http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GH8D2EqDZs&feature=related

I don't know if this video has made the rounds on this forum, but wait till you see the bike! 

precisely why lane splitting is a bad idea...

umm. disagree. lane splitting is fine when people follow directions.  nothing would have happened if the person decided to illegally cross the double line..  nothing would have happened if the guy freaking slowed it down some.  you cant go 50 lane splitting. and it sure as hell looked like that was what he was doing.

name of the video also says it's from los angeles. i'm fairly sure that it is legal over in california.

i admit to white lining a bit even though it's illegal over here on the east coast. BUT, i never go that fast. that's just unsafe and ridiculous!

Yep legal in Cali. He was definitely a beginner, no big deal, but experience would've kept him going slower and watching the cars tires to see where they are headed. I've learned equally painful lessons like that.

I definitely don't think he was going 50mph, he was moving pretty good, but it always looks faster when you're in tight traffic like that. Look up some videos of guys doing that in the city on their bicycles. It looks like they're going just as fast but they're only going 15-20mph. I'd say he might've been going 30-35. He definitely looks like a beginner though. He should've been able to get around that van. I swerve around things like that 10 times a day. The 2 miles of my bicycle ride in town is nothing but one giant lane split.

The messed up thing, is that the kid in the van didn't even think "oh no I hit something!" and swerve back into his lane, you can clearly see he just kept right on changing lanes because by the time the camera starts moving around, the van is on the other side of the white lines. Not only is it pathetic that he though "well I already started I'm just gonna get over now so after I check on this guy I'll already be in the right lane", but for all he knows there could've been another bike or 2 right behind him, and he could've taken them out as well. You can see there were other bikers around. I don't know how close they were.

There's also a video of a drunk girl running him over. That kid has some bad luck. She's trying to bribe him with a blow job so the cops don't have to come, and she's blaming HIM for making a scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MSiw6hGPQk

Wow. Can't say I'd ever thought of video as a help in insurance claims, but cops have been doing this for years. Is this the future of personal traffic litigation?

The main reason I posted this is his bike is a GS500f

It is legal to lane split in California, my cousin lives there and rides, and while he doesnt split lanes, his boss has his own rule where if the traffic gets below 30 mph, he starts splittin lanes. which i think is stupid even at 30, because of waht happend.  For me, IF splitin was legal in MO, id maybe do it only if traffic wasnt moving, and id still only go like 10 mph my self. nothing like the guy in this vid.

To the best of my knowledge, lane splitting is legal because air cooled motors would overheat sitting in traffic, so it wasn't meant for people to weave through traffic, but rather cut through stopped traffic and get to the front of lines at red lights. The guys in california who are cruising through slow moving traffic while they're going 50+ mph are probably the same people who weave through fast 70mph traffic on the highway while they're going 100mph in the rest of the country. I don't know because I"m on the complete other side of the country, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have some kind of limit on how fast you're supposed to be doing it.

I remember reading it was up to 10 mph over the flow of traffic, but im in virginia, so dont hold me to it

I know someone posted a nearly identical video on this forum...probably 3 or 4 years ago.   Not this video, though.  A GSer had the same thing happen...he was lane splitting and a minivan crossed in front of him.   I can't remember who that was.

Lane splitting NOT legal in Florida, and I have to correct far too many of my biker friends who think it is.   

The officers ive spoken with in california claim there are no laws prohibiting or endorsing lane sharing. A search of the dmv website only states its not illegal, but is unsafe.

I spent years lane sharing on a bicycle in heavy traffic. Ive spent the better part of the past 13,000 miles on the motorcycle sharing lanes. A huge part of motorcycling is risk management, which some are good at and others just dont seem to grasp the concept. I like to think i have a good understanding of my reaction time, and that speed is out of my comfort zone. I wouldnt have been driving that fast.

On the same note, sh*t happens. Its hard to compensate for others breaking the law. If that jerk had not crossed over a solid white AND double yellow lines illegally exiting the carpool lane, this accident would not have happened.

California is the only state in the country (to my knowledge) that allows lane splitting. It's explicitly illegal in other states.

I think it was originally meant to keep air-cooleds from overheating, but it's become more HOV - type privilege thing. In other other words, a special privilege for cycles on the interstates to allow them to move faster than single occupant commuter cars.

I always thought it was insane to split traffic at speeds over what you could stop in a car length or so. If you have your mirrors sighted correctly on a car for normal traffic (which means that you can't see the back of your own car,) you can't spot a cycle in the side mirrors when they're lane splitting. The cyclist is always in a blind spot.

Quote from: respite on November 13, 2009, 10:58:34 PM
The officers ive spoken with in california claim there are no laws prohibiting or endorsing lane sharing. A search of the dmv website only states its not illegal, but is unsafe.

I spent years lane sharing on a bicycle in heavy traffic. Ive spent the better part of the past 13,000 miles on the motorcycle sharing lanes. A huge part of motorcycling is risk management, which some are good at and others just dont seem to grasp the concept. I like to think i have a good understanding of my reaction time, and that speed is out of my comfort zone. I wouldnt have been driving that fast.

On the same note, sh*t happens. Its hard to compensate for others breaking the law. If that jerk had not crossed over a solid white AND double yellow lines illegally exiting the carpool lane, this accident would not have happened.

Thank you, I've busted that myth before. FYI many many many municipalities in cali do not accept lane splitting as not illegal and in fact write tickets for it, this went across the fireblades forum a year or 2 ago a fellow cali rider was tourqed that he had been ticketed by LA county for improper lane usage. Turns out that all though it is not illegal and CHP recognizes it and accepts it when done in a safe manner, the lane sharing law is actually a law allowing 2 vehicles, read that as motorcycles, to occupy the same lane at the same time, read that to mean ride abreast of each other, in many other states that is prohibited, for example it's specifically prohibited by statute in Oklahoma.

I'm not going to search for my old posts on the subject over at fireblades.org, but the information is out there if you take the time to search the motor vehicle codes.

just because something is legal (or not specified as illegal) doesn't make it safe. drinking alcohol is legal but doing excessively can be hazardous to your health.

I could never lane split, I don't care if others do, just not for me


And definitely getting a camera when I get my bike

Quote from: brickerenator on November 16, 2009, 04:55:43 AM
I could never lane split, I don't care if others do, just not for me


And definitely getting a camera when I get my bike

See how you feel when you're stuck in rush hour traffic with your engine heating up to 250 degrees between your legs and no end in sight, with a giant gap between the lanes all the way to freedom.

Quote from: tt_four on November 16, 2009, 06:14:27 AM

Quote from: brickerenator on November 16, 2009, 04:55:43 AM
I could never lane split, I don't care if others do, just not for me


And definitely getting a camera when I get my bike

See how you feel when you're stuck in rush hour traffic with your engine heating up to 250 degrees between your legs and no end in sight, with a giant gap between the lanes all the way to freedom.

I take back roads and avoid all traffic 

Quote from: brickerenator on November 16, 2009, 07:49:36 AM

Quote from: tt_four on November 16, 2009, 06:14:27 AM

See how you feel when you're stuck in rush hour traffic with your engine heating up to 250 degrees between your legs and no end in sight, with a giant gap between the lanes all the way to freedom.

I take back roads and avoid all traffic 

That's what I used to do when I lived outside the city. I believe the lane-splitting exemption is meant more for the people who are in city traffic, where there unfortunately are no 'back roads' to take. If you're outside the city you should be on back roads anyway, they're the fun ones.