Recently moved to Ballard WA from Oakland CA, after 7 years of lane splitting. From comparison to previous riding in Ohio, lane splitting is without a question how it should be everywhere; filtering permitting at minimum.
Since riding again in urban roads, not having the ability to split is ludacris. Trying to get a ballot initiative here in Seattle...
Lane splitting or as we call it here, filtering, is perfectly legal here in the UK. It is also absolutely fine in a lot of european countries.
I personally find it incredulous that it is not allowed in some countries. I don't own a motorcycle to sit in traffic and be at risk of getting rear ended by some inattentive car driver. In fact a lot of riders here own one with the sole use of cutting through the ever increasing rush hour traffic jams, in order to get to and from work and home a bit quicker than is possible on four wheels.
When done correctly and at no more than 15-20 mph faster than the other traffic using the road, it is perfectly safe.
By correctly I mean by riding defensively. As you should be doing at all times on the roads anyway.
Riding defensively does not prevent us from riding progressively. It is all about spotting potential issues ahead and dealing with them before they become a problem.
Filtering through is simply a much safer and progressive place for us to be located in the the traffic stream.
Most car, van and truck drivers here will move over and give us motorcyclists a little more room to filter through when the traffic is stationary or slow moving. That is if they see us in their mirrors. Usually the main reason they don't see us, is that they don't check their mirrors often enough, hence a loud exhaust or a little blip of the throttle to let them know we are there and coming through is not usually a big issue.
My view is, filtering on motorcycles should be absolutely legal everywhere in the world. Hope you can get this law passed.
The American reaction to lane sharing is a curious thing. Why 4 wheeled motorists would want to control what a 2 wheeled motorist does is just that, a control thing. If I can't move, why should anyone else?
...
Polite motoring, life would be so much nicer if people would just drive carefully and give way.
Yeah, strange mindset up here. I just did a thousand-mile trip through Oregon/Idaho, and it was crazy how many times we'd be following a vehicle for 5 or 10 minutes at 50 mph, then the road opens up and they'd accelerate to 80+ mph when we tried to pass. But we also had a couple drivers slow and pull over to make sure we could pass, which was nice.
As far as lane splitting, my policy is to take a car if I'm going anyplace that has enough traffic to warrant it. But back when I lived in a city, I did it all the time, saves a lot of time.
"we'd be following a vehicle for 5 or 10 minutes at 50 mph, then the road opens up and they'd accelerate to 80+ mph when we tried to pass."
Traffic turds with big P-up trucks with duellys and trailers. POS in the curvy sections and put on the power when the road straightens out.
Those diesel powered rigs can really haul ass when they want. The drivers just have no sympathy for those that get stuck behind them.
Makes them champion A-holes.
South Australia's introduction to lane filtering recently could be a good starting place for getting legislators to accept the idea of filtering.
There are a group of us in BC Canada that are working to get our Ministry and legislators educated and receptive. An uphill challenge but we are finding more acceptance when they look at other jurisdictions that allow filtering.
Why limit filtering to 30 km/hr? If you are in an accident at this speed it is unlikely you will have a serious injury and it's why school zones are already limited to this speed for all vehicles.
Eventually the safety of lane filtering or splitting will be greatly increased when 4 wheeled vehicles have sensors that prevent them from changing lanes when its unsafe to do so, prevent them from having rear end collisions and prevent left hand turns when its unsafe to do so. Forget the current drive for complete autonomous passenger vehicles, focus on the 3 examples I've listed where accidents and injuries can be prevented.
Never, ever, having done lane splitting, I have a question. When, let's say, multiple lanes of traffic on a controlled highway have crawled to a stop for a red light, and Joe Strom split lanes to the front of the swarm, does Joe really get to the intersection still splitting lanes and in between two cars at the front, the light turns green and Joe Strom gets to gun it and leave all the others in his dust?
I have never even seen this done.
Around here someone would eventually either ram you or shoot you.
In California, where it is a legal and long standing practice, four wheelers largely expect it, and the practice does help alleviate a bit of congestion. I'm not so sure how it would play out in a state where it is to be newly introduced, what with cell phones and people crowding the shoulder or centerline trying to see what's going on.
I am fortunate to not find it necessary to ride in such heavy traffic, and would personally find it a little intimidating.
Your crazy…lane splitting is sooooooooo frickin dangerous, your just asking for serious injury or worse! Not to mention it’s inconsiderate to motorists. I am 100% against it in every way.
Last I heard, it passed the legislature, you know, the peoples representatives, and Nazi Kate vetoed it.
Press Release | June 8, 2021
Lane-sharing in Oregon was one step closer to becoming a reality after the Oregon House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 574 with a vote of 42 to 14 on May 17. The House vote occurred after the Oregon Senate passed the bill in early May with wide bipartisan support. The passage marks nearly seven years of advocacy work by local Oregon motorcycle organizations and the AMA to educate lawmakers on the bill’s safety, traffic and environmental benefits.
Despite bipartisan support, however, Gov. Kate Brown vetoed the bill on May 26, citing her concerns about safety. Although the Legislature could still override that veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers, it’s highly unlikely.
