LAist: The Fastest (and Scariest) Way via the 10 at Rush Hour

guest

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:14:52 -0800

Dude I do this shit on a Harley in the UK. Not dangerous, just don't go fast.

guest

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:27:49 -0800

Whoever called us "dummies" for not realizing that a motorcycle can overheat if it stops: This may be obvious to a motorcyclist but it isn't to someone who only drives a car. Someone who does not know this is not a "dummy" but simply lacks information on the subject. What is so annoying about lane splitting or lane sharing or whatever it is to a car rider is that it has the appearance of cutting in line. If someone did this in the grocery store you'd rightly be upset. It comes across as fundamentally unjust. If all bikes overheat if they don't move because of some fundamental design issue with motorcycles, and you can't avoid this without turning the ignition off, then that helps explain why it is done. What you need to do is politely educate the public about this (no calling people "dummies") so they will understand that you are not doing it to cut in line but to protect your vehicle from damage. As for discretionary lane-splitting, i.e. you don't strictly need to but do it to get ahead, obviously you are intending to cut in line, and I'd argue it is not courteous. --eje

guest

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:54:58 -0800

As a sometimes motorcycle commuter, I've also found myself in a position where I've shared lanes. One note about what's safe vs. unsafe: Lane sharing through a relatively small gap between two vehicles is not that unsafe if you are a competent rider. What's unsafe, and made me cringe about this video, is when you pass people with large speed differentials when there's an open lane beside them, especially when traffic is speeding up or slowing down. Why? People usually are quite aware of cars that are directly beside them. They may not, however, notice a bike coming up in their blind spot in their lane, and may choose to quickly dive into a "gap" in the other lane as the bike is passing. There are several times where this rider blithely sped through situations like this as traffic came to a stop or sped up after stopping. In these situations, I would always take care to observe the drivers' actions. I would usually take a position more in the empty lane, both to give me an out, and to put me more in the driver's field of view, and finally, I'd make sure that my speed differential to the cars wasn't too high, so I could slow down to avoid a merging car if it was warranted. And yes - I do believe that most of the culpability for lane-sharing accidents lies with the motorcyclists, not drivers, and I ride accordingly. BTW: For every person that moves over to block me, I pass at least five or six that move over to let me by. Speaks well for drivers in general! Although I'm appreciative of drivers who move over, I'd actually prefer if drivers just drive where they normally would - it's my responsibility to get by cleanly, and we'll all be safer if everyone is driving/riding predictably and carefully.

guest

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 22:19:27 -0800

[blockquote]If I had seen you coming up on me like that I would have blocked you from doing so..Who's fault would that be???? Idiot [/blockquote] To answer your question...if the police see you do it, then it will be [b]your[/b] fault and [b]you[/b] will get the ticket for it. Also, if the rider is seriously injured as a result of your actions, he (or she) can sue you (with a high probability of success), so you had better make sure you have maximum insurance coverage or you could stand to lose a lot more than you think. If your actions cause an accident and the rider pays for your stupidity with his life, then (if you actually had a conscience) you would pay for it as well for the rest of your miserable life by feeling the guilt of having taken someone else's life for nothing (as well as being sued by his/her family)! Is keeping someone from passing you legally on the freeway really worth that to you? If this is truely the way you feel, then I suggest you either grow up and realize how ridiculous your statements are, or sell your car and start taking public transit! As someone else already mentioned, the rider *will* eventually get by you...and they do have ways of saying "thank you" to considerate folks such as yourself for putting their lives and the lives of others around them in jeapordy. As with anything, there are people that abuse this and use the public roads as their personal racetrack (ever seen a car speeding/racing on the freeway before?). Is that wrong? Of course it is! That being said, unless you are the police or the CHP, it is [b]NOT[/b] your job to correct this behavior by taking the law in to your own hands!

guest

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:57:36 -0800

Splitting or filtering through car traffic is normal behavor for scooters and motorcycles worldwide. And so it should be, the more bikes there are out there, the quicker those who prefer to go by car get to wherever they're going. It just makes good sense. Some ask who takes the blame if there's a collision when lanesplitting? That's easy. It's the motorcyclist, always. Lanesplitting is really just a sucession of overtaking moves, so we watch, assess the situation and if it's safe, we go. Anyone who thinks we're 'just riding along' between the lines of cars doesn't appreciate that we *do* know that splitting imprudently is hugely risky. I've been a lanesplitting rider for some 30 odd years and spend most of my motorcycling time in heavy traffic. It's good for you, it's good for us, it's good for the planet. Please trust us, we *do* know what we're doing and we're managing the risks. The three rules of lane splitting are as follows- Motorcycles are invisible to everyone except cops. Don't hit anyone. Don't get hit.

