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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:36 am
by Locopez
I live in Nor Cal. I love being able to split lanes. Especially when traffic is stopped. This way I am not waiting behind a car at a red light while I am looking in the rear view mirror while some moron cage driver is not paying attention and yapping on their cell phone...just before they rear end me!
Now I have gone through the LA area once or twice on my bike....man splitting lanes down there is a scarry deal! My hats off to the people who do that down there.
Unfortunately for us bikers there are a lot of guys who just go about lane splitting the wrong way and "pee" off the cagers. Which in turn seems to make them a little more aware of us bikes in a bad way.
One thing I can pass on to others who lane split...try to be the 1st guy splitting not the guy in the rear!
Ride safe!
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:41 am
by koji52
Rhad, is lane splitting explicitly illegal in NJ? I haven't been able to find it anywhere in the laws that i've looked at.
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:57 am
by jstark47
koji52 wrote:Rhad, is lane splitting explicitly illegal in NJ? I haven't been able to find it anywhere in the laws that i've looked at.
According to the AMA state law database, in NJ lane splitting is "Not referenced in Administrative Code or Statutes." However, the NJ MVC Motorcycle Manual (2007 ed.) contains the following text:
Vehicles and motorcycles each need a full lane to
operate safely. Do not share lanes.
To prevent lane sharing:
• Do not ride between rows of stopped vehicles.
• Do not try to squeeze past a stopped vehicle in the same
lane. Anything could happen- a hand could come out of a
window, a door could open or a vehicle could turn suddenly.
• Discourage lane sharing by others. The best way to do this
is to keep a center lane position in situations where other
motorists might be tempted to squeeze by.
In the absence of a specific statue, if there was an accident involving a motorcyclist and lane splitting, I'll bet the motorcyclist would be tagged with a "unsafe operation" violation, and it would be very hard to fight.
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:58 am
by koji52
Gotcha. I've never (as far as I can remember) lane split...just was wondering.
Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:47 am
by RhadamYgg
Jstark47 - good catch.
Thing of it is - lane splitting isn't explicitly legal in California (I think).
They don't have a law requiring all vehicles to stay in the lanes or something. I forget now, I researched it some time back.
California has a precedent that motorcycles can lane split. There was a major accident where a car driver got angry and purposefully hit a biker lane splitting and a lot of stuff came out like that.
I have lane split in NJ. I did it one day and that was ( of course ) the day one of my co-workers saw me on the road.
Lane splitting didn't make me feel comfortable. So, I don't do it anymore.
RhadamYgg