Your crazy…lane splitting is sooooooooo frickin dangerous, your just asking for serious injury or worse! Not to mention it’s inconsiderate to motorists. I am 100% against it in every way.
Your crazy…lane splitting is sooooooooo frickin dangerous, your just asking for serious injury or worse! Not to mention it’s inconsiderate to motorists. I am 100% against it in every way.
Cool story bro! Simply put- don't do it but allow others to do it. You know, kinda like helmets in non helmet states- I think they're fucking idiots but I don't have to live in their body and I support their right to be idiots.
This is an interesting thread. I'm not quite sure why some think it's so dangerous, riding a bike is a dangerous in its own right so I don't really see that as an argument.
Here in the UK lane splitting as far as I know has always been legal and just part of riding a bike, to the point that on my daily commute if the weather's bad I will take bike in preference because it means I can get home in 30 minutes and not sit in traffic for 2 hours when the bridge is closed.
If the ability to lane split was removed, I'd sell my Strom tomorrow and think very hard about wether or not to keep my 78 GS750. It really is a part of the fabric of riding here.
Yeah, strange mindset up here. I just did a thousand-mile trip through Oregon/Idaho, and it was crazy how many times we'd be following a vehicle for 5 or 10 minutes at 50 mph, then the road opens up and they'd accelerate to 80+ mph when we tried to pass.
I can't stand those even here in California where lane splitting is allowed. It's rare that I encounter douchebags who won't let me pass in the straights, but it has happened to me. This is why when I'm on a rural twisty road and I catch up to ANY slow moving vehicle, as soon as it's safe, I will pass with extreme prejudice, then pour on the coals until they disappear. The nice thing here in California, 90% of drivers expect it and just let bygones be bygones. Out of sight out of mind. I've had pick up trucks even give me room to pass, which is very nice, and they get a Thank You wave from me. I don't understand people who get offended by getting passed by a faster vehicle.
Your crazy…lane splitting is sooooooooo frickin dangerous, your just asking for serious injury or worse! Not to mention it’s inconsiderate to motorists. I am 100% against it in every way.
Inconsiderate to motorists? You're not serious are you? Because the motorcyclist got ahead of you in traffic? Please get over yourself as a motorist and share the unused space that your car isn't occupying!
Every motorcyclist that is filtering (or "lane splitting") is one less car driver making the traffic jam even worse than it is. So by using my motorcycle instead of my car today, I'm making the traffic jam one car less worse for you. How is that "inconsiderate"?
I do have a related request though. If you're a Tesla driver, could you please teach your autopilot not to remain in the center of your lane, but move to the side a bit so that I can pass? Just like all the other cars do?
I have heard Elon Musk has no sympathy for motorcycles/motorcyclists.
This will be interesting to watch. Oregon isn't known of late for impartial logical decisions. No clear ideological point to it, so it's up in the air. Except maybe that most motor cycles are powered by internal combustion engines an electric motorcycles makes no sense on highways, only inside the cities.
I can't stand those even here in California where lane splitting is allowed. It's rare that I encounter douchebags who won't let me pass in the straights, but it has happened to me. This is why when I'm on a rural twisty road and I catch up to ANY slow moving vehicle, as soon as it's safe, I will pass with extreme prejudice, then pour on the coals until they disappear. The nice thing here in California, 90% of drivers expect it and just let bygones be bygones. Out of sight out of mind. I've had pick up trucks even give me room to pass, which is very nice, and they get a Thank You wave from me. I don't understand people who get offended by getting passed by a faster vehicle.
Your crazy…lane splitting is sooooooooo frickin dangerous, your just asking for serious injury or worse! Not to mention it’s inconsiderate to motorists. I am 100% against it in every way.
The University of California Berkeley has finished its study of lane-splitting in California, and the results are encouraging for lane-splitting proponents.Researchers, led by Dr. Thomas Rice of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), reviewed nearly 6,000...
Recent research has confirmed what many motorcycle riders have known for years. "Lane splitting" – or riding in between lanes of traffic – obviously saves riders a lot of time, but it's also considerably safer than sitting in traffic and acting like a car, as long as it’s done within certain…
Over the past few years, many states have considered legalizing different variations on lane splitting or at least not making it outright illegal. Many bills have gone to the state legislatures but so far none have passed. Lane splitting is looked at as a
I glanced through that BC report and I thought that there was a typo in there, but there really isn't: Lane splitting is considered safer up to 50 MPH (80 km/h). And they even have data that goes all the way up to 80 MPH. Really? How come they have data on that? Do people really lane split at those speeds?
Here in the Netherlands lane splitting is legal, but only once the traffic has come to an almost complete stop. Now I fully admit that I don't wait for that to happen, but I already start when traffic is slowing down to maybe 20-30 km/h (although I'm definitely not looking at my speedo at that point). Lane splitting at higher speeds sounds positively dangerous to me. Not just because of the speed per se, but because car drivers can much easier become startled and veer off course, either into my path or into the path of another vehicle.
41 - 60 of 66 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
A forum community dedicated to all Suzuki Strom owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, purchasing, reviews, accessories, maintenance, and more!