Yes, I moved away in 2003 and it was legal then. IIRC, lane-splitting wasn’t technically legal; but it was also not prohibited, so it was not illegal. A distinction without a difference. Maybe they codified lane-splitting as specifically permitted?
No. Technically, not true until 01 January 2017. I’m wearing my ‘Former MSF Instructor’ hat on when I say this. This is what has been taught (technically, discussed) in the MSF classes. It was not in the official MSF curriculum materials.
California created the new California Vehicle Code Section 21658.1 to be effective in 2017. Prior to that, technically, lane splitting in California was never expressly allowed but it was also never expressly forbidden. CVC 21658.1 made it expressly allowed.
What you guys are thinking of was that it had not been expressly forbidden. However there were many laws on the books where LEOs could and sometimes would cite riders while they were lane splitting, if the LEO did not like how the motorcyclist was riding:
Unsafe Speed (the Basic Speed Law, driving too fast for conditions), or
Failure to Maintain Vehicle Centered in Lane, or
Unsafe Lane Change, or
(Added) Reckless Driving
Perhaps some others too. I’ve been lane splitting in California since 1985 and never got a ticket. But when LEOs were present I sometimes would stop lane splitting or I would be extra cautious in how I was doing it.
Prior to 2017 I never knew a rider who got a ticket lane splitting. But I’d always heard it was possible.
I wish I’d said that! 
(But seriously, thank you for the 2017 CVC.)
I would fall in behind motorcycle cops. Drivers were less likely to try to squeeze them. (IME, most drivers would not try to squeeze motorcyclists; but rather widen the gap.)
In my perception, CHP mostly seems to follow the Don’t Be A Jerk rule, for cars and motorcycles.
Agreed. The way I heard about CA lane splitting enforcement, from a rider who heard it from a LEO, was don’t exceed the speed of the traffic you’re splitting by more than 20 mph, only split lanes going in the same direction, don’t split in traffic going more than 40, and don’t ride like an ass.
CA drivers are great about it. If they see you coming they often move to the opposite side of their lane to give you a little more room. I wave ‘thanks’ as much as safety allows. Drivers that are rude to motorcyclists usually have non-CA plates.
CA is a great place to ride.
I’ve (perhaps ashamedly) attended more Traffic Schools than I have fingers. Maybe fingers and toes. My main sin is driving too fast. I used to get speeding tickets so often. Lately I’ve gotten better, smarter, and also in my older age I’ve gotten slower and more secure.
Anyhowz, one thing I remember from one traffic school instructor is that California has a basic rule: Traffic Flows. LEOs and the powers that be want traffic to flow.
Yeah. The danger was always the drivers who had no idea you were coming or already there and chose that moment to wander within their lane or to change lanes.
I always felt much safer splitting when the cars were pretty solid and/or lined up side by side. When they were a bit more spread out so most cars had an almost-big-enough gap right alongside to change lanes into, that’s when the danger was at maximum. I never got knocked off, but I had a couple close calls.
Thanks for the clear exposition. The Dope has a genuine expert in everything. Sometimes they’re easy to find, and sometimes not.
Exactly right. I probably split more conservatively than many because I found that moment where traffic started to loosen up to be more fraught than the full stop-and-go experience. That scenario where gaps started to open up was exactly when I’d expect some impatient hot head to lunge for an only marginally better spot in the next lane, all without signalling of course.
When I moved here in 2014, the first week or two after my bike showed up on the truck, I was very reluctant to split. Didn’t know how to best do it or what the unwritten protocols were, given that it was still in the gray area then. But one day, while I was stuck at a crawling pace in the fast lane, a CHP rolled by, blipped his siren at me and motioned me to follow. The next 20 minutes or so were a 1:1 master class in how to lane split. Good stuff.
I called those drivers ‘left-seat passengers’. They had a steering wheel in front of them, but their blank expressions and lack of observation movements indicated to me that they were just along for the ride. (I’ve also called them ‘left-seat zombies’.)
This is me, too. Each class I had to attend was worse than the one before, because the material became progressively more familiar. I got real tired of them after 15-20 classes. I’ve been a fast driver but not a fast learner.
I did hear some good stories from the LEO instructors.
Here’s one I remember. The instructor once ticketed a driver for going 55 in a 55 zone. It was his opinion that if you’re eating cereal by reaching through the steering wheel with both hands to a bowl on the dashboard, the maximum reasonable speed is 0 mph. So he wrote the ticket for 55 mph over the limit.
BRUTAL
Plenty of drivers simply ignore everything in the rear hemisphere. If it’s in the windshield it’s relevant; if not, not.
They’ll briefly look over in the 10 or 2 o’clock directions only when changing lanes. And all they’re assessing is whether their nose fits behind the adjacent car’s tail. The rest of their vehicle and all of any following vehicles in the other lane are simply irrelevant.
It’s like the only thing they’re driving is their face. The vehicle is no bigger than their face, and if their face fits in the space, so will their (forgotten) vehicle.
I have a hypothesis that car drivers look (when they do look) for things that are car-sized. Since motorcycles are smaller than cars, car drivers perceive them as being farther away.
I don’t know about that. I know some stuff, a little.
Yes! In other words, the SMIDSY.
It goes way beyond that. People see what they expect to see AND they interpret visual cues based on the amount of information available.
If someone isn’t expecting a vehicle moving at high speed they will look in their mirrors and interact with traffic as if everything is moving according to general speeds. If something like a motorcyclist is zipping down the road and the last view was open lanes then the brain says the lane is clear.
If a motorist is driving down the road and see a single light (motorcycle) amid a field of single lights then it’s easy to perceive it as a house light at night.
Aaaaaand the chain snapped. I’m starting to think either this motorcycle hates me or the motorcycle gods have decided I’m not worthy to ride.
The tedious helmet saga continues. I returned the Sedici Strada 3 Parlare mostly because the audio was bad. The helmet was comfortable, but the audio clipped and was distorted at maximum volume. Even playing with the various sound settings in the app, it never was as clear as the sound from my ancient SMH10.
Now Sena has a new version of their Phantom helmet out which has active noise cancellation in the helmet, not just on the microphone. They claim a 20dB reduction in noise. I don’t think that’s a replacement for earplugs, but if it’s enough to clearly hear audio at 70mph with a headwind, I’ll be happy.
I’m also hoping that the voice control of the Bluetooth is good enough that I don’t need to use the physical buttons, and can just say “hey Sena, skip forward” when the commercial in my podcast invariable starts when I need both hands on the grips.
Brave browser likely will remove Podcast adverts.
I doubt you will be satsified with -20dB at those speeds…..you really need IEMs to get to -26 which is “okay” tho at speed in a headwind physics is always against you.
audio clipped and was distorted at maximum volume
always going to happen and is protecting your ears if trying to listen at those volumes….even my Sennheiser Momentum 4 will clip at high volumes and they are the best over the ear cans I’ve ever owned in a lifetime in audio.
I don’t see locking into a proprietary system as best practice.