Another term – it’s also called lane sharing, but I usually call it lane splitting.
I wouldn’t. in Michigan it’s expressly illegal for a bike and a car to “share” a lane.
Still waiting on some stats about its benefits, whatever you like to call it.
I don’t have stats, try looking them up.
What I offer is common sense about bikes being smaller than cars.
In California, before lane splitting became legal, it was not expressly illegal. But cops could ticket you for any of these:
- Failure to keep your vehicle centered in its lane.
- Illegal lane changes.
- Weaving.
- Violating the Basic Speed Law, which is “22350 No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.”
No, it isnt. Common sense would be how the other 49 states handle it.
At least one study found that lane splitting is safer for motorcyclists. The study from UC Berkeley in 2015 is summarized here, but the original PDF seems to be missing from the ca.gov site. The study found that the riskiest part of lane splitting is going too much faster than the other traffic. Splitting with a 15 MPH or less speed difference seems to be safest. Lane splitting motorcycles are also much less likely to be rear ended.
The behavior being discussed is not a motorcycle going 95 between the lanes of traffic that is going 65, but a motorcycle filtering through slow traffic to the front of the line at a light or through a slowdown on the freeway.
And it isn’t just California that allows lane splitting/filtering, but also much of the rest of the world.
If you think it is unfair that motorcycles get to cut to the front of the line, then get out of your car and on to a motorcycle.
This. Three times in my life I’ve been rear ended while sitting in stopped traffic in my car. Two of those times were severe enough that had I been on my bike, I would have been killed. Lane splitting allows me to stay out of that target zone. And by getting out of that spot that I occupied, all the traffic behind me gets to move up a bit, shortening their time in the traffic jam. Surely not by much, but it’s not zero either. And my traveling between the lanes slows no one down. No one loses in a lane splitting situation. I don’t see a rational basis for the objection.
Plus, if we want or play this game, it’s not a “weird-ass California versus the other 49” thing, it’s a “49 states versus California and most of the world” thing.
Good points, echo. (ETA: Pork Rind too.)
If one doesn’t want to lane split, that’s fine, but much of the rest of the world does it. There is risk in lane splitting, and it is a skill. If a rider doesn’t feel safe lane splitting, then s/he shouldn’t do it. A rider should ride within his/her limits.
That study is utterly splendid and I love it with my whole body, but it addresses whether or not lane splitting increases risk of injury to the motorcyclist. I am not, just now, concerned with that. I want something that will back up Bullitt’s assertion that it reduces traffic congestion in some meaningful way.
Update;
I’ve been taking short rides around the park roads to refresh/familiarize me with the bike again, and it’s coming back rapidly, I’ve actually gotten up enough courage to venture out to the Cumby’s up the road from my place (less than a mile or so away) a couple times, I just got back from topping off the tank this afternoon.
I still have a few days left to get the bike state inspected (10 day grace period), and the inspection station is a bit further up the road than I’ve been so far, i’m working my confidence up with more park/Cumbys rides, i’m thinking of “biting the bullet” on either Thursday or Friday. I have to do it at some point, best to just “rip the band-aid off” and get it done sooner rather than later…
Sounds good, glad it’s going well. You’re moving the soul! 
MacTech, we’re both actually in a similar position. While I have ridden since 1985 and have logged over 200,000 motorcycle miles (and with no accidents; knocking on wood as I type this), I have not ridden in the last 4-5 years. For different reasons my bike has been sitting in storage.
Three weeks ago I was talking with someone on a Zero electric motorcycle and that idea intrigued me. My work commute has me stuck in freeway traffic every day, I’m in a cage these days. So I went to my local Zero Motorcycle dealer and arranged for a test ride. They’re in downtown San Jose CA, and it was during the morning commute hours.
I took the bike for a spin, going slowly and timidly at first. My first ride in over 4 years! But after a few minutes and a few city blocks I was feeling more confident. I got on the freeway in the reverse commute direction and it was starting to feel really good. After 20-25 minutes, I turned around and made my way back. I was gone over 45 minutes, in traffic, city streets and interstates, and I could feel the smile back on my face that a motorcycle does to you.
It was a great ride and I’m planning to get my bike serviced and operational again. After a few rides I’ll either decide to sell it and be done with bikes forever, or sell it and get a Zero electric bike, or just keep riding my old trusty bike again.
I would get use of the carpool lanes on my route to work, and my commute would be fun again. We’ll see what the future holds for me.
Good luck to you and your journey, and I hope it goes very well for you.
Not ‘stats’, but an observation. When I split lanes in Southern California (RZ350 was an awesome bike for this, light, narrow and great brakes!) I would shave about a half-hour each way on the commute. That was certainly a huge benefit.
Of course, being a technician, I’ve been kicking ideas around in the back of my mind, converting the 650 (or another donor bike) to electric drive, if money was no object, i’d bolt a Tesla motor directly to the drive shaft, (i’m assuming it’d interface just fine with the shaft-drive system, being a direct-drive system), and install the batteries/controller where the engine and fuel tank go…
a Tesla powered motorcycle? think of the power-to-weight ratio, the thing would be a rocket!
On the other hand, I love the way a good motorcycle sounds, especially the loping idle of a single cylinder or V-Twin, that slow loping idle, the puttering of low speed maneuvering, it’s just got a presence and feel that’s very visceral, you can feel the low, slow torque generated by a good lopy v-twin, raw, unfiltered power.
that’s probably why I also love the sound of a diesel engine, be it in my antique Kubota tractor, or my '12 Golf TDI, you can just feel the power and potential energy, it’s almost like a heartbeat…
I can respect the high revving scream/howl of a high revving high output engine, but it almost seems like its a scream of pain or rage, where the low-RPM torque monsters just feel bigger and more substantial…
I know, i’m not explaining it well, but a loping, low RPM/high torque engine just feels more “organic” to me…