Vinny P. sent me this link to an article on the AMA
website regarding their position on splitting lanes.
AMA Position Statement Regarding Lane Splitting http://americanmotorcyclist.com/Rights/PositionStatements/LaneSplitting.aspx
Regardless of the AMA’s position based upon the Hurt
Report, I still believe splitting lanes increases your risk of a collision. One
of the first things I learned from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation training
was to always look for an escape route. Riding in close proximity between two
moving objects greatly reduces your options.
It's bad enough just trying to be seen by other motorists when you're in a lane where they are expecting to find you. Half the time they're pulling into your lane before they even look; regardless of whether you're in a car or on a bike. Imagine how well they're going to see you when you're riding right up next to them. They're going to look right past you and you've got nowhere to go to get past them.
I speak from experience here. Even after having ridden for a few years, I had an occasion when I went to change lanes with my car and suddenly found a bike right next to me blowing its horn. I never saw him coming. (Lane splitting is illegal in NYC too, but that doesn't stop them from doing it. Cops are too busy to bother with them.)
You can forget about watching out for cagers to signal their intention to change lanes. It's just an afterthought. Especially up here in New England where as the McDonald's/Newman's Coffee commercial parodied:
Question: "What's a turn signal?"........................................
........................................Answer: "A sign of weakness."
On the other hand, I hate feeling like a sitting duck while I'm waiting for traffic to move. I flash my brake light, watch my mirrors and point my wheel in the direction of escape.
It must feel great to keep moving past the cars that are stuck in traffic, but it must be done carefully. Any one of those cars can jockey for position at any time even if they don't have anywhere to go yet. In major cities like New York it's not uncommon for drivers to stick the nose of their car between the cars next to them so the car in back is forced to let them in when traffic moves again. You'll never see it coming if you're cruising too quickly between rows of cars.
I've seen, on more than a few occasions, a driver, stuck in traffic, throw open their door and get something out of the back of the car or trunk. They're assuming that traffic is stopped and they are not looking before they act.
I guess the bottom line is that even if I were riding somewhere where it was legal to split lanes, I would only do so very cautiously and fully expect someone to block my path at some point.
Some
videos showing the proper way to split lanes:
Harley Davidson Fatbob GoPro Rush Hour L A Traffic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5PNO4KivE&feature=youtu.be
Motorcycle Q&A: How to lane split or whiteline
"safely"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2x0usMULWc
Some
videos that highlight the hazards of splitting lanes:
Split Lane Motorcycle Crash I-10
This one is typical of a car driver throwing on their signal as they are changing lanes, rather than before they change direction. This is a common move in NYC (I'm guilty of it too.) because if they guy in the lane next you knows that you want to get ahead of him, he'll close the gap before you can make your move.
Lanesplit/Filtering fail, almost dropped motorcycle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2qAMHI44zY
This one shows just how little room there really is between cars.
No, there isn’t!
Motorcycle vs Truck Door while Lane Splitting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRlVZXIrV-Q
This guy was lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment