Lane splitting in San Fransisco

[callmegandhi]

I'm in California for the first time. I've seen videos online of people splitting lanes but seeing it for yourself that is crazy! There is a piece of me that would love to be on my bike and do it really fast!!


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.788173,-122.409522

 

[HappyHighwayman]

I'm in California for the first time. I've seen videos online of people splitting lanes but seeing it for yourself that is crazy! There is a piece of me that would love to be on my bike and do it really fast!!


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I lane split every day. It's not just in SF. In the city I typically only do it when traffic isn't moving to get myself to the front, but on the highway commute it's a necessity (when traffic is slow).

It might be one of the best aspects of riding.

 

[CHEMIKER]

It's pretty nice to be able to do it here, especially with traffic the way it is. I have to split for miles each morning, and I would go out of my mind if I couldn't.

 

[benjbong]

deleteddeleted

 

[Redback]

yeah try it mate peak hour traffic here is crap straight up the middle stuff sitting in traffic just keep an eye out for cages jumping lanes take it easy at first if your not sure try not to knock to many cages mirrors off

 

[greg]

just be careful, lane splitting (or filtering), can be quite dangerous.

you need to be hyper-aware of all the cars around you, in front of you, and also potentially bikes behind you. you should never filter more than 20-30mph faster than the flow of traffic, and if traffic is going over 30-40 then it's best to stay in line.

cars can and will change lanes without indicating. you may also get angry people opening their car doors on you. you may get more experienced bikers behind you trying ot get past, also it can be harder to avoid hazards such as oil on the road. in the wet white lines are dangerous, and when filtering they will be in the centre of your path. it doesn't matter who is at fault you will always come off worse

that said i do enjoy a little bit of filtering, but it does get tiring if you have to do it for several miles. if you can avoid it then do so, riding a nice twisty is much more fun

 

[trailhead]

It can be pretty hairy. I was riding home yesterday and some guy just about cut me off because he didn't look before he started changing lanes. I grabbed all the binders I could without crashing and got it slowed down. I was only doing about 25 or 30 and traffic was doing about 15 so it wasn't high speed but it sure triggered a seat pucker. I rode by reading the guy the riot act and went on my way.

But you talk about a shot of adrenaline, I was tweaking all the way home, probably another 30 minutes.

The point in my mind is that there is no "safe" way to split lanes. When I was about 16 years old, a highway patrolman in my neighborhood gave me a little advice on it. Never go faster than you can stop. He said typically 10 to 15 MPH over what the rest of traffic is doing is reasonable.

Oh yeah, and proper scanning of all of the toads around you is critical to your safety. When I'm splitting lanes, my scan pattern is basically:
1) Look for turn signals
2) Look in side view mirrors. Try to see the drivers eyes.
3) Look at the driver's heads
4) Look for holes/gaps between cars that someone will likely try to shoot into (so they can get one car further ahead! Argggggh)
5) Then every 4 or 5 cycles of 1 through 4, I'll check the rear view mirror. I do this one occasionally because there are som people who split lanes faster than I do. I'll be courteous and slip in behind a car and let them pass, then get on my merry way afterwards.

Stuff not to do when splitting lanes!
1) Don't mess with your GPS.
2) Don't look into your rear view mirrors too much (Remember, the hazard is in front of you).
3) Don't daydream about anything. If your girlfriend was real nice to you last night, now is not the time to be thinking about it, you want to get back to that place later don't you?

Most important points are:
1) Look! Look everywhere in front of you.
2) Think! Think about what you're doing and where you are.
3) Anticipate! What could happen in front of you that could cause you to crash?
4) When traffic is up to a reasonable speed, start flowing with traffic. There's no real need to split lanes when traffic is going 55 MPH. Change your tactics to strategic passing instead.

Just my $0.02.

trailhead :iconbeer:

 

[callmegandhi]

I was only there four days, but saw it often. Looks a bit scary and fun as hell! I wasn't able to ride my bike there, it wasn't even there. We will definitely will be back to California, especially the bay area! Loved it, great weather, great people, great food! Nice to see that California has a mandatory helmet law there. Its about 3:1 people who don't wear helmets back in Wisconsin.

 

[Lefty]

It can be pretty hairy. I was riding home yesterday and some guy just about cut me off because he didn't look before he started changing lanes. I grabbed all the binders I could without crashing and got it slowed down. I was only doing about 25 or 30 and traffic was doing about 15 so it wasn't high speed but it sure triggered a seat pucker. I rode by reading the guy the riot act and went on my way.

But you talk about a shot of adrenaline, I was tweaking all the way home, probably another 30 minutes.

The point in my mind is that there is no "safe" way to split lanes. When I was about 16 years old, a highway patrolman in my neighborhood gave me a little advice on it. Never go faster than you can stop. He said typically 10 to 15 MPH over what the rest of traffic is doing is reasonable.

Oh yeah, and proper scanning of all of the toads around you is critical to your safety. When I'm splitting lanes, my scan pattern is basically:
1) Look for turn signals
2) Look in side view mirrors. Try to see the drivers eyes.
3) Look at the driver's heads
4) Look for holes/gaps between cars that someone will likely try to shoot into (so they can get one car further ahead! Argggggh)
5) Then every 4 or 5 cycles of 1 through 4, I'll check the rear view mirror. I do this one occasionally because there are som people who split lanes faster than I do. I'll be courteous and slip in behind a car and let them pass, then get on my merry way afterwards.

Stuff not to do when splitting lanes!
1) Don't mess with your GPS.
2) Don't look into your rear view mirrors too much (Remember, the hazard is in front of you).
3) Don't daydream about anything. If your girlfriend was real nice to you last night, now is not the time to be thinking about it, you want to get back to that place later don't you?

Most important points are:
1) Look! Look everywhere in front of you.
2) Think! Think about what you're doing and where you are.
3) Anticipate! What could happen in front of you that could cause you to crash?
4) When traffic is up to a reasonable speed, start flowing with traffic. There's no real need to split lanes when traffic is going 55 MPH. Change your tactics to strategic passing instead.

Just my $0.02.

trailhead :iconbeer:

^^THIS^^ Lane sharing takes 100% concentration and awareness. Great tips trailhead. :thumbup:

 

[sdawg17]

I split everyday. I ride in the carpool and when the double yellow breaks I stick to the left just in case someone merges in unknowingly. Also, if you don't plan on splitting for a while, move to the left of the lane. There's a lot of bikers in my area and they get kinda squidy if you're in their way.