Riding on shoulder

[Infidel]

It is not legal to pass on the shoulder.

California Vehicle Code21755(a) "The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass another

vehicle upon the right only under conditions permitting that movement

in safety. In no event shall that movement be made by driving off

the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway."

 

[Pterodactyl]

Had a HD rider and his passenger killed near here while trying to pass a turning vehicle on the right shoulder. Problem was the turning vehicle was making a right hand turn and not a left. Evidently no signal was used. The bike never slowed and hit the car at 55+ MPH. The couple on the bike were on their way to visit the roadside memorial for a friend who was killed in an accident a few days earlier; they were less than a half mile from the memorial. The woman who was on the bike was on her first ride ever.

 

[Brodie]

Hi Folks,
There are several single lane (one in each direction) roads here in CA that get backed up quite a bit at times. My assumption was that it is illegal to slowly pass the cars on the shoulder, although I see many motorcyclist doing it. But then I also saw a CHP officer doing it. It it legal? If yes that would be very handy.

Thanks!

Lots of things are legal for CHP officers--or any other officers--that you and I can't pull off.

But with that said, when it's just one lane in your direction and traffic is stopped, I'd consider a little lane "sharing," as long as you are actually within the same lane as the vehicle you're sharing with. And of course you can always pass, if traffic allows, and the centerline is not a double one.

I really don't remember ever having done this (the sharing part), by the way, but in a real jam-up, and for just long enough to get by it, I probably would. At least here in Cali. I might not win, but I could probably make a pretty good argument that it fell under the same heading as normal lane splitting here. Anyway, sometimes you take a chance and hope for the best. Like the day a few of us got stuck on a hot day outside of Sparks with a big rig turnover a couple miles ahead. I finally just split lanes--very slowly and carefully--most of the way up to the bottleneck. Nobody else did, but they showed up at the hotel pretty soon after me anyway. They all rode the shoulder.

I remember that ride. I had a bunionectomy just 6 weeks earlier; have you ever tried walking your bike on the left shoulder, up hill while slipping the clutch - with hundreds of people watching you?

I got about half a mile up the road before coming to my senses. Hey, I'm from Cali, I got back on the bike and split on down the road.

Absolutely ludicrous having a 4 lane Interstate gridlocked and not able to legally make room for other vehicles to move on up the queue.

Brodie

 

[Brodie]

"There are a lot of things over there that can make your tires go flat."

This is a worthy consideration not to be casually dismissed. Still...
We all endure that wonderful opportunity to learn patience, those "snail races" ahead of us as one trucker overtakes another on a two lane roadway. But on rare occasion they don't just overtake in the passing lane, rather they seem take up residence.

Eastbound I-10 just outside of San Antonio one clear day in February, and some clown in a big rig was doing just that. Or maybe he was just having an extended face-to-face conversation with his buddy in the rig he was (not) overtaking. And while this pair tootled along at almost 20 mph under, I was perhaps 10 or 12 cars back and could see highway traffic backed up for as far as I could see behind me. And as the big rig in the right lane slowed his speed slightly in an attempt to allow this fellow to more expeditiously pass, the clown would slow to match his speed!

After 15 minutes of this, the alternatives were endure in place, split-lanes (not the healthiest option by far, given this clown), or take the shoulder since it seemed clear enough of debris. What would you do?

Pull over and take a breather. It ain't worth it to battle those big rigs for lane position. You may get down the road 10 minutes earlier, or you may end up under one of them.

What's 10 minutes compared to your potentially abbreviated lifespan?

Brodie