Info for the Californians out there

[James Burleigh]

Hey Hans did you notice the bike stopped on the left side of the freeway @3.27 in your video?????

Yeah, the poor dumb S.O.B.! (He was talking on his cell, so help was on the way.)

Lane splitting ("sharing" sorry Tim) keeps you young....

I'll say this about commuting in urban traffic by M.C. (by far the majority of my 20K/year miles is commuting)--It ain't for the faint of heart. Let's not kid each other, this is life and death stuff, as evidenced by that unfortunate person in the news article posted here. If you're going to commute, you have to get out there and get engaged and be proactive (aggressive, if you will, while being careful not to put drivers in a position to react such as to lose control).

And if some auto drivers complain (let's face it, many motorists express anger at motorcyclists when given the opportunity to comment, including to my surprise my son, who turns out has a very strong negative perception), my response is that I am 100% engaged in what I am doing. I'm not talking on the phone or eating a hamburger. I've got all my extremities on control surfaces, two fingers constantly hovering over the brake lever, and my concentration darting to all compass points like that robin on my lawn wondering from which way that cat is gonna get him.

When all drivers exhibit the kind of training and concentration and seriousness that I apply to sharing the road with them, then perhaps I'll adopt a different posture. Until then.... :finger:

JB

P.S. Reading about that M.C. accident helps me remember not to get complacent.

 

[Silver Penguin]

P.S. Reading about that M.C. accident helps me remember not to get complacent.

How's this for a reality check? Earlier in the week, I got a text from my daughter asking if I was at work. Yes, and very busy, thank you. Next message asked if her Dad was at work. As far as I knew, his plan for the day involved getting up and going to work. But now I'm worried; why is this normally self-assured young woman trying to locate an available parent? There must be some disaster looming.

No, she'd seen report of a motorcycle accident on the 405 freeway, where both of her parents commute by bike. Poor kid was scared that it was one of us.

Remember - when you take risks on your bike, you're not the only one who might have to bear the consequences of your actions. Be aware out there. This young lady's parents both came home safely that night, but someone else lost a son/husband/brother/friend.

 

[FJRBluesman]

P.S. Reading about that M.C. accident helps me remember not to get complacent.

How's this for a reality check? Earlier in the week, I got a text from my daughter asking if I was at work. Yes, and very busy, thank you. Next message asked if her Dad was at work. As far as I knew, his plan for the day involved getting up and going to work. But now I'm worried; why is this normally self-assured young woman trying to locate an available parent? There must be some disaster looming.

No, she'd seen report of a motorcycle accident on the 405 freeway, where both of her parents commute by bike. Poor kid was scared that it was one of us.

Remember - when you take risks on your bike, you're not the only one who might have to bear the consequences of your actions. Be aware out there. This young lady's parents both came home safely that night, but someone else lost a son/husband/brother/friend.

You must be refering to that HD rider that went down the otehr day. Lane sharing, he tagged a car and it threw him on the road where another car drove over him. Very tragic.

 

[Silver Penguin]

You must be refering to that HD rider that went down the otehr day. Lane sharing, he tagged a car and it threw him on the road where another car drove over him. Very tragic.

Yes, that was the one. At the time of our daughter's call, the only details available were that it was a motorcycle rider down. Our family didn't get bad news that day, but someone's family and friends did. RIP Mr Harley rider.

 

[madmike2]

You must be refering to that HD rider that went down the otehr day. Lane sharing, he tagged a car and it threw him on the road where another car drove over him. Very tragic.

Yes, that was the one. At the time of our daughter's call, the only details available were that it was a motorcycle rider down. Our family didn't get bad news that day, but someone's family and friends did. RIP Mr Harley rider.

Uhm...Jill, IIRC you've had your share of bad news.

 

[Silver Penguin]

Uhm...Jill, IIRC you've had your share of bad news.

That's true. When I listened to the phone message from the ER, asking me to call them at my earliest convenience, I postponed calling them since they were sure to be calling about the volunteer project that I was working on. It was only the second call, from my son saying that his Dad was in the ER after a motorcycle accident that buckled my knees.

I can still remember calling his boss, from the ER saying that Andy wouldn't be in that day, and probably not for the rest of the week. It was three months before he was able to limp back into work, with his disabled placard in the car.

Thank goodness that he was able to recover, and ride a bike again. His sport bike days are probably over (but he can pretend, on the days that he gets to borrow my FJR). And the inattentive driver that took him out didn't even get a slap on the wrist ticket!

 

[Zorlac]

I do believe Don is referring to this video......<a href="

Hey Richard, Apparently Warner Music Group has blocked your lane splitting video on that YouTube link, got another choice?

I wanted to show a disbeliever how it's done.

 

[Fairlaner]

is a good one also.

R

 

[Fairlaner]

in my drunk (right now) opinion the key to lane sharing (splitting) is making eye contact in the mirrors with the cars you are approaching, simple as that if you don't make that eye contact give it a hand full.

R

 

[FJRBluesman]

in my drunk (right now) opinion the key to lane sharing (splitting) is making eye contact in the mirrors with the cars you are approaching, simple as that if you don't make that eye contact give it a hand full.

R

Please excuse Richard as he's posting while drunk... again.

 

[Silver Penguin]

in my drunk (right now) opinion the key to lane sharing (splitting) is making eye contact in the mirrors with the cars you are approaching, simple as that if you don't make that eye contact give it a hand full.

R

The flaw in that argument is that it presumes the driver use the mirrors. How many have you seen that are oblivious to what's behind them?

 

[Fairlaner]

Like i said I was drunkish....but if and it's a big if you can make eye contact with the drive then you are golden. Of course it has to happen quick or it's too late because you are past them.

