral light, and not something to view as something meant to be "discourteous" or rude.

 

[cap'n]

Illegal in NH and certainly not worth the ticket. I just take the long way (read: twisty) roads home from work and avoid the highways and any congestion. :thumbup:

Ditto, for MA.

I have done it once, 3 years ago on a different bike, when I got stuck on the highway coming out of Boston in 98 degree heat in full gear. I was on the verge of passing out, even with the jacket off, so I split lanes in the dead-stopped traffic for about 8 miles to get to an exit. And even on that one short trial run I had several people try to block me, and or yell something. People suck.

 

[Boneman]

Boneman....once you become a motorycle safety instructor, you will be held to a higher riding standard. You'll have to keep the illegal things to an absolute minimum.

Yeah, I'm trying to get into the mindset now ahead of time. It's not easy and is probably why seeing all these seeming little things are starting to get to me more and more these days.

When I think about it, Wavex has a point about the 'highschool' attitude mindset in that I now have to play by the rules so why the heck can't everyone else. Again, inner personal issue that I'm obviously going to have to work on and sort out.

 

[CarpeNoctumDC]

Agreed. Appreciate the discussion and your insight.

I wish lane splitting were legal here, but sadly it isn't so I'm not going to even attempt it. Not beacuse it's illegal, but becasue the motorsits don't expect it, understand it or are aware of it.

I drove from LA airport to Passadena once on business....holly crap! Nerves were shot after that drive! Don't know how you guys deal with that mess on a daily basis...

Bone: What are you talking about! I miss the 101 in traffic... Riding the line and every evasive action you can think of... Well actually all of California traffic... Ride the line - swerve left - swerve right - repeat... Occasionally if you where lucky you got to be in a lane....

Here in Missouri lane sharing is "usually prohibited" and essentially just frowned upon... I stopped ridding the line in Missouri mostly due to the fact that the other drivers tend to swerve way out of the way when you freak them out... Didn't really want to be responsible for an accident... Although it was nice in traffic... heh

-=- George