Lane splitting, legal or not?

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:21 pm

diesel wrote:what's wrong with saying you can lane split providing u don't exceed the traffics speed by more than 20kph and no lane splitting if cars are moving at least 20 kph. i.e if cars are stationary, don't lane split at more than 20 kph. if they are doing 10, ur not doing more than 30. and effectively, u can't lane split at more than 40 kph?

You are relying on the car drivers not to change lanes quickly, or move within their lanes, etc, its really dangerous and is a really bad habit to get into. If a car decides to change lanes on you at 20+ kmh, and you are riding past at 30k, only 500-600mm away from them, you will be shunted straight onto the deck, and probably under another car........

diesel · Post by **diesel** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:22 pm

haaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha
ROFLMAO!!!!!!

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
oh. u were serious?

Post by **icebreaker** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:26 pm

dunno about nsw or qld, bu in vic you have to pass on the right of a vehicle.. and I believe the traffic has to be stationary when splitting..

I'm sorry occifer it seemed like he was stationary..

Robsalvv · Post by **Robsalvv** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:29 pm

If the law changed, I'd still split traffic!

For what it's worth:

I split stationary traffic to get to the front of the queue all the time.

I split HEAVY slow stable traffic e.g. westgate freeway where drivers seem resigned to not jumping lanes for one car gap - always cover brakes and use a lower gear.

I tend not to split heavy traffic going >60km/h. Not much point for the risk.

I split freeway speed traffic ONLY if I've (been in La La land and) managed to get boxed in without an escape route or being tailgated dangerously and then only to recover space.

Cheers

Rob

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:30 pm

yes mate, this time I am fully serious - I saw the results of this a number of years ago, young mate on his 'P's, doing the "between-the-cars" at 40kmh.......he was in front of me, but had not made his own 'space'.......he was crunched by a car that decided to change lanes without indicating (no surprise there

)......basically it just *punched* his bike straight under the car in the next lane

.......please don't ride between lines of moving traffic, its just asking for an early ticket to the Pearly Gates.......

John H · Post by **John H** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:31 pm

Dan wrote: dunno about nsw or qld, bu in vic you have to pass on the right of a vehicle.. and I believe the traffic has to be stationary when splitting..

I make the observation that because in traffic the driver is usually trying to peer past the car in front, his car tends to be more to the right of the lane than the left. So often if I'm lanesplitting, it's to the left of the car in a given lane coz that's where the space is. Which of course has the very real danger that a front seat passenger who has said to the driver "Hey this is close enough, just let me out here" in the middle of a traffic snarl might open the door on you...

Glen · Post by **Glen** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:50 pm

Personally I don't advocate splitting or filtering but I don't criticise or shake my head at those that do, except those that do it through moving traffic (you are going to get killed on a motorcycle one day)

Either way you

1 Give yourself no space (and that's what saves your bacon)
2 You piss a lot of drivers off (we don't need the agro)
3 You teach car drivers that it's OK to travel close to motorcyclists.
4 You put yourself at the front of the queue where you have to nail it to get away from the lights before the cars move thereby restricting the amount of time to check whether someone is going to splatter you by going through a red light. The MAA have a photo of this happening caught on a red light camera (the bloke who split was killed, the bloke who didn't was still sitting at the lights doing his head checks)

I qualify all of the above by saying that I don't commute on my bike and I can understand that if you do why you choose to split/filter, but you weigh up the risks and rewards and make your own choice.

Will the new laws get through? I reckon absolutely, why wouldn't they. We are so small in number that our votes mean shit and it's another way to get us off the road which is what they want.

Christ, I'm becoming a cynical old fart.

BladeBoy · Post by **BladeBoy** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:55 pm

Glen, you are 100% right, It just aint worth it. they hate us enough already.

Cath · Post by **Cath** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:33 pm

I'd love for it to be legal while traffic is stopped and not legal while traffic is moving.

In the end, the law won't make too much difference. People will weigh up the pros and cons and make their own choices - and have to live with those choices.

Rossi · Post by **Rossi** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:40 pm

Each to their own way......

I failed my first bike test in the UK for not lane splitting at traffic lights the examiner said it was " a lack of confidence and what was the point of having a machine that could enter those gaps safely behaving like a car"
As Diesel states the Advanced Motorcycle course I took in the UK advocates a 20/20 rule....Vehicles being overtaken should be doing not more than 20MPH and you should not exceed their speed by 20MPH.
It DOES NOT make it safe, it is just a general guideline for EXPERIENCED riders, don't forget EVERYONE out there is trying to kill you and you will live a lot longer

Strika · Post by **Strika** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:58 pm

Well if they won't let us wheelstand in between the traffic, does that mean we just have to do stoppies instead?

I think, as with most things, it should be done utilising common sense. Now the problem that we have here in Oz Rossi, is that unlike the UK where they give you a serve for not splitting traffic, we have to deal with a fair percentage of two wheeled riders who simply should not have been able to obtain a motorcycle licence in the first place. Thankfully I have not met any in this lot of nutters, but they are out there. And therefore splitting lanes for these people is dangerous, therefore instead of utilising the darwin theory, we all get lumbered with laws designed to cater for the lowest common denominator.

geewiz · Post by **geewiz** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:10 pm

yeh man lane splitting should be alright but the other one not to sure about, im from NSW and the traffic here is the worst i always think abt going through the cars during stopped traffic at a red light but not sure weather not its safe. if someone could get back to me on it and let me know and wahts the safest way of doing so? thanks heaps

mrmina · Post by **mrmina** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:16 pm

mate the rule is....

its not illegal unless u get caught

Robsalvv · Post by **Robsalvv** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:44 pm

mrmina wrote:mate the rule is....

its not illegal unless u get caught

lol ...actually, if it's illegal it's illegal... it just wont have consequences until you get caught.

If you split moving traffic, roadcraft has to be amped up to the max.

Read car "body language".

Predict what's going on ahead of you and around you.

If you see a gap opening up ahead, expect a car to drop into it, without indicators!

Approach ANY gaps cautiously and suspiciously... you might not be aware of a car or bike about to occupy that space.

Cover brakes.

Have a low gear.

Nod to the drivers that move over in the lane to get out of your way.

Remember the higher your speed relative to the cars, the longer it will take to brake, the more switched on you need to be to avoid problems, and the more it will hurt if you get it wrong.

Remember, you are invisible. Drivers are only looking out for other cars in lanes, not bikes in between lanes...

Your safety is absolutely and entirely in YOUR hands, and NO ONE ELSES. Deal with it. This is an absolute practical reality.

Or you could play splitlotto... and split without fear or favour. The theory is that most cars most of the time dont change lanes and wont be changing at the same time that you're splitting their lane... until you win split lotto that is. Split lotto riders don't take most of the above precautions and tend to split at highish speeds.

I personally don't recommend split lotto.

balanse · Post by **balanse** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 2:22 pm

Who cares if it's legal or not?

Not like you actually see a real live cop these days anyway