Lane Splitting is now legal in California

Spoken like someone who never brakes any laws on the road, ever.

All of us brake the laws while on the road, it's just how many and how severe.

Take a break from your high horse for ten minutes and realize we are all on the same team.

Lane splitting fatality in socal.

http://www.keyt.com/news/santa-barb...ng-delays-on-101-through-carpinteria/99440041

Be safe out there.

You know, seems like this "same team" thing is total bullshit. Lost count of how many times I've had other motorcyclists buzz me, pass unsafely in the opposite direction, crowd me out of my own lane, tailgated while splitting, and more, generally ending in some sort of "wave" like we're buds. Same team? Nope. Another motorcyclist is just another road user to me. Not my brother, friend, sister, cousin, teammate, or anything else. If I know them, I'll wave (or if they are a motor officer). I'll ride my own ride and have lots of fun doing it. The BS politics surrounding the "wave" and when it is done have simply diluted it to the point of being meaningless. Why wave if you've just cut someone off intentionally or passed way too close intentionally? The "must be an asshole or bad attitude or whatever" that seems to come up when someone else didn't wave is just wrong itself. Maybe they didn't see you, maybe they just simply don't wave. Pushing some imagined attitude on the other rider just turns me off from it almost entirely. I have no need to feel like I belong to a "team" or "brotherhood" any more than when I drive. I'll help others, when I can actually offer assistance and when it is actually needed.

Now, if you mean "same team" as road users in general, that I can agree upon, to an extent.

Yes, I speed, on freeways only (and even then with the flow of traffic). I don't run stop signs, I don't run lights, and I also don't ride where I'm not supposed to, such as in a median, on sidewalks, shoulders, bike lanes, and painted barriers. Just because you ride a motorcycle doesn't give you, nor anyone else, the rights/need to ride anywhere you please for whatever reason you please. Guess what, sometimes you'll have to sit in traffic. Big deal. All the time that we have "saved" by splitting more than makes up for the little time lost. We are already at an advantage, there is no need to push that and ride where no one is supposed to operate a vehicle.

With the HOV barrier in mind, Caltrans was planning to modify the striping plans for that barrier. CHP did not approve of those plans citing that motorcyclists may perceive that it was a lane and/or a place to ride. Seems that they may NOT want us riding in a place that is illegal regardless of some perceived "safety".

The CHP report reveals how David Jacob Franks was riding a 2003 Suzuki motorcycle between the number 1 and 2 lanes of traffic when, for some reason, he ran into the side of a Chevy Blazer in the number 2 lane. Franks then veered into the number 1 fast lane, slammed into the back of a 2015 Honda Civic, and was thrown from his bike onto the right shoulder, where he was declared dead by medical experts on scene.

Investigators are trying to determine if drugs or alcohol played a role in Wednesday morning's fatal crash.

I hope "investigators" are also making sure the motorcyclist hit the Blazer, and not the other way around !

I agree with some of what your saying but you sound angry, I hope your day and mood brighten up. Take a ride somewhere your likely to enjoy and have a nice day

If you were referring to me, why assume what I'm feeling? Someone can't be contrary to another persons opinion without being referred to as "angry" I guess? It is the same thing as the "must be upset/angry/too cool/whatever" about not waving. Actually having a pretty good day and getting quite a bit accomplished. My fiance and I are finally getting our apartment in good order. Not angry in the least. I'm planning a ride I will enjoy next week to Los Angeles. Been too hot to go to any of the places I usually enjoy lately. Should be fun as always when I do go.

So you intentionally break the law because it's safer for you?

I attended traffic school recently, taught by a recently retired CHP officer. He told us it was OK to pass left turning cars on the right, as long as you don't leave the lane of travel. He further defined staying in the lane of travel as staying on the pavement. I don't see that as significantly different that splitting between stopped traffic and parked cars.

A bike did that to me yesterday, in fact. In my little town with narrow roads, traffic backs up through down town where there is one lane going each way, with parking on both sides of the street. He went between me and the parked cars for approximately 1/2 block before traffic freed up and he jumped back into normal traffic. I would have considered that illegal before, but the new guidelines seem to allow it. It worked out fine, so no sweat off my back.

I've been splitting on the fwy for years here in the Bay Area. My experience...it's safe and sane and 99+% of drivers don't care and are respectful. Once in a blue moon some asshat will ease over and block me on purpose. I wait a moment and find a way through. Splitting is safe if done carefully and at a speed not too much higher than the cars are going.

So the cars don't bug me. You know what bugs me? Other motorcycles roaring up behind me and riding up my ass trying to get me to go unsafe speeds. Today in fact...some numbnut came up behind me and was surging and backing off. So I moved over a lane to let him through, and he wheelied past me. While lane splitting.

It's fools like that that make it hard on all of us.

Another thought...the final rules aren't out yet. I think it's a safe bet to anticipate that "splitting" will mean "splitting" -- ie, no passing on single lane travel roads. If you're in a two-or-more roadway (in one direction), you can go between cars. But we won't be able to pass on left or right.

Just my guess...we'll know sometime soon when the rules are made final.

Always ride with a camera.

Hell no.

I agree wholeheartedly.

It used to say that if two vehicles could safely occupy the same lane, then it was legal to do so, which didn't address single lanes specifically, and left the "safely" part up to officer's discretion.
We'll see how the new one looks.

I don't own a go-pro for a reason.

Do you have a source for where CHP disapproved these plans and cited motorcyclist as the reason? I don't think CHP, being law enforcement, has approval authority over road markings. Caltrans started modifying the carpool striping in 2010. They changed to white solid lines instead of solid yellow to comply with the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). That manual states that white, not yellow, should be used because HOV traffic is going in the same direction. So, the double yellow lines in California carpools have always been wrong! Some yellow markings still remain because Caltrans won't re-stripe them until routine maintenance is due or there is a construction project. All new markings will be white, not yellow.

Sources:
http://caltransd7info.blogspot.com/2014/01/hov-striping-gets-makeover.html
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...ne-markings-coaster-pass-2014jun13-story.html
http://www.pe.com/articles/lanes-754377-lane-yellow.html

A few people in this thread are really against splitting on these carpool markings. I don't see any harm in it. Most of the time we ride in the lane next to the car but occasionally we cross onto the marking to give more room, which makes it safer for everyone. As long as we don't completely cross the line, I think we are ok (just my opinion). CVC 21655.8, the section on carpool, only states that crossing the line is prohibited. There are no words like CVC 21651 which states you can't drive on or upon the markings. I don't think CVC 21651 applies to carpools because that section applies to barriers that separate opposite traffic or two separate roadways. The carpool markings are only to prohibit entry and exit of traffic going the same direction. This type of lane change prohibition is already used by two sets of solid white lanes in roadway applications other than carpool.

See this: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocalProgr...2_Buffered_Bike_Lane_Striping_Dan_Klinker.pdf

I was going up the bloody 405 near the 10 at 6pm last friday in the middle of "why am I doing this" mid city LA rushhour and man there is NO space between #1 & #2. Even between the carpool lane and the next lane, there isn't much space.

And if we are getting technical, if you never leave the lane you're genuinely lane sharing.

I do. Frequently.

Speeding. Lane sharing here in the land of 'don't do that!' I'm moving thru traffic in an assertive manner so *I* can control where the passes happen.

Heck! I'll even pass on a DY *IF* it's safe. After all, DY markings are for lowest common denominator passes, not motos. I can be around and gone by the time some geezer wakes up from his nap or some soccer mom looks up from her cell phone. (wish I coulda done that in the pickemup this am as I got behind a Crown Vic with 'Fauquier Co Schools' decal on the side going less than the speed limit )

I'm not looking for anyone else to look out for *MY* safety and if that means bending a few rules, so be it. I'm not riding unsafely, just assertively.

M

That's just my point - we ALL break the law while we ride. Most of the time it's just to keep from being killed.

Some of the more pious riders in this thread tout their particular method of riding how it's better than others.

Yes, some of us are more brazen. Some are downright arrestable, but we are all law breakers.

We are just splitting hairs.

Yup. It can only hurt you.

Friend of mine's son was hit on his bike and badly injured by a car turning left right in front of him. He ultimately dropped his lawsuit (settling only for medical costs) because his camera showed all the speeding and passing and lane-splitting he was doing in the minutes and hours and days prior to the crash. The mediator was blunt with him...you can go to trial, son, but I'm telling you you're going to lose. The jury will be full of old retired idiots who think motorcyclists are crazy reckless fools.