Accident while lane splitting, verdict?

[santa]

I got hit by a car a while back while lane splitting. Insurance said it was the car's fault. A few months later, my friend got hit by a car while lane splitting, police report had him at fault. So I'm just trying to gather some statistics here.

 

[mototireguy]

In most cases when an accident happens during the act of lane splitting (right or wrong) the motorcycle is assigned the blame.

Weigh the odds and take your chances.

 

[Monkey Pants]

As always, it depends. I split to the front of a red right, and was hit by a car that turned into me (we were sharing lane) without signaling. Police said it was my fault, as he was stopped at the light first and therefore had right of way to the lane.

 

[louemc]

Ahh Santa, how about the statistics of what you were doing and what the car that hit you was doing?

What is anyone supposed to base fault on, when nothing is known?

 

[Lights_Guy3]

Its entirely depends on the situation, the witnesses, and the extend and location of the damage. Witnesses are probably the most important factor.

 

[santa]

Ahh Santa, how about the statistics of what you were doing and what the car that hit you was doing?

What is anyone supposed to base fault on, when nothing is known?

I was splitting in #1 and the car switched from #2 to #1 and hit me. Their insurance decided it was an unsafe lane change.

 

[Sidesaddle]

In most cases when an accident happens during the act of lane splitting (right or wrong) the motorcycle is assigned the blame.

Weigh the odds and take your chances.

Depends. Did a car cop or motorcycle cop take the report?

Also depends on speed of bike, any witnesses, where was the impact on the vehicle? Hard to give a blanket statement on this type of collision.

 

[DataDan]

Monkey Pants wrote: I split to the front of a red right, and was hit by a car that turned into me (we were sharing lane) without signaling.

You were neither splitting nor sharing. Splitting implies riding between two lanes of traffic. You were either between the rightmost lane and the shoulder or the leftmost lane and the median. Thus, you lacked the protection of an adjacent lane keeping cars from entering your space.

Sharing implies mutual knowledge and consent. The other driver obviously didn't even know you were there.

santa wrote: I was splitting in #1 and the car switched from #2 to #1 and hit me.

You were a victim of the “gap”, the most common lane-splitting crash, where a vehicle in one lane moves into a gap in the other lane, right in front of the motorcycle. Here are some other threads about gap crashes and close calls:

• crash on bay bridge today, withness needed
• Slowmof AKA soundwave8836 just got hit from lane spliting
• Almost took out a lanesplitter today
• Me vs Suburban
• Lane Split Accident
• 1 or more riders down
• Wreck on CA24
• Lesson learned: Don't be in such a hurry!
• Rider down on 24 in Lafayette.... It was me!
• Well, that sucked. (SoCalSportbikes)
• Minor Crash on 880
• Busting a lane position myth
• Went down this morning on 101 before 85 entrance.
• So I just got laid out on 101
• cut off on i-580 and i-238 on 10-7-2008
• Almost Thrown On 680

The relative safety of lane splitting comes from riding between two lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. You don’t have to rely on being seen because the presence of other vehicles keeps drivers in their lanes. But when a gap opens up in one lane, that protection is gone and you have to rely on drivers’ expectation of a lane-splitting motorcycle and on their keen observation skills. Not a good chance to take.

Here are some tips for dealing with a gap while splitting:

• Stay visually ahead of your situation so you know when you're approaching a gap.
  
  
• Slow down as you near the gap. Reduced speed gives you two advantages: You spend more time in the driver's mirror field, so you're more likely to be seen, and braking distance is reduced.
  
  
• Don't expect a signal, don't try to read head or eye movement, and don't fool yourself into thinking you're telepathic. A driver will jump into the gap without warning.
  
  
• Approaching the gap, position yourself where they can't get you. Try to time your passage through it when you're "out of phase" with the adjacent lane. That is, when cars that could jump into the gap are either too far behind or too far ahead to change lanes.
  
  
• As you enter the gap, occupy it and move away from the opposite lane. You gain space cushion that can protect you if another vehicle tries to occupy it too.

If this post seems familiar, that’s because it's my standard response to lane-splitting "gap" crashes. My hope is that if the message is repeated often enough, the alarming number of crashes that occur this way can be reduced.

 

[santa]

Thanks for the informative post. There actually was a car on my left (it was stop and go traffic), there was no room for the car that hit me, but she was hoping she could make some.

 

[bountyhunter]

I was splitting in #1 and the car switched from #2 to #1 and hit me.

Which is exactly why I always repeat what CHP commander told me: you split only when safe, and it's only safe when the cars you are passing are STOPPED, STOPPED, STOPPED because a stopped car in traffic CAN'T CHANGE LANES.

If you are passing through moving raffic you are betting your life that a car changing lanes will be looking for an MC passing between cars and you will lose that bet sometimes.

 

[bountyhunter]

The relative safety of lane splitting comes from riding between two lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Actually, any safety comes from stopped bumper to bumper traffic since that stops the cars from moving in their lanes. You are still vulnerable to somebody opening a door to empty an ashtray and you better be going slow enough to stop if they do.

 

[SuperMike]

Ahh Santa, how about the statistics of what you were doing and what the car that hit you was doing?

What is anyone supposed to base fault on, when nothing is known?

Not HIS riding history, YOUR riding history.

 

[ThermalStone]

I have had a car turn into me on the freeway while lanesplitting. I took quite a hit but managed to stay up. I also took off the car's mirror. We stopped and I inspected my bike. Unbelievably, there was no damage that I could find. I talked to the guy, who apologized for not seeing me. I convinced him that the accident was his fault, but since there was no damage to my bike, I was willing to let this one go. When he said yes, I told him to be careful and rode off. Damage was less than $500, no need to file police report, not that I would have stuck around anyways once we agreed not to involve police or insurance.

 

[NOTCH1]

I'll have you know that I was chagrined beyond hope southbound 880 towards OAK to deliver my beloved to the airdrome, that rueful day a gasoline tank truck and a car collided several weeks back.

You see, we were rolling up upon the collision, black post-apocalyptic smoke erupting in the orange-yellow dawn sky. Everyone was slowing to a crawl save for some young swashbuckling highwayman on a low slung cruiser. This rogue not only took my driver side rear view mirror from my car while I had not deviated from my path, but he also kept going, sinusoidally bobbing one way to the next as the bike continued up the road. Not a semblance of control...SUCH IMPUDENCE!!!

Hope he was okay, but sad to be left with a broken mirror housing for the travail...OH YOU DESPERADO LANESPLITTER!!! I HURTLE THE MOST DASTARDLY EMOTICONS ONE COULD HAVE YOUR WAY!!!!