Jhodgesatmb
Well-known member
- First Name
- Jack
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2019
- Threads
- 66
- Messages
- 5,119
- Reaction score
- 7,347
- Location
- San Francisco Bay area
- Website
- www.arbor-studios.com
- Vehicles
- Tesla Model Y LR, Tesla Model 3 LR
- Occupation
- Retired AI researcher
When I lived in LA I rode a motorcycle and lane-splitted all the time. As you say, it originated with air-cooled engines that would overheat in the LA weather pretty easily if idling. I first noticed CHP splitting lanes and asked about it at the local shop (this was in the early 80s). They told me (and I later asked a CHP giving a traffic school and he confirmed) that it wasn't legal but as long as the law was adhered to CHP wouldn't cite. As water-cooled bikes became more of a mainstream it still made sense because motorcyclists are like a magnet for bad drivers. Lane splittling levels the playing field a bit. I never rode outside of California and when I moved to the bay area I sold my bike because: (a) I was getting older and my reaction time wasn't as good, (b) the roads up here are not as dry and reliable as they are in LA (too much slipping around), and (c) frankly, the drivers in LA are much better in traffic than here. I see lane-splitting as viable anywhere but I am not convinced that it is practical for the kinds of reasons I stopped when I moved north.Alas, 'impractical' it's not.
Motorcycles accelerate far more quickly than other vehicles. So letting them to the front of red light queues reduces overall traffic. Are you saying you don't have red lights?
Motorcycles sideswipe collisions are far less deadly, so allowing them to share lanes in heavy traffic, again, reduces overall traffic and traffic deaths. Are you saying you don't have freeways or suburban multilane roads?
And the original reason it used to be allowed: Motorcycles were air-cooled, and sitting around in traffic is bad for them, leading to more breakdowns and, again, traffic delays.
Yeah, it's only fully legal in California. But it's not impractical anywhere. And all states allow for motorcycles to queue up more tightly than other vehicles, the standard following distance being a staggered 1 second instead of the 3 second non-staggered for full sized vehicles.
-Crissa
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