Can somebody explain rush hour lane splitting?

[kangaroo]

One last comment. A very large number/percentage of car drivers, really, really, don't like us splitting. In fact, in my opinion, many motorcycle riders don't "approve" of people splitting (go to a Harley/Cruiser forum and you'll see what I mean). Many of them even suggest opening doors on riders. Surj, you seem to take exception to my "riding hard" statement. Again, in my opinion, when I'm "riding hard", it keeps me very focused on what I'm doing. And, in my opinion, it is one of the reasons I haven't crashed on the street since 1979.

Another thing Surj. I don't think I'm pissing people off with how I ride, you seem to make the assumption that I do. My point was that I don't come on here and start calling people douchebag or anything else, over the way they ride.

I lived up north for 39 years. My kid lives in the Mission. Out of respect for Surj, I'll stop now.

Have a good day.

Really? Every time people use the word "think" it is a substitute for I don't really know jack sheot. Like I challenged you earlier and post up your real hard riding in this forum of riders and let them give you an honest feedback as to whether it is just hard riding or a total douchebag? Won't label it but put it on a 1-10 scale.

Wonder how you'd respond if your kid came up to you and said,"dad I think I crashed the car." Just saying...

 

[danate]

Really? Every time people use the word "think" it is a substitute for I don't really know jack sheot. Like I challenged you earlier and post up your real hard riding in this forum of riders and let them give you an honest feedback as to whether it is just hard riding or a total douchebag? Won't label it but put it on a 1-10 scale.

Wonder how you'd respond if your kid came up to you and said,"dad I think I crashed the car." Just saying...

You really are confrontational. Everyone gauges their own riding in different ways. We have no idea what Corndog's "riding hard" means. It could be the same as your riding mellow or my riding extreme. When he says he thinks he isn't pissing off drivers, that's an important thing to note. We need more riders to be aware of this and try to keep their riding civil to not piss off drivers. I have passed cars at higher speeds without pissing them off plenty of times (and often they initiate the split by making room and I give them a wave after). I have also crept past cars up to the front of a red light and been yelled and screamed at. Our goal should be safety first and image second.

While we have our speed guidelines, they are not hard and fast rules. Being safe and prudent on a bike is a fluid process that always involves what your speed is relative to those around you. Ever find yourself in a terrible clump of traffic going 60mph on the freeway? Cars changing lanes back and forth and tailgating each other because they want to go 80, but they can't get past the road blocks in front. Do you believe it's safer to just sit in that pack and keep cruising, or would it be best to split past a few cars and get to the nice empty space in front of them?

 

[Reli]

Lol and what bike do you ride? A grom. Come on man is that a pat on the back with your zinger? There is a time and a place for riding "real hard." If you think it is all the time and everywhere, you are not only the problem. You are also in line to experience that stupid dumb look on the side of the road while the paramedics are cutting up your expensive riding jacket. Hey I have an idea, post up your spirited riding vid in congestion and let this forum vote how douchey you are.

Not sure where you got a Grom from, I have a gsxr750, I ride to actually get places, not pop wheelies and jump curbs. And I never claimed that I "ride hard", so quit putting words in my mouth. I merely said that I do the same speeds that tons of other people do. You seem to believe people aren't going as fast as I say they are. Well hang out at the Panhandle and see for yourself.

Oh, and........ OMG, 60 MPH ON THE BAY BRIDGE!!!!!!!111

 

[Sharky]

Just get out of the way and don't worry about what he's doing.

+1

 

[corndog67]

Really? Every time people use the word "think" it is a substitute for I don't really know jack sheot. Like I challenged you earlier and post up your real hard riding in this forum of riders and let them give you an honest feedback as to whether it is just hard riding or a total douchebag? Won't label it but put it on a 1-10 scale.

Wonder how you'd respond if your kid came up to you and said,"dad I think I crashed the car." Just saying...

