What's your understanding of the legality of lane splitting? According to my MSF instructor, it's not legal under many of the circumstances that I've seen it done.
According to him, lane splitting was first legalized to allow motorcycles to go the head of the line at traffic lights so they could get out in front of the cars that were stopped, once the traffic starts moving again. He said that lane splitting is illegal when any of the cars being passed is moving.
What is your understanding of the law, and has anyone been stopped for lane splitting under the wrong circumstances?
FYI - A recent poll was taken of drivers in California, where they were asked what things about the traffic bothered them the most. #8 on the list was "motorcycles cheating and taking cuts at red lights". Apparently the general population doesn't know it's legal, and that adds to some of the negative sentiment about motorcycles in general.
I've had sport bikes split lanes between my truck and another vehicle in the next lane while we were both doing 75mph on the freeway. Whether that would be legal is a point of conjecture, but I know it isn't safe. I'm probably more alert to motorcycles on the road than the average driver, but seeing a sport bike try to share the width of the lane with my F350 Crewcab certainly is dangerous, at best.
What are your thoughts?
According to him, lane splitting was first legalized to allow motorcycles to go the head of the line at traffic lights so they could get out in front of the cars that were stopped, once the traffic starts moving again. He said that lane splitting is illegal when any of the cars being passed is moving.
What is your understanding of the law, and has anyone been stopped for lane splitting under the wrong circumstances?
FYI - A recent poll was taken of drivers in California, where they were asked what things about the traffic bothered them the most. #8 on the list was "motorcycles cheating and taking cuts at red lights". Apparently the general population doesn't know it's legal, and that adds to some of the negative sentiment about motorcycles in general.
I've had sport bikes split lanes between my truck and another vehicle in the next lane while we were both doing 75mph on the freeway. Whether that would be legal is a point of conjecture, but I know it isn't safe. I'm probably more alert to motorcycles on the road than the average driver, but seeing a sport bike try to share the width of the lane with my F350 Crewcab certainly is dangerous, at best.
What are your thoughts?