R

 

[Santa Fe Dreamin']

in my drunk (right now) opinion the key to lane sharing (splitting) is making eye contact in the mirrors with the cars you are approaching, simple as that if you don't make that eye contact give it a hand full.

R

If you ALWAYS expect that everyone out there is out to get you and that you are INVISIBLE to them, you have a decent chance of getting home the same way you left home that morning.

 

Looking in their mirrors, watching their front tire, anticipating, open adjoining lanes moving faster, driver taking their eyes off the road to pick up their cigarette, etc. Way too many reasons for cagers to swerve just at the right/wrong moment.

 

[James Burleigh]

- Acknowledge drivers who move over for you, but don't get mad when someone overlooks you.

I've stopped doing this. I also have pretty much stopped waving at bikes I pass or who I move over to let pass me. The reason is, I don't want to take my attention off my path ahead or hands off the controls. Just the other day I pulled over to let a guy fly by me with a girl on the back of his bike. He waved at me with his left hand off the bar as he passed by, and then I watched as he immediately grabbed the bar and slowed because a car ahead made a suspicious move.

And then today on Hwy 80 east heading to the Carquinez Bridge during lunch, I saw ahead that our three freeway lanes of traffic came to a crawl all of a sudden. Coming up behind me, about a quarter of a mile back, were a couple of shiny, purple Harleys. Big ones. So I gunned it a bit to stay ahead of (away from) them, and then started up the middle. Traffic was very tight, so I had to move very slowly most of the time.

And pretty soon I heard, right on my a**, the real loud brapping of the two bikes. I realized they weren't brapping at me. They were brapping for the cars to clear a path.

Then the traffic opened up and I blasted ahead to stay away from the Harleys, who'd gotten pinched off trying to get between the cars. Then I see the boys flying up toward me in my lane. I moved to the clear middle lane to let them pass, and as they went by I did not wave, couln't care less about waving: we're not friends; I don't want to be your friend; we have nothing in common. But he waved at me. I just wanted to be clear of these hot heads.

As we approached the sweeping left hander onto the bridge, I noticed ahead of me one of the Harleys couldn't even hold his line and went from the center lane wide into the right lane.

As I said in an earlier post, in traffic I want to be as far away as possible from other riders.

JB

P.S. That part about "don't get mad at cars that overlook you." That statement presumes cars are supposed to see me and move over. They're not.

 

[James Burleigh]

in my drunk (right now) opinion the key to lane sharing (splitting) is making eye contact in the mirrors with the cars you are approaching, simple as that if you don't make that eye contact give it a hand full.

R

Richard, you are drunk and therefore full of shit. And I say that with true affection, my friend. :friends: I'm surprised you would recommend this specious technique to the masses.

First of all, your recommendation is physically impossible (to make eye contact with all drivers you're approaching), given speed and mirror angles, and missing mirrors, not to mention smoked windows.

Second of all, even if a driver looks at me that doesn't mean he isn't going to move into me (car drivers are famous for "not seeing" motorcyclists, even when they ostensibly look right at them).

Thirdly, most drivers don't see bikes approaching, because they are looking ahead or otherwise distracted. How many cars have you seen suddenly pull out of your way only when you're right next to the driver?

I'm not saying you don't know how to split safely. I'm just saying you've incorrectly diagnosed the cause of your success.

 

[Silver Penguin]

Richard, you are drunk and therefore full of shit. And I say that with true affection, my friend. I'm not saying you don't know how to split safely. I'm just saying you've incorrectly diagnosed the cause of your success.

You were there, Hans. Your first sentence is a correct diagnosis. :drinks:

 

[germany]

I've been lane splitting in the Bay Area for about 7 months when my "commute" went from 0.5 miles to 36.2 miles one way. It's been fun with more than a few close calls and is a good way to stimulate the mind before work. A few months ago, I had an interesting experience involving a CHP motor cop.

I was east bound 580 after work with everyone else and splitting lanes past the stopped/crawling traffic. After a while (this isn't my normal route I was off to visit friends) a couple of added lanes opened up and traffic picked up the pace and started to disperse.

We were moving at about 45 - 50 mph which doesn't normally stop me from splitting lanes or doing the freeway slalom, however, I noticed he headlights of an ST coming up behind me pretty quick. I tucked in behind a vehicle and sure enough, a CHP motor cop pulled up next to me.

I gave him a friendly wave and while he was still splitting the lanes, he looked over, pointed at me, then pointed forward and accelerated past the traffic. I took this to mean he wanted me to follow him and we were going to have a chat. So I pulled in between the traffic and started to follow.

To my surprise, he kicked his speed up to about 70 and was slaloming between the cars all the while signaling each lane change. I continued to follow and signal my lane changes as well.

After a mile or so, I noticed we weren't making any moves to the right towards any exits or the shoulder; just weaving in between the #1 and 2 lanes.

Another 2 - 3 miles go by and we are still weaving when he suddenly makes a triple lane change to the right towards a fast approaching exit, slows down onto the off ramp, looks at me (who is trying to follow), waves me off and gives me a thumbs up. Confused, I passed the exit and checked over my shoulder to make sure he wasn't coming back onto the freeway to hunt me down.

When I saw him pass over to the north side of the freeway, I started to wonder "WTF just happened?" About a minute later, as I was approaching my exit, I realized that I had just received a lesson in riding in Bay Area traffic from a CHP officer.

So now, when traffic starts to stagger, I do my best to signal my lane changes. I figure at the very least, it will be one less citation (failing to signal a lane change) if another officer deems me "unsafe".