You're trolling, seems like you want to call me a douchebag, but something is holding you back. Since, as someone else mentioned, you seem to be real confrontational , why not confront the guys that are really pissing you off, and call them douchebags, instead of calling them out here, and getting all foamy about what I'm saying.

And what are you talking about with my kid? You are reaching. Trolling for a response.

 

[Cincinnatus]

One thing I absolutely can't stand is how I let a car sneak up my blind spot and come into my peripheral in the lane next to me.

It's 360 time and knowing where you ought to be five clicks from now.

It's easy to say...

Well said.

Observing what's going on around you constantly, doing the mental calculus that allows predictions of other's movements, and not only allowing that to go on, but taking advantage of that calculus to avoid potential hazards and advance your positioning in traffic.

 

[Groink]

Speed deltas aside, it seems most lane splitting happens on on/between lanes #1 and #2. Does anyone split lanes 2/3 or 3/4? I don't mean preparing to make an exit or temporarily avoiding some hazard -- I mean going at-speed, "this is the lane I'm using to cross this bridge" type of riding. I occasionally see riders on the San Mateo Bridge splitting lanes 2/3, and it seems to catch some folks (myself included) off guard.

Just wondering how people feel about that. Personally, I wouldn't do it.

 

[dwarf]

I split decently quick on the bridge and its been going OK. Better than the guy on the harley who was cussing and kicking cars. My favorite part of following him was the footage of him hitting a car with his mirror and it falling off

 

[danate]

If you ever find yourself in this predicament, I think you are missing one of louemc's most valid points about it being all your fault.

You can avoid traffic altogether on the freeways? I don't think any level of prediction and judgement can avoid those massive clumps of traffic that plague our freeways. There are, however, sweet spots between them that can be found.

If your point was to just not ride during traffic hours in the first place, then I can understand that, however it wouldn't work for me.

 

[HeatXfer]

snip

I have passed cars at higher speeds without pissing them off plenty of times (and often they initiate the split by making room and I give them a wave after). I have also crept past cars up to the front of a red light and been yelled and screamed at. Our goal should be safety first and image second.

You can't know that: There is no way of knowing whether or not you've pissed-off drivers until there are obvious indicators otherwise, as you pointed-out in the second sentence quoted above. kangaroo's "think" quote is right inline with that, but I wouldn't put it so bluntly. It's safe to say you're probably pissing-off more people than you're pleasing, but that goes for me and everybody else who rides, and that's the point. Regardless of your speed or behavior (as you see it), you are going to piss somebody off.

I agree it's safety first and image second. But they're not mutually exclusive and one supports the other when talking about the public's perception of us. In my mind they are one in the same. Is it too bad we have to be careful when we ride? Not at all, how is that detrimental to us a riders? The word 'entitlement' was used earlier; more and more that seems to be the attitude of those who ride without courtesy.

 

[clutchslip]

Regardless of your speed or behavior (as you see it), you are going to piss somebody off.

I really liked your post, but would like to moderate this part.

In a general way, we will always annoy someone, no matter what we are doing. Even Tom Cruz and Julia Roberts piss people off. However, I really find the general motoring people very, very nice when it comes to us splitting. Big rigs, who have a lot to worry about, even move out of our way. I really hope we can give back what we receive in good will from the cagers. Really, I feel an obligation to be nice. (I wave as much as is safely possible for those that give me more room.)

 

[budman]

Chill out boys.

The sharing is legal up to the speed limit.
I see lots of riders doing that well and respectfully.

Doing that at a 25mph delta is not.

If you have an arbitrary number that is not the speed limit good for you.

If you want to call someone a name for not agreeing with you knock that shit off.

 

[bruceflinch]

When I lane share, I try to do it in a safe & sane manner.

The guys splitting when traffic is already at the limit, really frost my pumpkin..

 

[Reli]

When I lane share, I try to do it in a safe & sane manner.

The guys splitting when traffic is already at the limit, really frost my pumpkin..

Can I ask why it's OK to pass someone who's only going the limit (because you want to go faster), but splitting them is somehow not OK?

