LEO Encounter

[kevlarian]

I had an interesting conversation with a LEO this morning on my commute to work. This is my story...

I was traveling to San Diego, CA from Mission Viejo, CA this morning (as I do every Tuesday). As usual, I exited the freeway and merged onto a three laned city street.

I was in the #1 lane (far left) and there was an accident in the same lane. I merged into the #2 lane (center). All traffic in lanes #2 and #3 (far right) were completely stopped. So I split the lane to ride to the front of the traffic (staying in the #2 lane, and careful not to whiteline).
As I pulled up to the stop light, I felt a tap on my shoulder. That tap was a SD LEO. He told me to flip my visor up (which i did promptly), and the conversation went something like this...

LEO: (extremely adgitated) "Would you do this in a car?"

Me: "Do what?"

LEO: "...split lanes."

Me: "No, sir"

LEO: "Then what makes you think you can do it on your bike?"

(By this time the light is green and the LEO and I are in the middle of the street with cars passing in each side of us)

Me: "Because lane sharing is legal, sir."

LEO: "No it isn't."

Me: "That isn't what I understand from both MSF training and the DMV handbook drivers training handbook."

LEO: "Well they lied to you."

Me: "Really." (in a slightly sarcastic tone)

LEO: "Well, why don't I write you a ticket, and we can have a judge decide. I write tickets up for this all day and I never loose in court."

Me: "Ummmm, ok."

LEO: "If I wasn't investigating this accident. I'd ticket you. Don't do it anymore."

Me: "Yes sir."

LEO: (walks away)

Me: (drive away)



Prior to today, I was pretty confident in my “lane sharing rights” in the state of California. I need to do some more research. The crazy thing is that I have done this for years, even pulling up alongside LEO’s in both City and Freeway conditions. I have even had LEO’s pass me (lane splitting) while I am lane splitting.
If anyone has more insight into the legal part of this… or even personal experience in a similar situation, please let me know…

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Who in the hell is LEO? Lane splitting is "permissable" in the state of California. And there are specific guidelines on where and how fast you can do it.

 

[kevlarian]

Who in the hell is LEO? Lane splitting is "permissable" in the state of California. And there are specific guidelines on where and how fast you can do it.

LEO = Law Enforcement Officer

The law is actually quite vague on the whole "lane splitting/sharing" thing. It isn't specifically "illegal" but the practice is "discouraged".

Anyway, I am still trying to find the CA Vehicle Code that says it is allowed. The CHP website says that it is permissible but that is the CHP and NOT the city. They are policed by local CITY police with local CITY laws. I am just curious if San Diego has a law making it illegal to lane share. If that is the case, there could be multiple cities that have similar laws in place.

 

[HavBlue]

And there are specific guidelines on where and how fast you can do it.

There are? Go for it Vegas and you will spend many sleepless nights trying to find it because it isn't in the California Vehicle Code. I agree, it is permissible but there are a couple of places it is not. One is the outside or inner most lane where the solid yellow line may appear and the other is at an intersection where there may be a solid white line in any of the lanes. I am not saying the LEO was right, only that he "can" write a citation for it and he can win under certain circumstances. Personally, I would have begged him to write me up and enjoyed testing the waters as San Diego went so far as to plaster the TV news with a piece on this a few years back. Here, I'll save you some leg work but you have to do the reading on your own..... Good Luck

2008 Vehicle Code General Provisions and Divisions 1 - 18 Table of Contents

 

[gomd3]

yeah, in Maryland and VA lane splitting is illegal and there are laws stating that. In DC however, there is no such guideline, but depends on the cop to stop you and tell you. The cops in DC have worst things to worry about so they rarely go after someone for lane splitting. Now what pissed me off yesterday was a guy on a harley using the bicycle lane to pass traffic. I know it isn't that bad but there was barely any traffic and he was using it to go around 50 in a 35 zone.

 

[madmanmaigret]

check this out California state motorcycle laws
it says (AMA) that there is no specific code so I figure the LEO can write you that ticket and unless you go in to court with a really good explanation and some facts to back it up (hoping the judge doesn't know/like this LEO) you might win but still be out of your time and money to do so.

 

[kevlarian]

Here is some more information I got from the DucatiGirl.com website...


---

Is lane-splitting legal?
Here's the text (verbatim) from the CHP's site: "Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible under California law but must done in a safe and prudent manner." The text used to also include "The motorcycle should be traveling no more than 10 mph faster than surrounding traffic (without exceeding the speed limit) and not come close enough to that traffic to cause a collision." but has since been removed. Perhaps they wanted to give cops more latitude to interpret what they thought was safe so they removed it.
If you lane split, avoid weaving between the two lanes and don't exceed traffic speed by more than 10 mph. The former could get you a ticket for changing lanes without signaling while the latter could get you a ticket for reckless driving.
Your odds of getting ticketed also increase if you lane split between the carpool and fast lane. A double yellow line divides the two lanes and those are illegal to cross (with rare exceptions that would never occur on the freeway); I know of riders who have been specifically ticketed for crossing the double yellow while lane splitting between those lanes.
Lane splitting on surface streets is probably not addressed in city or county laws so I would do this with caution, as individual cops will decide whether or not they like what they see. I split lanes on surface streets if I don't see any cops, but I stop immediately if I spot one.
There's a little bit of information on "lane sharing" in the DMV Motorcycle handbook. They say to discourage its practice, but never say it's illegal.

Related note from Chris Nowak:

I actually got some conflicting information regarding special case lane splitting though, so I decided to call the CHP. I spoke to two offices (one in LA, and one in Orange County), to try to avoid the chances that I spoke to "that one guy" who didn't know what he was talking about.

