I can’t speak for Jason but I see it a lot in Southern California. Usually the motorcyclist will acknowledge the nice gesture with the upside down/sideways peace sign.
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That someone was a traffic safety study. And to clarify, lanesplitting isn’t “safe” it’s less unsafe. Partly because car drivers often don’t notice significantly smaller vehicles and will sometimes try to change lanes into the space currently occupied by a motorcyclist.
So sorry you have to pay attention while piloting a big ol’ hunk of metal. Poor, poor you!
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Speaking for myself, not Jason, it’s better if you don’t change anything. When lanesplitting one is (ideally) being hyper-vigilant for changes in direction of other vehicles. Any sudden deviation from your path, even to give me more space, is going to make me react defensively.
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According to your link, lane splitting in a safe and prudent manner is not illegal in the state of California. I don’t know about this specific case, but the vast majority of lane splitting I see in Southern California happens at more than a 10 MPH speed differential and it’s very common even if traffic is moving along at 65 MPH. I routinely see pretty much every single one of these general guidelines ignored every day.
Now trying to block the guy was a jerk move, but I can totally see why people are getting sick of motorcyclists.
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Which actually exacerbates traffic because it causes a chain of breaking. I can’t decide if the people who do it are either too stupid to realize it, too selfish to care, or simply believe they should make traffic worse because everyone else does.
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I try to keep as far left, in the left most lane as i feel safe. During slow moving times and heavy traffic especially. I prefer to open that up for folks.
I also constantly look out for bikes. I will give them lots of extra space, always.
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My vote is for selfish. It’s consistent with moving your car over to obstruct a motorcycle trying to filter. What good does that actually do, other than preventing another vehicle from getting out of the way?
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+1.
People trying to be helpful by pulling to the other side of the lane in a significant way are making things more dangerous. There’s no clear directive for which lane to filter in, so if you do that but another motorcycle is coming up the other side, you’ve just made it more dangerous for them. A big change like that also alerts me to potential danger - is there an object on the road? A sudden stop?
You should leave the gap you would normally leave between your car and the car in the other lane. A motorcycle fits in that natural space. It’s the weirdos that try to kiss mirrors that should move over, but even then it’s more about lane correction than “giving space.”
If you’re paying attention on 4 sides then you’ll see a bike. What’s the problem?
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I don’t think anyone here is not in favor of ‘safe and prudent’…
…but I have to wonder just how many non-motorcyclists out there would themselves stick to the traffic law limits as they would demand of motorcyclists. And since you apparently know of SoCal driving (as I do; 160 miles per day commute for me) you should know how tough it is to drive on the freeways at the speed limit without someone (the majority) right on your tail and trying to intimidate you even if your’e in the far right lane.
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And I’m sure the truck appreciated the way the white car kept swerving into its lane in its quest to splatter bikers.
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But over half the remaining states have no law against it either, so YMMV, (literally, hah!)
I like the slant of your jib there.
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Wow. Those worriers need to fill their lives with something other than worrying about lane-splitting.
I never got doored in my 14 years of Bay Area riding, though I did get some ass driving his car front wheel onto my foot once.
Now in London, I actually had a parked car explode as I passed. It was never entirely proven but the general opinion of my team was that it was aimed at me. Not so much fun.
In complete contrast my training in defensive ride/drive enabled me to project some sort of aura that meant that quite a lot of the time black cabs and even Bay Area commuters would move aside for me.
Have you asked your doctor about anxiety-reducing therapy or drugs?
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WTF was your day job that someone would try and explode a car at you?
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so an angry guy in a car tried to kill a motorcyclist?
welcome to every day of my commute.
every time you see a bike lane splitting, you SHOULD be thinking?
“one less car between me and my house/work”
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