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

[Armor]

Italian drivers are much worse than here in the U.S.!  I don’t know about the rest of Europe.

[hbliam]

If the entire US decided to legalize lanesplitting everything would be fine. It's worked fine here in CA for as long as we have had motorcycles and it would work fine everywhere else. There will always be assholes that ride like assholes and assholes driving cars. The asshole riders get taken out by national selection and the asshole drivers get boots taking off their mirrors. And so it goes and so it will continue to.

[hbliam]

Well, it might be relevant, even though it's one of many potential factors.

The accident rate in Germany is 4.3 per 100, whereas in the US it's 11.2. Nearly three times as high. Also, motorcyclists account for an average of 23% of all road fatalities.

Accident rates on the autobahn are significantly less than US highways, and the stringent driver education programs there probably account for a good piece of that equation since young drivers make up a disproportionate percentage of fatalities. In Germany, drivers education is not optional and it's not easy. Compared to America, where a lot of teen boys learn to drive in big daddy bubba's pickup truck, the emphasis on vehicular safety education in Germany is light years ahead.

One interesting tidbit regarding the autobahn is the philosophy of entrance and exit ramps. Studies consistently show the vast majority of accidents on highways occur at entrance/exit ramps. Knowing that, the Germans have purposely designed the autobahn with far fewer entrance/exit ramps than US highways. Our highways are designed for maximum convenience, and as a result Americans use highways for quick jaunts across town. In Germany (and most of Europe), highways are designed to travel long distances, thus they are laid out in a way that makes it difficult to use them for anything else. A big city might only have two or three exits from a particular highway, meaning if you miss yours, then you're going to be traveling to the next town whether you want to or not.  That means motorcycles can get on the autobahn and cook along at very high speed and still maintain a high level of safety, whereas in the US the constant stream of people getting on and off and crossing lanes creates a churning effect that's lethal. When combined with much larger cars, a preponderance of big SUV's, and generally larger, heavier, and less maneuverable bikes, and it's easy to see why US roads are so much more dangerous for motorcyclists. Add to that the whole anti-helmet attitude (which European bikers usually find bizarre and puzzling), and it's apples and oranges when comparing US laws to those in Europe.

Lane splitting works in Europe but I'm skeptical it will work in most US cities.

How much lanesplitting have you done in CA? How much driving have you done in CA? Riders rarely split lanes on the exit side of a freeway. If they do it's normally as they are making their way over to the fast lane to split there.

I have never, in my entire life of traveling California freeways, witnessed a lanesplitting accident, I have never been in a lanesplitting accident, and in 11 years of law enforcement never responded to or heard of a call regarding a lanesplitting accident. I'm sure they occur here and there but not to the level that would cause the hesteria you are trying to claim would  transpire.

Sheesh....ride on.

[kopfjäger]

If the entire US decided to legalize lanesplitting everything would be fine.

That'll never happen.

[SpikeC]

 Not with people like DM 426 around!

[DM426]

I think it's wonderful that individual states can do it however they want. It works for California and that's great.

[Privateer]

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.

how broad is that brush you're painting with?

[Privateer]

How much lanesplitting have you done in CA? How much driving have you done in CA? Riders rarely split lanes on the exit side of a freeway. If they do it's normally as they are making their way over to the fast lane to split there.

I have never, in my entire life of traveling California freeways, witnessed a lanesplitting accident, I have never been in a lanesplitting accident, and in 11 years of law enforcement never responded to or heard of a call regarding a lanesplitting accident. I'm sure they occur here and there but not to the level that would cause the hesteria you are trying to claim would  transpire.

Sheesh....ride on.

+1

I have far less experience but this mirrors mine

[Skybarney]

Having lived in Socal I know of two.  One I saw first hand the other happened to my girlfriend.

1.  Rider splitting was bowled over the cars hood in the lane next to me and slightly in front.  Rider did a somersault over the guys hood landed on his feet and the only damage was the bike.
2.  Rider going like an asshat between cars got squeezed by a truck and his freshly amputated leg landed on my girls windshield and hood.
 Despite those two incidents in 15 years of riding full time down there I back up the stance that done properly it is safer than being in the flow.