I ask because I'm betting that Choice A is something that 99.9% of you already do. Even though it's illegal. But now you want to say splitting at those speeds is wrong because of some arbitrary decision on your part. OK. But if splitting higher than 50 is wrong, as many of you seem to think, then why not 45? 40? 35? Hell, why not go all the way, and declare all splitting wrong? What I'm trying to say is, it's all arbitrary. I'm not familiar with a study proving that splitting above 50 causes an exponential increase in death and mayhem.

 

[LectricBill]

I'm not familiar with a study proving that splitting above 50 causes an exponential increase in death and mayhem.

IIRC, there is a study. Budman or Surj can chime in on that.

About 4 pm today, splitting the feeder from Octavia to 101/80, I was working my way at moderate speed, when I saw a headlight on my 6, pulled into traffic and stuck my leg out to say, "Come on through."

Red Ducati comes by, waves thanks to me, and proceeds to rev his engine, at almost every car he comes up to. Most of them dutifully accommodate his aftermarket noise maker by moving over, but there was plenty of room to begin with. He waved to exactly not one of them. Surely this attitude of arrogant entitlement (as noted in this thread already), must really piss off drivers.

Unless your wife is giving birth, your first born is sitting on the ledge of a tall building, your house is on fire, or you are Moses, what's the big hurry?

Here's a clue: Heavy Traffic, not = Laguna Seca.

 

[SanJosePhil]

The guys splitting when traffic is already at the limit, really frost my pumpkin.

Me, too. Of course I move over, but when they go by instead of the "go ahead" hand motion I give them the "slow down" motion to let them know -- biker to biker -- that douchbagging it up between cars doesn't fly with me.

I commute 87 and 101 daily and split both morning and evening, so I'm not anti-splitting. It's simply what I do when traffic falls below 35-40, otherwise I'm content to get there when the rest of the traffic does.

 

[undertheoaks]

Me, too. Of course I move over, but when they go by instead of the "go ahead" hand motion I give them the "slow down" motion to let them know -- biker to biker -- that douchbagging it up between cars doesn't fly with me.

I commute 87 and 101 daily and split both morning and evening, so I'm not anti-splitting. It's simply what I do when traffic falls below 35-40, otherwise I'm content to get there when the rest of the traffic does.

I've been commuting East Bay (Richmond) to SF for 15 years and now to San Carlos accident free, lucky ? sure I'll take that but what SanJosePhil says I agree 100% be patient now and then speed kills !!!!!! and in my honest opinion most of these accidents are preventable you have to ride smart, cagers just don't see us it's the nature of the beast, use your head not your engine.

 

[vought]

One time I tend to split above the normal speeds/delta is if I can see the "head of the traffic snake" as it were. Ie, you're stuck in a bunch of cars where you're like "meh, there's traffic but it's all moving at like 60 still in a 65..." but then you crest a hill and see that maybe 1/2 mile in front of you is 3 cars pacing each other holding up the entire freeway and NOBODY in front of them. So I'll split up and cut through and get out in front and leave .

Oh, so you ride 280 around 7:30am too?

Worst left lane squatters anywhere. Asleep at the wheel, you name it.

 

[MSFIT]

Lane sharing/splitting is dynamic, there are many variables to consider before making or not making a move. Lane position of the cars, yourself, the exit point, speed, drivers body language, what's in the lane opposite of the car, what's the flow of traffic like - confidence in your abilities. The list can go on and on.

I do have one gripe to air; if you're splitting and a rider comes up behind you, please move all the way to the other side of the lane at your soonest convenience. If anyone has caught up to you, it's because they were splitting faster than you. There are times where I catch riders and don't want to pass, comfortable with their pace, I typically keep a little more distance and if they offer the pass I decline with a wave.

 

[Cincinnatus]

There are always the d-bag HD riders that don't move over when someone comes up behind them.

A Stebel Nautilus horn can work wonders....

Not that I've ever done that, like @ 5:45 PM yesterday on 24 eastbound...