CA lane splitting officially legal

Bipartisan legislation I can get behind. Until I filter to the front.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article96770472.html

 

Yeah, I posted this in chat and the Harley fined thread. All I can say is that the cagers can finally "suck it!". Lane splitting is not a crime!

 

WA or OR next? Maybe.. one can hope. The effort's been made before.

 

I don't know if its the law here-but no one gets a ticket usually here for it.

 

It's actually illegal in all other states, as they have laws that specifically forbid it. Maybe they just don't care there.

I'm hoping this will be the start of a cascade of other states legalizing it. California's got so many decades of this being allowed and the positive statistics to back it up. I don't see any other state having any leg to stand on now. Tennessee almost passed it. I'm hoping that this will help push it through.

 

Not exactly, UC Berkeley released a study last year. Probably was very instrumental getting this bill passed.

http://www.ots.ca.gov/pdf/Publications/Motorcycle-Lane-Splitting-and-Safety-2015.pdf

It doesn't cover stuff like the rate of a cager causing an accident. Or the chance of being involved in a lane splitting accident. what it does do is compare injuries from lane splitting vs other forms of motorcycle accidents. sunshine pirates on weekends putting their bike into a ditch for example.

There's a lot of stuff in there, but basically the take away is it found lane splitting is (relatively) safe if done at reasonable speeds. