Should Motorcycle Lane-Splitting Be Allowed?
This week, the CHP posted rules for the practice that is legal in California.- By Dave Colby
- Email the author
- February 11, 2013
Credit Eric Schmuttenmaer
Motorcyclists seem to love it. Car drivers generally
hate the practice. In fact, one recent
traffic survey even suggested 7 percent of drivers admit they have
attempted to block a lane-splitting motorcyclist from passing
them.
Lane-splitting, where cyclists are able to cut between slower moving cars and
zoom ahead, is legal in California. But California is alone in endorsing the
practice. It's illegal in every one of the other 49 states.
Also called "white-lining," the California Highway Patrol has guidelines on its website that speak to the practice. Those guidelines became the focus of several media reports this week. CHP officials say it's all part of a statewide highway safety push.
Is lane-splitting safe? That same traffic survey says almost 15 percent of riders report they've either been hit by a car, or that they've hit a car with their motorcycle.
And 47 percent say they've "nearly hit a car." More often than not, a motorcycle will strike a car or truck's side mirror, sometimes knocking the mirror off the car, sometimes shattering the mirror.
87 percent of California motorcycle riders report they are lane-spliters.
In the CHP guidelines, motorcyclists can ride between two cars if there is room, but must so at a speed no more than 10 miles per hour faster than the vehicles they are passing.
The guidelines also say lane-splitting should not take place when the flow of traffic is greater than 30 miles per hour. However, when freeway traffic is moving at less than 30 miles per hour (such as in rush hour traffic), lane splitting is permitted.
The Sacramento Bee quoted motorcycle activists that approve of the guidelines.
"They are very reasonable," said Greg Covel, executive director of ABATE of California, a motorcycle rights organization, told the Bee.
Now, "we know what the guidelines are, how close we are to staying within the law or pushing the law," Covel said. "If we get stopped for unsafe speed or lane changes, we know what we are getting into."
And Gabe Ets-Hokin, editor of CityBike magazine in the Bay Area, told the Bee "Lane-splitting is a unique lifestyle to California motorcyclists, a subculture," he said. "If we can do it safely, what is the problem?"
Other points contained in the state guidelines:
Tell us in the comments. Then vote in our poll.
Also called "white-lining," the California Highway Patrol has guidelines on its website that speak to the practice. Those guidelines became the focus of several media reports this week. CHP officials say it's all part of a statewide highway safety push.
Is lane-splitting safe? That same traffic survey says almost 15 percent of riders report they've either been hit by a car, or that they've hit a car with their motorcycle.
And 47 percent say they've "nearly hit a car." More often than not, a motorcycle will strike a car or truck's side mirror, sometimes knocking the mirror off the car, sometimes shattering the mirror.
87 percent of California motorcycle riders report they are lane-spliters.
In the CHP guidelines, motorcyclists can ride between two cars if there is room, but must so at a speed no more than 10 miles per hour faster than the vehicles they are passing.
The guidelines also say lane-splitting should not take place when the flow of traffic is greater than 30 miles per hour. However, when freeway traffic is moving at less than 30 miles per hour (such as in rush hour traffic), lane splitting is permitted.
The Sacramento Bee quoted motorcycle activists that approve of the guidelines.
"They are very reasonable," said Greg Covel, executive director of ABATE of California, a motorcycle rights organization, told the Bee.
Now, "we know what the guidelines are, how close we are to staying within the law or pushing the law," Covel said. "If we get stopped for unsafe speed or lane changes, we know what we are getting into."
And Gabe Ets-Hokin, editor of CityBike magazine in the Bay Area, told the Bee "Lane-splitting is a unique lifestyle to California motorcyclists, a subculture," he said. "If we can do it safely, what is the problem?"
Other points contained in the state guidelines:
- Inexperienced motorcyclists are not advised to lane-split.
- Typically, it is more desirable to split between the #1 and #2 lanes than between other lanes (lanes are counted from the left).
- Motorists should not take it upon themselves to discourage motorcyclists from lane splitting.
- Intentionally blocking or impeding a motorcyclist in a way that could cause harm to the rider is illegal (CVC 22400).
- Opening a vehicle door to impede a motorcycle is illegal (CVC 22517).
Tell us in the comments. Then vote in our poll.
