Motorcycle lane splitting: Better for riders, better for drivers.

[Skybarney]

Motorcycle lane splitting: Better for riders, better for drivers, and safer than sitting in traffic. 

http://www.gizmag.com/motorcycle-lane-splitting-filtering-safety-research/34425/


Nice it is about time that some more data made it's way to the public eye.  This only confirms what I have long known.  The other 49 States can say whatever they want about California but they can say it stuck in traffic until they make some new rules.  I could go on a bit but it might become a politics thread and I hate getting pregnant dog slapped.

Enjoy the article.

ecent research has confirmed what many motorcycle riders have known for years. "Lane splitting" – or riding in between lanes of traffic – obviously saves riders a lot of time, but it's also considerably safer than sitting in traffic and acting like a car, as long as it’s done within certain guidelines, and contrary to what many drivers think, it actually speeds up traffic for everyone else on the road. Riders, please pass this information on to the drivers in your lives.

It’s time for certain drivers to get these thoughts out of their heads: "lane splitting is queue jumping," "motorcyclists should have to wait in line like the rest of us," "riding in between cars is suicidal." While it’s illegal in most of the United States, it’s accepted in many other parts of the world, and evidence is mounting that lane splitting is safer for riders than sitting in traffic, and actually benefits car drivers as well as the riders themselves.
Safety benefits of lane splitting for motorcyclists

One of the key arguments against lane splitting is that, to many driver’s eyes, it seems like a dangerous practice. From a rider’s perspective, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The most common type of accident on the road is a rear-ender. These make up 40 percent of all accidents in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And while most of these are minor fender benders between car drivers, there’s really no such thing as a minor fender bender if someone slams into the back of a motorcycle. By splitting between lanes, riders are able to put a shell of slow or stopped traffic around their bikes and protect against the inattention of other road users.

In a recent Berkeley study undertaken with the California Highway Patrol’s assistance, 7,836 motorcycle crashes were examined closely, with some 1,163 of these crashes having occurred while the rider was lane splitting.

Riders who were splitting at the time of their accident were significantly less likely to be injured in every category than those who weren’t: 45 percent fewer head injuries, 21 percent fewer neck injuries, 32 percent fewer torso injuries, 12 percent fewer arm/leg injuries, and 55 percent fewer fatalities.

This is quite possibly because the majority of those splitting accidents happened at speeds between 1 and 30 mph (50 km/h). The data also shows that the safest way to lane split is to travel at less than 30 mph, and less than 10 mph above the speed of the surrounding traffic. Injury rates leap up in all categories when both of these conditions are violated.
Motorcycle lane filtering: faster and safer for riders, plus it makes the journey quicker ...
Benefits of lane splitting for other road users

Lane splitting is an unspoken contract between riders and drivers. Riders don’t wait for stopped cars, and in return, they don’t make the cars wait for them. Where many drivers get it wrong is that they see lane splitting as "queue jumping" that will cause each car to go one further spot back in the queue. In truth, a filtering bike disappears from the queue altogether, the only time a motorcycle holds a car up is when it sits in traffic and acts like another car.

Filtering bikes work their way to the front of stopped traffic at red lights, and accelerate away much quicker than the cars around them. When they reach the next stoppage, they disappear again between the lanes and no car is held up.

Certainly, this is a good deal for the rider, who arrives much earlier than the car driver. But every filtering rider has a positive effect on traffic flow that benefits every other motorist. A 2012 Belgian study found that if just 10 percent of drivers were to switch to motorcycles and filter through traffic, travel times would decrease for the remaining car drivers by some eight minutes per journey. This benefit would not exist if motorcyclists ignored the inherent advantages of their smaller, narrower vehicles and sat in line like cars.

The same study found considerable environmental benefits to lane splitting. Not because bikes emit less carbon (many larger bikes are as bad as cars), but because every bike that lane splits actively reduces the amount of time every other vehicle on the road spends sitting in traffic jams.

So the next time a rider wriggles past you in traffic, remember that it’s a win-win. The rider is saving time and money, and looking after their own safety, but they’re also making everyone else’s journey faster. So give them some space, for your own sake.

[ducatiz]

Call it "Lane Sharing" and it sounds harmless.

Names mean everything in policy -- Name a thing and you can win or lose -- "assault weapon" is a classic example.

[Grampa]

Collective path redistribution

after all... you didn't build that road.

[Skybarney]

Collective path redistribution

Ha!  Exactly why I tried to make a case for "Climate Re-Orginization". 