Maxwell

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:35:34 -0800

The number of violent responses to this video is frightening. I hope I never run into you people, and you learn to grow up sometime in the near future.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:51:13 -0800

...If I had seen you coming up on me like that I would have blocked you from doing so..Who's fault would that be???? Idiot Nice to see this poster signed his name!

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:11:24 -0800

Although, I found this video to be interesting, what bothers me is that people (cagers) that already are annoyed by motorcyclists that centerline can use these videos as ammunition to change laws in this state to prevent us riders from center-lining in the future. As a rider for over 17 years I have seen our freedoms slowly being chipped away at - helmet laws, noise restrictions, and possible anti customization laws. Let's not hand legislatures anymore evidence then they need to take away anymore of our freedoms! I love to centerline it saves time and fuel and is a necessity in California if you want to get anywhere in a timely manner. Ride hard, ride fast, ride safe!

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:53:38 -0800

I lived in LA for 14 years and had a motorcycle most of the time. This is the best way to get through traffic and most people are cool and let you through. Very few people have any problems/accidents doing this, in fact something 85% of motorcycle accidents in California are from cars rear-ending motorcycles waiting in traffic.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:34:09 -0800

Who ever is riding on that motorcycle is an absolute Idiot! Hey why didn't you put your legs up across the handlebars..just to be cool. This is a good reason why people that do this junk should be takin off the road. If I had seen you coming up on me like that I would have blocked you from doing so..Who's fault would that be???? Idiot

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:36:27 -0800

That is a walk in the park. Cars going at constant speed, wide lanes, cars that don't switch lanes. You should have a look at what motorcycle drivers (specially moto-taxis) are exposed to in the chaotic traffic of Caracas, and THEN you will know what "Lane-Splitting" really means.

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:45:37 -0800

Every day we can see hundreds of motocycles and scooters doing worst and faster than that on Parisian Boulevard Peripheric. In fact, this guy runs very slow!

guest

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:45:51 -0800

In the UK we call this 'filtering'. It's perfectly legal anywhere its safe to do so. But the police apply the same 'rules' to it as stated i.e. must be safe (in their eyes). Oh, and the guy in the comments who laughs about trying to swerve to make the bikers hit other cars - well, over here we call that 'attempted murder'. In any case, I wouldn't filter/split in the US - I lived there for 6 months and I've never seen so many bad/unaware drivers in my life.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:26:33 -0800

As a motorcyclist, and a new one at that, I can tell you that if I was in stop and go traffic on the 10, my bike would quickly overheat, period. Many many motorcycles have this same problem. Sharing the 1-2 lanes is really the only safe way to split, there are usually less lane changes there. Splitting at speeds over 40mph or in other lanes is stupid and dangerous, and that is usually where accidents are involved. For those drivers who think about bikers getting hit because of lane changes, I offer two perspecitves: 1) most lane sharing is done when traffic is nearly at a dead stop, so there's not a lot of rapid movement there. 2) Savvy motorcylists are not looking at the cars, they are looking at the blank areas in the flow of traffic, places that a car might swerve into, which more often then not is where people move. To drivers who make space, thanks for making our commutes safer. For those people that tighten up and try to block motorcylists, don't bother, the concept is so ridiculous; they WILL ALWAYS get around you anyway, and bikers have developed a few ways of getting back at offending drivers.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:57:45 -0800

I use to commute from Fullerton to 1 Wilshire. I stopped taking the highway when I realized that drivers in LA aren't just stupid or insane, they are literally out to kill motorcyclists at times. Now I'm in the Bay Area, I commute across 8 different highways for 120 miles a day and lane splitting is the only way to get through it. For those who think lane splitting more dangerous - it's much safer than sitting in heavy traffic. There is only one direction that I have to pay attention to. No one is going to not see me and squeeze right into my lane while I have nowhere to go at all because traffic is at a crawl.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:53:18 -0800

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDig8a-4XjM Another one that is worse

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:52:58 -0800

TO WEBSITE OWNER: Please find the IP of the following post: --- Me and my buddies like to try and pinch/block wreck those dudes trying to split. Mainly just swerve and NOT hit them but make them wreck into another car is the BEST. LMAO. Dont even have to stop for the DumbA**'s [4] Posted by: guest | August 30, 2007 1:51 PM --- I would like to track them down and file charges. Please contact me at caviwipes@gmail.com

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:39:09 -0800

Some misinformation here. The truth about lane sharing. One it is called sharing, not spitting. It is not legal to use both lanes when it is done, but it is legal to share the lane with another vehicle. The other biggest non truth on this is that there are rules for it. The real truth is that there is no law for it. There is just not a law against it. In other states you are not allowed to occupy the same part of a lane with another vehicle, not so in CA. As an officer it is my call to pull someone over for lane sharing in an unsafe manner. It is my judgment that makes the call if it illegal, not a letter of the law. There is no speed limit that they should go, there is no speed difference that they need to adhere to. The motorcyclist must perform the maneuver in a safe manner. I often pull over cars more than I motorcyclists because they try to swerve towards a motorcycle and impede the progress of a bike. About the video: Would have cited the motorcyclist for unsafe lane changes, most likely not signaling, and maybe unsafe speed for the conditions, it's hard to tell on a video cam. On the other hand, the Chevy Suburban at 1:53 would have been cited for endangerment as he obviously swerved towards the motorcycle.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:47:15 -0800

I've always thought that it's safer to have double-yellow except for designated entry/exit points. That would help this sort of thing happening even more. Apparently, the velocity differential between the HOV lane and the #1 lane can make merging at the designated points are even more dangerous. Bummer. I'm not looking forward to having to watch for even more SUVs driven by cell-phone-using-makeup-applying idiots trying to kill me while driving solo in the HOV lane!

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:08:27 -0800

I once had a lady in a Lexus SUV merge into me while just riding in the carpool lane, no lane splitting. I nearly crapped my pants but managed to speed out of her way. Although in her defense she probably didn't see me considering she was (and I sh*t you not) talking on her cell phone while applying make up. Did I mention she was jumping in the carpool lane by herself?

LA MapNerd

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:32:23 -0800

My question is what happens when you have an unsuspecting tourist switch lanes and cream a bike that wasn't supposed to be there [...] Who gets the blame?Tourists, suspecting or otherwise, who signal their lane changes - as the law requires - should have no trouble with any splitter who's even half-awake. Tourists who can't bother to signal their lane changes should probably stay home. And anyone - tourist or savvy local - who has some clever rationale for not signalling a lane change (and, please folks, I've heard 'em all, so don't bother) should probably accept that breaking the law in that manner might expose them to some liability in the event that they sideswipe someone whilst lane-changing.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:17:25 -0800

I see this all the time in California, nothing special. California is one of the few states where lane splitting is legal. But yeah, only as so far where it's safe and permissable, but I all too often see bikers being too reckless. There's been countless times during rush hour where I could have smacked a biker with my hand if I wanted to. Also, more than once I have attempted to switch lanes almost hitting a biker doing this (he wasn't there a second ago)...

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:59:19 -0800

I just crapped in my pants from watching that

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:55:25 -0800

**Sorry, but lane splitting is really stupid. Within the space of a week, I saw two very gnarly accidents due to lane splitting - one of them fatal. Is it really worth your life to get somewhere 15 or 20 minutes early?** Many motorcycles will overheat if they aren't moving dummy.

Andy Sternberg

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:12:34 -0800

And, from the UK, a reminder that everything you post online can and will be traced back to you -- this time from a 19-year-old who posted video of himself driving at 140 mph: http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL3092589620070830

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:00:35 -0800

Unfortunately, there are a few riders out there that do not have the sense enough to take the necessary care when splitting lanes. Those are by far the ones we see in accidents. One of the things you have to be careful of is when there's a space in the lane next to a car, assume that it's going to change lanes. That's one of the reasons why I don't split when traffic is at around 35-40, because cars will (normally) have more than one car's length of space in front of them for the neighboring lane user to be able to fit into. BTW, it's not that lane-splitting is "legal", it's that there is no specific law against it, and there's no law against "sharing" a lane like other states have. Technically, we can get a ticket for passing on the right, like on city streets if you go between the right lane and parked cars -- should only be done very slowly and when traffic is fully stopped.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:51:46 -0800

yoau think that something? check youtube for japanese whiteliners. they do this stuff at 50, 60, 70, all the way up to 90mph. crazy stuff

