It is neither legal nor illegal here in California.  Because it is not illegal, it is allowed.  It was originally 'allowed' by and for motorcycle police to prevent overheating of their air-cooled Harleys (and Motoguzzis in Los Angeles in the late '60's, early 70's), which required constant movement to keep cool in the dry, hot Californian summers.

When I first started riding I did not split, or filter; nor did I share either.  After a few months, I did filter, because I felt safe enough not to rub mirrors with stopped cars.  I hadn't really started sharing until about 19 years ago.  I do try to minimize my delta (the difference in speed) with other vehicles so as not to scare them.  For splitting, I usually go no faster than 35mph, with occational bursts up to 40 to get out of a squeeze, or speed change.

Lane Sharing, down in Oz in my state is Illegal. However, there is a grey area with passing on the Left (we ride on the left so passing on the left is passing on the gutter side of the road, the shoulder). That is, if a vehicle is making a right hand turn (or stopped) you may pass on the left. The Stopped part could be viewed as "stopped to make a turn". As such, if you filter at traffic lights or Split in slow moving traffic a cop will get you, you will be fined and lose points off your license. BUT, passing on the left (where a bicycle lane would be if they had one) will see you fined but no points. BUT, this is only in slower moving traffic. The left is no place to pass/overtake someone at speed, in that case you will also lose points. As I said, grey area.

Me? I have filtered but don't generally do it - if I can sneak passed all the cars on the left then I Sometimes will do it, but usually not.

I have lane split. A couple times in a line of like four other bikes. Once for self preservation as some idiot came screaming up behind me, sticking his head out the window, yelling, cursing, lights flashing, etc. I figured it would be better to not be there and zipped up the middle for about half a click. Another time, the guy behind got the shits that I had merged from a merging lane in front of him, drove his car on the shoulder then cut back in front of me. Time for me to get outta there, and I did.

Otherwise, I won't bother. I figure the risk is too high for the perceived reward (the damage that Could happen is not worth the measly few seconds it saves or couple of minutes it saves on my trip. I have calculated the time savings on my commute and it is not worth it.

Michael

Here in Brazil lanesplitting is legal, but you should (theoretically) guard 3 feet  of distance from your bike and cars.

One advantage here is that practically every car/truck driver signals when changing lanes and do it very carefully most of times. Unfortunatelly one month ago one driver didn't see and hit me, total lost to my GS, fortunatelly I was using gloves and a leather suit, didn't brake anything.

A friend of mine recorded himself going to work and back. That guy is crazy, I've never ridden like him, but it a nice video to see (after 6min). It's also not uncommon to find riders riding that way....

Bad side: Average of 1 death in transit per day (in a 21 million people city), with something like 300k motorcycles on the streets.

Here's the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH8fQskySfw&list=UUKJdq-oJxSuk

Quote from: GAS on August 02, 2011, 08:07:38 PM
Here in Brazil lanesplitting is legal, but you should (theoretically) guard 3 feet  of distance from your bike and cars.

One advantage here is that practically every car/truck driver signals when changing lanes and do it very carefully most of times. Unfortunatelly one month ago one driver didn't see and hit me, total lost to my GS, fortunatelly I was using gloves and a leather suit, didn't brake anything.

A friend of mine recorded himself going to work and back. That guy is crazy, I've never ridden like him, but it a nice video to see (after 6min). It's also not uncommon to find riders riding that way....

Bad side: Average of 1 death in transit per day (in a 12 million people city), with something like 300k motorcycles on the streets.

Here's the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH8fQskySfw&list=UUKJdq-oJxSuk

lain splitting may be legal, but i would like to know how many traffic laws he did break in that video 

lol!!

1- He's probably speeding all the time,
2- It is not legal to ride on the sidewalks (of course)
3- Here it is not legal to pass by the right side of a driver (when not lane splitting)
4- A couple of red lights passed too (here you can't pass a red light even if you're turning right)

And probably a lot more I didn't see!

That video totally freaked me out!

Bassman

I ride my bike because I enjoy it, not because i feel the need to be an ass and weave through traffic like the people in those videos.

Was the guy in that video honking at people as hes lane splitting?!?!?! Im sorry, but even as a biker, if someone honked at me while doing something dumb/ illegal like that I would give them a not so loving love tap (yum pavement)! 

twinsm86,

The honking is a cultural thing. While it's not illegal to lanesplitting, riders usually honk to warn drivers to not change lanes at that time. It's not that annoying when you're in a traffic jam surrounded by trucks that do a lot more noise than a motorcycle horn. When I'm driving I definetly prefer to be warned by a honking guy than hit a silent one....

The traffic here is just terrible, is your choice to drive a car and take 2 hours (seriously) to get to work and more 2 to get back home or spend 30 minutes in a bike, splitting lanes. Motorcycles are then a useful tool to get more free time, most people use them for its practicity more than for its joyness.

twinsm86 and bassman,

I'd like to say that riding this way is not usual. I don't do that (but I split lanes, of course). I have to myself that what is safe is to go just a few mph faster than the cars, so you are seeing what is to come and if somebody change lanes without signaling I have time to slow down. It's pretty common here that novice riders involve themselves in accidents by NOT doing lanesplitting. The cars are not used to have bikes in the middle of the lane and in a red light stop is very likely to be hit in the rear by some old fella who is not wearing it's glasses or shouldn't even be driving anyway.... Differently from US, here cars stop 2feet away (at most) from the next one in a light stop. If an old person is not aware he or she will measure by the lights of the car in front of you, that are usually much brighter than yours (in a motorcycle).

