Busted

I was sitting in rush hour traffic today, green lights up ahead and someone is blocking traffic, nobody is moving. I decide to be a little naughty and split traffic for less than a block. Apparently the cages in line got irritated. Got 2 separate complaints called against my plates and a not so nice phone call from the po-po when I got home

Yeah, that really sucks. Yeah, you're in the wrong, but... When people should be cheering you on because at least SOMEONE gets to move, they instead get jealous. Stoopid Hoomans!

Soooooo... Did you get a ticket ? Gawd I am so glad we don't have that law.

I live one-half my commute life daily between stopped cars.

I've probably saved 10K hours of commuting time in twenty years riding a bike to work.

X-Racer wrote:

Soooooo... Did you get a ticket ? Gawd I am so glad we don't have that law.

I live one-half my commute life daily between stopped cars.

I've probably saved 10K hours of commuting time in twenty years riding a bike to work.

Saving 1 hour on every commute? Excellent!

I'm thankful my current commute is only 12 - 20 minutes (lanesplitting is illegal in Ontario.) Longest was 45 minutes from 05:30 due to freezing rain.
Living only 10 kms away, I usually only ride to work in the Spring to recover from PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrone.) On those days my commute distance is often 20 - 40 kms.

Living in Colorado is nice when it comes to the sites and amazing roads. But not being able to lane share sucks!!! Man I sometimes miss living in SoCal.

Good luck, and hope you don't get a ticket.

Here in CA lane splitting is legal but I hate doing it, especially on the freeway as its just plain scarry. Two weeks ago I was in a hurry and same as you, traffic was a mess on my normal route. I got impatient and split lanes up to the traffic signal and waited for a green. In doing this I weaved in and out of my lane and the adjacent bike lane (crossed a solid white paint line) to avoid cars that were too far over in the lane. The light turns green after a minute or so and I tear off across the intersection. As I get across, a motorcycle cop jumps out like Batman from behind a parked car into the middle of the road in front of me, it scared the bejeezus out of me. He points at me and the car to my left and yells "you and you here" motioning us to the side - I think crap, he's going to get me for swerving out of the lane into the bike lane.

I pull up in front of where he is standing and he says "you go ahead that way pointing straight down the road, and he points to the car, you here" So, I keep going, minding my manners for the rest of the ride home, wondering what that was all about and why he nailed the car to my left at the intersection.

MAYBE he was looking out for a fellow motorcyclist.................Big MAYBE..

* shaking head * Nooo... My calc was off. An hour a day is not my savings.

It's only 1/2 hour to work worst case in a cage. It's 1/2 that on a bike. That works out to 2600 hours (roughly).

...and that is on the street. Splitting lanes on the fwy in Los Angeles is an eventual death sentence.

I have probably passed mostly the same people for those 20 years who may, at times, sit at one light for three reds. Pretty ugly...

...of course I end up doing the same thing in the truck when it's raining. ....but it never rains in California (so the song goes).

Uh huh.... Right. Welcome to the beach today with light rain: http://www.hermosawave.net/webcam/videocam.php

john92 wrote:

MAYBE he was looking out for a fellow motorcyclist.................Big MAYBE..

Its oddly possible, as the thought had crossed my mind.

The car next to me at the light had been there for a period time before I rode up, so the LEO must have been eye balling this car from his hide. In Ca, vehicles are required to have a front and rear tags or plates, not sure if this vehicle had one on the front. When the light went green, the car seemed like it took off fast as I did, and seemed to be edging me right causing me to speed up. When the LEO jumped out in front of me, he was waving both arms downward in a "slow down motion". You could be right in that he may of thought the driver was trying to edge me out and was being unsafe.

X-Racer wrote:

* Splitting lanes on the fwy in Los Angeles is an eventual death sentence.

Agreed. Last time I did the highway the entire ride home I was splitting lanes at 25-35 mph while traffic was standing. This seemed fast enough and safe incase some turd pulled out in front of me. To my suprise, my speed pissed off some guy on a KTM 950 that passed me lane spliiting at about 50 mph. In the truck I offten see this same guy all over the road switching lanes. He's an accident waiting to happen.

M1: There's old riders and bold riders, but no old, bold riders.

There was this guy on a Hypermotard and I'd see him from time to time during the week. It didn't matter what I was riding (one of the five street legal rides in the garage), he'd race up around me and jump on it and literally take off at 70-80 MPH race speed on 35 MPH streets (industrial area but so what). I'm like: Alllllllrightythen....

Big egos (based on the bike thay own) sometimes lack big experience and usually have big accidents.

On the other end of the scale are the cautious riders who innocently become victims of fate (like the guy on another thread here who get's t-boned by a MAIL TRUCK of all things ?). Wild...

I think folks should be allowed to lane split when traffic is stopped. That's what they do in Europe and it seems to work quite well.

I also don't think they should be able to ticket you for an offence unless they catch you at it. Unfortunately that's not the case here either. A neighbour of ours got a tailgating ticket because someone (who happens to dislike him) phoned it in. The funny thing is that the date they claimed to have seen him, he was home all day. So were we and bore witness to the fact. I think he still got stuck with the ticket though. Guilty until proven ... more guilty???

ZED wrote:

I think folks should be allowed to lane split when traffic is stopped. That's what they do in Europe and it seems to work quite well.

In the Netherlands (circa 1999) they started splitting when traffic dropped to 50 kph or lower.

In Italy circa 2002 going to the Mugello motoGP we were lane splitting on a 2-lane road. Right down the middle, a continuous line of bikes!
After the races (Italian riders won 125, 250 & 500 - 1000), the Italians' riding was much more 'spirited!'

Outskirts of Paris last year commuter bikes/scooters split on 2-lane roads in slow traffic - cars that moved to right edge to help got thank-you right foot 'waves.'

I've been riding for 30+ years, and live in SoCal. I've never gone down on pavement.
That said, I won't lane split unless the cars are stopped and I'm only going about 5-9 mph. Just too much can happen when the cars are moving and one decides "oh crap, that's my exit over there!"...

that's the sad part, everyone here is so foreign to the idea of lane splitting. they're bitter that someone will get to the front while they have to sit in traffic. I wasn't splitting any more than 5-10mph, jogging pace, just creeping up to the red light. I never split quickly here, because I know some a-hole out here is retarded enough to open a door on someone just out of spite.

Well, I'd say a WR250R or X, with a bigger rear sprocket is about the best lane splitter/downtown courier bike there is. Skinny, tall, squirts in and out of tight spots. If i was younger, I would love to be a courier in downtown San Francisco, but I hear the life expetancy isn't that long...