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:51:30 -0800

Traffic on the 10 actually seemed pretty light to me and I honestly am not seeing the big deal here. Looked like a decent speed, non-aggressive riding, he slowed when he had to and carefully worked his way through traffic. It is also called "filtering" for obvious reasons. I know a lot of people who don't understand splitting cast the usual dispersions, is it worth your life etc. What they don't understand is that by keeping moving you are in control and can react to what happens in front of you, but by taking a place behind a car in commuter traffic, you have a very high chance of being rear ended and crushed between the car in front and behind you as rear ender accidents in traffic are the majority of commuter collisions.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:36:09 -0800

The legality of lane splitting varies from state to state. In Pennsylvania, where I am, it's illegal.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:35:22 -0800

Speaking as someone who visited/drove LA for the first time a few weeks ago, the lane-splitters freaked me out. My question is what happens when you have an unsuspecting tourist switch lanes and cream a bike that wasn't supposed to be there (since CA seems to be the only place where this insanity is even remotely legal)? Who gets the blame? Another aside--LA traffic wasn't nearly as bad as the myths make it out to be. At least your traffic moves. Try getting from O'Hare to downtown during afternoon rush hour in Chicago. That's an exercise in hell (and no lane-splitting allowed...not that the assholes who drive in Chicago would give you a chance to do it anyway).

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:26:44 -0800

Sorry, but lane splitting is really stupid. Within the space of a week, I saw two very gnarly accidents due to lane splitting - one of them fatal. Is it really worth your life to get somewhere 15 or 20 minutes early?

Anti

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:17:50 -0800

i personally try to scoot out of the way if i see someone splitting coming up in my side mirror. partly because one time some biker hit the side mirror in my old truck. He didn't hit it hard enouch to cause damage, or crash the bike, but it was SO LOUD and it really freaked me out. Plus, why would someone intentionally want to hurt someone?

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:17:08 -0800

Yeah, I was yelling at the screen too, although for different reasons. He was splitting the wrong lanes for miles! "Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible but must be done in a safe and prudent manner." I've been told by CHP officers that a safe and prudent manner is 1) Only the lanes 1-2 should be split and 2) no more than about 10 MPH faster than the rest of the traffic. The CHP will ticket a rider that's unsafe (nearly got one myself once!) Personally, I only split the 1-2 lanes because there's more room for the guy in the fast lane to move over (if he wishes -- I always give a "thank you" wave if they do), and there's no trucks (they are required by law to stay in the right two lanes.) I also try not to surprise drivers -- no downshifts next to an open drivers window, try not to dart in front of them if I'm changing lanes etc. If traffic's doing above about 35-40 MPH I don't lane split at all. After a while the concentration needed can get a little tiring too. BTW, If you need to get legal papers filed in the downtown courthouse by EOD, a motorcycle courier is the only way! 15 minutes to get from Century City to downtown at 5PM.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:07:00 -0800

A lot of guys on bikes carry, so don't try to block us

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:51:50 -0800

Me and my buddies like to try and pinch/block wreck those dudes trying to split. Mainly just swerve and NOT hit them but make them wreck into another car is the BEST. LMAO. Dont even have to stop for the DumbA**'s

jensaxon

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:16:10 -0800

OMG! That is friggin' terrifying.

hellagnarcal

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:11:57 -0800

Splitting definately helps my morning commute, but it gets pretty dangerous sometimes. It's not uncommon to have a guy try to block me, which really doesn't make sense, when my lanesplitting helps move traffic along, instead of adding another vehicle in the queue. Of course, since it's summertime, the amount of jackass motorcycle riders increase, who lanesplit dangerously or do dumb things, giving us regular riders a bad name. Many bikes are air cooled too, which makes lane splitting a necessary thing sometimes.

guest

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:08:36 -0800

I would love to do this but I'm always afraid I'll clip somebody's mirror.