[DM426]

As has been reported on several sites, numerous articles blatantly misrepresented what was actually said in the study. Which is not surprising as the media sucks beyond belief and motorcyclists are generally ever eager for something which sounds legitimate telling them what they want to hear.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article3210060.ece/binary/California%20Lane%20Splitting%20Crash%20Analysis.pdf

First, this study was done by a couple of college students and limited to a very small set of data. Second, the study itself warns against drawing conclusions as the authors admit much of the data they used was incomplete or old. In short, they used canned data from previous works. Third, the study itself makes clear that they had no data on type of motorcycle, age, and a whole bunch of other relevant factors.

But even if you take the study at face value, which is a bad idea, the authors make it clear the the results, such as they are, are mostly based on scenarios where cyclists are lane splitting on California highways when traffic is essentially bumper to bumper and the rider is simply motoring in-between traffic which is barely moving or stopped. As soon as the speed goes up at all, the accident statistics increase dramatically.

As is mentioned, the data on bikes is very limited or nonexistent. However, the study does have some limited data which indicates the typical lane splitter was wearing a full face helmet, was not drinking, and had no passenger. And since this data is from California, this strongly suggests the data set was mostly made up of sport bike riders. Trying to apply the conclusions of this study to the general motorcycle riding population of, say, Alabama is probably nonsensical and dangerous.

So yeah, in a place like LA where traffic is horrendous at least twice a day, lane splitting CAN be beneficial as long as the speeds are very slow, you're riding the right type of bike, and you're wearing full gear. But even then there is significant risk. If you try to filter through faster traffic in the US like they do in some parts of Europe, you're likely to get splattered sooner or later. I lived in Europe for many years and am very familiar with how motorcyclists operate there. Different roads, different onramp layout, different cars, vastly fewer large trucks, and much greater awareness of motorcyclists in general due to the large number of riders on the road. Apples and oranges.

The US is not Holland or Austria. You change the law to allow unrestricted lane splitting throughout the US, and it's almost certain you're going to have hordes of fat guys trying to shoehorn their Harley Ultra with a honey on the back between trucks going 60 MPH on I45 and wondering why they ended up paralyzed since there was a study saying it was supposedly "safe." And then everyone's insurance will probably triple and the politicians will get involved again and come up with a whole bunch more enlightened laws.

Feeling brave? Go head and try that in, say, Dallas and see what happens. Bubba won't even slow down while he's dragging what's left of your very expensive and oh-so-fashionable motorcycle behind his F350 dually.

[Howie]

Seems to me what is being discussed is no more than 10 MPH than traffic going no more than 30 MPH.

This is quite possibly because the majority of those splitting accidents happened at speeds between 1 and 30 mph (50 km/h). The data also shows that the safest way to lane split is to travel at less than 30 mph, and less than 10 mph above the speed of the surrounding traffic. Injury rates leap up in all categories when both of these conditions are violated.

[SDRider]

As has been reported on several sites, numerous articles blatantly misrepresented what was actually said in the study. Which is not surprising as the media sucks beyond belief and motorcyclists are generally ever eager for something which sounds legitimate telling them what they want to hear.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article3210060.ece/binary/California%20Lane%20Splitting%20Crash%20Analysis.pdf

First, this study was done by a couple of college students and limited to a very small set of data. Second, the study itself warns against drawing conclusions as the authors admit much of the data they used was incomplete or old. In short, they used canned data from previous works. Third, the study itself makes clear that they had no data on type of motorcycle, age, and a whole bunch of other relevant factors.

But even if you take the study at face value, which is a bad idea, the authors make it clear the the results, such as they are, are mostly based on scenarios where cyclists are lane splitting on California highways when traffic is essentially bumper to bumper and the rider is simply motoring in-between traffic which is barely moving or stopped. As soon as the speed goes up at all, the accident statistics increase dramatically.

As is mentioned, the data on bikes is very limited or nonexistent. However, the study does have some limited data which indicates the typical lane splitter was wearing a full face helmet, was not drinking, and had no passenger. And since this data is from California, this strongly suggests the data set was mostly made up of sport bike riders. Trying to apply the conclusions of this study to the general motorcycle riding population of, say, Alabama is probably nonsensical and dangerous.

So yeah, in a place like LA where traffic is horrendous at least twice a day, lane splitting CAN be beneficial as long as the speeds are very slow, you're riding the right type of bike, and you're wearing full gear. But even then there is significant risk. If you try to filter through faster traffic in the US like they do in some parts of Europe, you're likely to get splattered sooner or later. I lived in Europe for many years and am very familiar with how motorcyclists operate there. Different roads, different onramp layout, different cars, vastly fewer large trucks, and much greater awareness of motorcyclists in general due to the large number of riders on the road. Apples and oranges.