Splitting lanes between the carpool lane and the fast lane: They both said it was OK. They both advised not going over 30 mph or so (both were riders fortunately), advised safety, and warned that since there is more space in that area, there is a lot of debris that builds up over time that might cause you some trouble. They also advised that "technically" you can't cross the double yellow to get into that space, but go ahead if you're safe about it. It's really a safe way of keeping your bike moving in stopped traffic so you don't overheat.

Splitting lanes for metered entrance onto highway: It's OK, mostly. Again, the usual warnings about be safe, leave space and all. Don't worry about the signs that restrict the number of vehicles, but if there's a stop light, obey it! if one lane has a light, and the other does not (as in car pool type scenarios), go ahead and pop into the carpool side and stream through.

Can I lane-split to the front of a metered onramp?
In the magazine "Friction Zone," a reader asked "Is it legal to lane split to a metering light? In some areas there are two to three lanes when taking the onramp to the freeway. I normally lane split right up to the limit line, come to a complete stop, and proceed at the same time (but at a lower speed) as the car I share the lane with and move in behind him. Am I doing anything wrong?"
The answer from Sargeant Price: "Splitting traffic is not specifically addressed in the California Vehicle Code. However, nothing prevents two vehicles from sharing the same traffic lane until it becomes unsafe. Therefore, you can split traffic on an onramp to advance to the front. However, once at the front of the line, there are usually regulatory signs that limit the number of vehicles allowed to enter the freeway on each successive green light. Usually these signs state "One vehicle per green each lane" or "Two (or three) vehicles per green each lane.
"In the first scenario, this means if there are two metered lanes for traffic, then only one vehicle from each lane may enter the freeway when the light turns green. A motorcycle sharing a lane with another vehicle is in violation of the posted provisions of the sign.
"In the second scenario a motorcyclist would not be in violation of the provisions of the sign since he would be sharing the lane with another vehicle and more than one is allowed for each lane. Be sure to read the signs in your area."

 

[Hellgate]

I think you need to find the info on the CHP site and not trust Ducati Girl. I'm sure she is a cool girl, but she's not there for you in court. A few minutes looking on the CHP site could save you a ton of coin.

 

[kevlarian]

I think you need to find the info on the CHP site and not trust Ducati Girl. I'm sure she is a cool girl, but she's not there for you in court. A few minutes looking on the CHP site could save you a ton of coin.

... from the CA CHP link found here CHP

<snip>

Can motorcycle riders "split" lanes and ride between other vehicles?

Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible but must be done in a safe and prudent manner.

</snip>


What I DON'T understand is how the CHP "unspecified law" correlates to CITY jurisdiction.

Anyone?

 

[kevlarian]

Found this link on the San Diego NBC News website.

KNSD | San Diego - Lane Splitters

 

[F250moto]

Couple things. There is no law about "lane Spliting". There is a law about a motorcyle being able to share a lane with a vehicle. It sounds like the same thing, but it's not. A portion of that law requires the act to be performed safely. Be carefull from where you get your info. It boils down to what the law says and case law has dictated. I obviously wasn't there, but the LEO who spoke with you may have been taking the totality of the circumstances into view. Meaning, your riding through/near a crash scene in heavy traffic. Those conditions come into play. As far as CHP and City law goes. They both use the same vehicle code, but the city may have a municiple code that excludes that.

Long winded and I'm sorry. I do caution you on using sarcasm (Sp?) At time that will earn you a ticket faster than anything.

Just my .02 take it or leave it

 

[Mart Man FZ6]

The problem here is "inturpritation". The cop won't site you for lane spliting, he will site you for unsafe passing which is purely subjective and give him the upper hand in court. The act of splitting the lanes itself doesn't violate law, but unsafe passing does. If the cops having a bad day you're in trouble.

 

[kevlarian]

The problem here is "inturpritation". The cop won't site you for lane spliting, he will site you for unsafe passing which is purely subjective and give him the upper hand in court. The act of splitting the lanes itself doesn't violate law, but unsafe passing does. If the cops having a bad day you're in trouble.

As of today, I have mounted a camera on my bike. It will take 320x240 video for up to 4hrs on the memory card (@15fps). I am going to record every minute of my travels as to avoid being subject to the whim of a cop during my travels. I didn't do an unsafe lane changes (as has been suggested). I merged from the #1 lane to the #2 lane, as I stated, because the #1 lane was closed. I shared the #2 lane (never entering the #3 lane) the entire trip from the back of traffic to the light.

I did more research and found this information today around the legality of lane sharing (filtering for the Euro crowd).

All the info you need on lanesharing (lanesplitting)

One quote in particular caught my eye, and relates to my particular situation from yesterday.

Lane sharing on surface streets is probably not addressed in city or county laws so I would do this with caution, as individual cops will decide whether or not they like what they see. As with most prudent riders, I share lanes as necessary on surface streets if I don't see any cops, but I stop immediately if I spot one

 

[Tailgate]

I was wondering what the %^%$#k a "LEO" was also.

 

[FZ1inNH]

You guys have never heard the term LEO? Wow!

FYI... for those in NH or passing through... Lane splitting is 100% ILLEGAL here and you'll be ticketed if spotted. People here WILL pull into your path if they see you coming and do not care about the outcome! Their defense will be that they we're changing lanes while you illegally split and "ran into them" and you will lose.

Since it is illegal here, it's my habit to never do it, even in a state where it might be OK. I don't think it is at all safe.

 

[Tailgate]

For a vastly different perspective read: Motorcycle Lane Sharing - Surviving the Streets - Motorcycle Cruiser