I guess its a different world down there, so I guess its not too bad, just not what I would be used too. Something inside me just snaps when people honk at me and I get angry.... haha. Like "oh no they did not, get back here so I can kick your ass!" 

Believe me. You don't want to know how different is the world down here! lol

I'm used to it (you awalys get used to it, right?) but it's definitely too bad! the honking people are the smallest of my problems.. lol

Quote from: Twism86 on August 03, 2011, 01:08:01 PM
I guess its a different world down there, so I guess its not too bad, just not what I would be used too. Something inside me just snaps when people honk at me and I get angry.... haha. Like "oh no they did not, get back here so I can kick your ass!" 

Does that include if YOU have been a dumbass on the road and they give you a beep? Or do you do like everyone else and yell get flucked and flip the bird as well, inciting anger even further?

If cars do something dumb to me on the bike, after a beep and escape I also give them the finger. This finger 

Michael

I don't lane split. People in Kissimmee and O-town don't know what blinkers are for. So, you never know what in the world they are going to do. People will fly through four lanes of traffic to make that turn because the GPS told them to. On occasion I will filter up to the front of a light if I am turning right. No one has really given me birds or tried to run me off the road yet. But, if the light is getting ready to change I will hang out where I'm at.

Mary

Quote from: Toogoofy317 on August 08, 2011, 09:06:05 PM
I don't lane split. People in Kissimmee and O-town don't know what blinkers are for. So, you never know what in the world they are going to do. People will fly through four lanes of traffic to make that turn because the GPS told them to. On occasion I will filter up to the front of a light if I am turning right. No one has really given me birds or tried to run me off the road yet. But, if the light is getting ready to change I will hang out where I'm at.

Mary

agreed. be safe hun. dont wanna read abotu some random jackass running you over. youve seen people signal right, and go left im sure. across multiple lanes as well. ive already bounced my goped across the side of a fedex truck.  lol. even where its common or people USE directionals, id still be wary IF i had to do it. also i wouldnt do it unless i had an escape path of some sort

Quote from: GAS on August 03, 2011, 07:14:01 AM
lol!!

1- He's probably speeding all the time,
2- It is not legal to ride on the sidewalks (of course)
3- Here it is not legal to pass by the right side of a driver (when not lane splitting)
4- A couple of red lights passed too (here you can't pass a red light even if you're turning right)

And probably a lot more I didn't see!

there was one he ran BUT it was a split stop. here in teh us split stops. well teh line one MUST stop at is past the lanewhere traffic approaches from left. usually that is where one HAS to stop. other one is optional. i hope he doesnt ride liek this ALl the time. hes crazy lol. but it was a fun ride especially at night.
he was averaging at night 112 km/h splitting lanes passing within inches of vehicles etc. but hey. best of luck to him. still an awesome looking ride. but was he in that big of a hurry? was his wife calling him saying " honey im horny, youve got 10 mins to get home or else i wont be any longer? ; lol

I ride in the San Francisco area, and I laneshare and filter all the time.  Low speed, always on the alert particularly if there's merge-space, and it's been all good since '90.

I've had less than a half-dozen drivers take obvious exception over the years, but far more folks either move over or pull in their mirrors than the ones that actively try to impede me.  The Bay Area is pretty good riding territory.

Slow and steady wins the race!

I've only lane split once and that was to get over a bridge where there was no shoulder and the traffic was moving at 5km/h and even then I watched a 4x4 try to hit the motorbike in front of me that I was following. As a rule I think lane splitting is to dangerous. Moving cars, to hard to react.
I do tend to filter in heavy traffic though. I won't filter unless I'm going to be sitting in that traffic for a long time. As Mister said, Aussie cops have a whole host of ways to book you for it and really depends. Some you see their faces and they are like I wish I could do that, some give you the warning finger wiggle, others just ignore you, some write down you number plate for the bill in the mail, etc. I try not to filter past cops, just to be on the safe side.

In a group of bikes, I feel far safer splitting lanes than riding straight behind the others as long as we're going at max. 45.
And I do filtering on stop signs and traffic lights 'though both (splitting and filtering) is prohibited in Germany.

Of course I do, what's the point of riding a bike if you're not to take advantage of riding. If you're going to just sit in traffic, you might as well just drive a car.

I am in California (Los Angeles area) and when I rode I always split lanes. Traffic is massive here. I remember when I used to do sunday rides I would hit gridlock on a sunday around 2pm!
Splitting was nerve racking though. You have to be on high alert the entire time watching the ebb and flow of people, watching and anticipating moves across your lane. I always arrived home with my shoulders tight. It was less stressful when I split between the carpool lane and other lanes as there is more space there and against the law for cars to cross over from one to the other (although you still have to be vigilant about them doing that).
Only once did I have someone swerve over to change lanes *just* as I was about to pass next to them. We both ended up moving over to the next lane together as I ended up next to them, lol.
I have to admit I split lanes pretty fast too...
Eventually I stopped riding on the street and stuck to the track though.

It can be very dangerous but done with care can be very safe too.

Quote from: mister on August 02, 2011, 11:50:14 AM
Lane Sharing, down in Oz in my state is Illegal.

Except two motorcycle may share the same lane.