The US is not Holland or Austria. You change the law to allow unrestricted lane splitting throughout the US, and it's almost certain you're going to have hordes of fat guys trying to shoehorn their Harley Ultra with a honey on the back between trucks going 60 MPH on I45 and wondering why they ended up paralyzed since there was a study saying it was supposedly "safe." And then everyone's insurance will probably triple and the politicians will get involved again and come up with a whole bunch more enlightened laws.

Feeling brave? Go head and try that in, say, Dallas and see what happens. Bubba won't even slow down while he's dragging what's left of your very expensive and oh-so-fashionable motorcycle behind his F350 dually.

I hate this kind of mentality.  I've been lane splitting for years and if it wasn't legal here I probably wouldn't bother to ride at all.

Screw bubba and his p350 fooly.

[DM426]

Seems to me what is being discussed is no more than 10 MPH than traffic going no more than 30 MPH.

Exactly. But just to be clear, that's not 10 MPH above the surrounding motorists who are going 30. It's no more than 10 above the other motorists, AND at no point exceeding a maximum of 30. Just for perspective, that's going only slightly faster than in a school zone, most of which are 20. That's what the study was talking about, not lane splitting at highway speeds, which is just suicidal in the US. And even within those limited conditions, one out of seven accidents occurred during lane splitting.

But in my experience, that's NOT what people really want or intend when they discuss making "lane splitting" legal in the US. What they really want is to be able to blast in between cars doing 75 down I-95, all the while telling themselves that this is the proper and safe way to ride. After all, there's a study somewhere that says so, so it must be true.

Motorcyclists tend to be a self-selected group, and not always from among the best or brightest. They want to be able to ride wheelies down Main Street and tear around country roads like they're running the Grand Prix in the Alps, and they tend to get belligerent and juvenile when someone explains to them just how idiotic that is.

If this was just some high density cities discussing options for allowing motorcyclists to filter through bumper to bumper traffic at rush hour, it MIGHT have some merit. Fair enough. But we all know that's not what people want. Hell, you can't even get the average biker to wear a helmet or cover up his wife beater, so I long ago gave up on expecting rational discussion from motorcyclists as a group when it comes to safety issues.

People want what they want.

[ungeheuer]

....I long ago gave up on expecting rational discussion from motorcyclists as a group when it comes to safety issues.

Riding a motorcycle.  C'mon, it's hardly the height of road safety rationale. 

If motorcycles were invented today..... there's no make the beast with two backsing way............ 

Zero.

[StephenC]

NSW (Australia) has just legalised it, with much the same caveats: no more than 30kph and not past buses or trucks.  It is not clear whether the 30kph is the bike's speed or the traffic's, but I guess it doesn't matter.  I have been doing it for years (don't tell the cops!) and feel safe filtering through stationary traffic and generally keep going a bit when the traffic starts to move.  I doubt I hit 30kph.  Probably the only difference is that, in the past, I have always looked for a spot to draw back into lane at the front of the queue.  Now I feel comfortable to sit between the two frontmost cars and wait for the lights.  So far, I have received (or noticed - same difference) no negative feedback from drivers.

[Skybarney]

I survived many years of moto-commuting in SoCal.  Lane sharing helped a lot.

Something often overlooked in the safety studies is the ability of a bike to move to the front of a line at an intersection and accelerating ahead of the traffic behind is the hidden bonus.  Not being in the middle of a mass of moving metal behemoths controlled by independent and often deficient operators; is huge when it comes to safety. 

Although it would probably be hard to tell that to the guy whose leg ended up on my girlfriends windshield years ago........ 

[hbliam]

But in my experience, that's NOT what people really want or intend when they discuss making "lane splitting" legal in the US. What they really want is to be able to blast in between cars doing 75 down I-95, all the while telling themselves that this is the proper and safe way to ride. After all, there's a study somewhere that says so, so it must be true.

Uh, nope. Maybe in TX or FL where there seems to be a higher concentration of these type of riders.


I've split lanes for more then two decades in Southern California. Can't imagine not being able to. And we don't have traffic twice a day in LA. It's all day.

 

[kopfjäger]

No traffic to speak of where I live. When I go to work, I have only one stop sign to get there. make the beast with two backs big cities and all the traffic.

[Ducatamount]

I too would have to ride pretty far to split lanes.

[ducpainter]

I too would have to ride pretty far to split lanes.

There's more than one?