Lane splitting

I hear lane splitting is legal in California but guidelines have not been established. I would love to hear some feedback from members on the west coast.

I've been lane sharing since 2001 during the spring and summer. Riders who live there have been doing it much longer. What is your actual question?

I'm not sure what value "guidelines" offer. I feel strongly that lane splitting is safer and less disruptive to traffic overall, but like anything else, only if it is done safely. You can't legislate stupid. The guys that are going to zip through slow moving traffic going 90 miles per hour are still going to do that regardless of "guidelines."

Regarding legality, California is the only state that does not define how many vehicles can occupy a lane, therefore, it is legal for two or more motorcycles, motorcycles and cars, cars and cars, and even semis to drive abreast, if there is enough lane space. Every other state limits lane occupation to one vehicle, and some with exceptions, such as two motorcycles riding abreast, and exceptions for lane filtering (riding past stopped traffic at an intersection.)

In my opinion, the big push should be to get other states on board.

I am not sure what the laws allow, but I know what motorcycles -do- in Mexico and it is a jungle. 125 cc Honda Cargo and similar bikes are everywhere and used for deliveries as well as personal transport. They are basically the same design as the 1960s era Honda Dream I once had, including drum brakes front and rear. The riders filter up to the front at lights, run red lights if there is an opening in the cross traffic, go the wrong way on one way streets and lots of similar crazy activities. There is not a lot of bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways (called cuotas and not free). And you don't see many bikes on them so splitting ala California freeways is not common. Big bikes are rarer and the little bikes tend to ride on the shoulder of the cuotas. But all motorcycles and scooters split lanes in slow or stopped urban traffic. I take advantage of stopped or slow traffic and space between cars as well, but I avoid a lot of the crazy stuff I see other bikes do.

Generally, it seems like no one pays much attention to traffic rules in Mexico. I do see cars that have been stopped occasionally, I am not sure what triggers a stop, because I see lots of people doing stuff that would never fly in other countries. Maybe it is just doing something at the wrong time in the wrong place. You do hear about people from north of the border getting stopped occasionally. But with a helmet and Mexico plates, it is pretty hard to tell I am not a native-born Mexican.

I am not sure what the laws allow, but I know what motorcycles -do- in Mexico and it is a jungle. 125 cc Honda Cargo and similar bikes are everywhere and used for deliveries as well as personal transport. They are basically the same design as the 1960s era Honda Dream I once had, including drum brakes front and rear. The riders filter up to the front at lights, run red lights if there is an opening in the cross traffic, go the wrong way on one way streets and lots of similar crazy activities. There is not a lot of bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways (called cuotas and not free). And you don't see many bikes on them so splitting ala California freeways is not common. Big bikes are rarer and the little bikes tend to ride on the shoulder of the cuotas. But all motorcycles and scooters split lanes in slow or stopped urban traffic. I take advantage of stopped or slow traffic and space between cars as well, but I avoid a lot of the crazy stuff I see other bikes do.

 

Generally, it seems like no one pays much attention to traffic rules in Mexico. I do see cars that have been stopped occasionally, I am not sure what triggers a stop, because I see lots of people doing stuff that would never fly in other countries. Maybe it is just doing something at the wrong time in the wrong place. You do hear about people from north of the border getting stopped occasionally. But with a helmet and Mexico plates, it is pretty hard to tell I am not a native-born Mexican.

That is similarly the case in Southeast Asia. With 95% motorbike traffic (mostly Honda Dream class bikes, very few big bikes) driving rules are quite different than here. Motorbikes generally follow the "If it can go there, it will go there" principle, and you generally learn how ants travel in packs.

Right of way (legal right of way) is in order of size. Trucks have right away over cars and motorcycles, and cars have right of way over motorcycles. It has to be that way, or traffic would never move. For example, if you are a car making a left turn in to traffic, or even a right turn, you don't wait for traffic to stop because it never will. You very slowly pull in to the roadway and let the bikes flow around you. Conversely, if you're on a bike, you have to do the same around cars and trucks.

I think motorcyclists in California are overwhelmingly in favor of lane splitting. Cage drivers in CA are more accepting of lane splitting than cage drivers in other states, although whenever the subject comes up, there are always a few who are absolutely outraged by it, and feel the need to vent in letters to the editor. There is little of the freeway acrobatics mentioned in the posts about Mexico and Asia, but there is some. It would be nice if that "some" were to be eliminated, because it reflects badly on motorcycling in general, and gives ammunition to those who would like to eliminate lane splitting entirely.

My experience is that LEO's don't like to enforce vague laws. For example, now that marijuana laws in California are vague, local and state LEO's keep their hands pretty much off arresting people for marijuana violations of any kind. A friend who is a farmer found that marijuana growers were planting marijuana in the middle of his corn field, and called the local sheriffs. Their advice: keep out of the field after dark; if you want to remove the marijuana, do it during the daylight hours and try not to identify yourselves when you're doing it. It's the same with lane splitting. I would be in favor of black and white laws, rather than guidelines, regarding lane splitting that codify the same common sense rules that 95% of us already follow. If a violation were clearly evident, the LEO's would likely enforce a clearly written law, and it would benefit all of us.

I believe AB51 will require CHP to establish guidlines. It was working its way thru Sacramento a couple months ago. Not sure of status nor specific language.

I believe AB51 will require CHP to establish guidlines. It was working its way thru Sacramento a couple months ago. Not sure of status nor specific language.

It was passed and signed by the Governor. Your description seems to be exactly right. The new law permits the CHP to establish "guidelines." I'm not sure how binding those guidelines will be, but I'd guess that they'd at least be a factor in determining if a rider's conduct is reckless.