They are infrequent as hell in SoCal as everyone is aware of bikes.  Here in Nor-Cal I get a bit of the willies splitting lanes as the drivers up here do not see as many bikes on the road during the weekdays.

[stopintime]

From an outside view  

Europe, as a whole, has fewer fatal bike accidents than the US - still major differences from country to country. Quite a few countries started upgrading the educational programs and biker organisations worked with attitude issues from the 1980s + and the results have been great. Norway has had a reduction of deaths/biker of 90% since the '80s. Also, the probability of death is reduced by 90% from age 25 to 40 (experience and/or attitude). The next step forward is reducing the time/miles it takes from unexperienced to experienced rider - bridging the gap.

The fatal accident rate is roughly 10 times higher in the US compared to Norway. Many reasons why, but my understanding is that education, attitude, protective gear... plus infrastructure and other roadusers are important factors. All those factors are, more or less, killing people who didn't need to be dead.

US traffic has a long way to go and I hope the work starts soon. 10 times the fatality rate and some people still don't want to wear helmets - amazing!

It takes a certain amount of skill and awareness to lane share safely and not all riders should do it. To me though, the biggest risk of lane sharing is unattentive drivers - a problem that IMO would be reduced if riders were 'there' all the time.

Ride safely  

[ducatiz]

Italian drivers are much worse than here in the U.S.!  I don’t know about the rest of Europe.

I've driven in Italy -- and over much of western and eastern Europe, all the way south to Turkey and I found drivers to be more "assertive" esp in southern Europe, but more "skilled."

The problem in the USA is that drivers are often both "assertive" and unskilled.

[Howie]

I've driven in Italy -- and over much of western and eastern Europe, all the way south to Turkey and I found drivers to be more "assertive" esp in southern Europe, but more "skilled."

The problem in the USA is that drivers are often both "assertive" and unskilled.

Amen to that.

[Skybarney]

The problem in the USA is that drivers are often both "assertive" and unskilled.

+1

Few things scarier than being passed by people you know have not taken the same kinds of driving schools I have taken..... 

On the other hand I was incredibly impressed when driving around Switzerland and France.  When a highway reduced lanes the traffic would barely slow down.  People would see the sign, spread out a bit and roll on along. 

Here in The States we get drivers that will use exit lanes to jam ahead of backups and cut back in line when they end.  Not to mention when a lane reduction happens it causes a backup as people all think it's Nascar and they are gonna lose a position.  Drives me insane.

[DM426]

From an outside view 

The fatal accident rate is roughly 10 times higher in the US compared to Norway. Many reasons why, but my understanding is that education, attitude, protective gear... plus infrastructure and other roadusers are important factors. All those factors are, more or less, killing people who didn't need to be dead.

It takes a certain amount of skill and awareness to lane share safely and not all riders should do it.

Exactly. Until the issue of craptastic drivers and idiotic riders is properly addressed, and we start seeing skill levels go up and fatalities go down, I don 't see the point of making traffic laws even more permissive.

US traffic has a long way to go and I hope the work starts soon. 10 times the fatality rate and some people still don't want to wear helmets - amazing!

That's a prime example of what I was talking about earlier when I said European riders find the attitude of American riders puzzling and bizarre. And the Europeans are right to feel that way because we DO have tons of motorcyclists here who are just this side of suicidal.

[Southpaw]

+1

Few things scarier than being passed by people you know have not taken the same kinds of driving schools I have taken..... 

On the other hand I was incredibly impressed when driving around Switzerland and France.  When a highway reduced lanes the traffic would barely slow down.  People would see the sign, spread out a bit and roll on along. 

Here in The States we get drivers that will use exit lanes to jam ahead of backups and cut back in line when they end.  Not to mention when a lane reduction happens it causes a backup as people all think it's Nascar and they are gonna lose a position.  Drives me insane.

I think it's also a mentality thing.  In the US drivers tend to view driving as a necessary chore rather than something they enjoy.  People in the US are also often in a large rush to their next destination which could be somewhat spawned from the point that especially now with our high unemployment rate people feel that if they're not hurrying and getting things done fast they could get booted to the street.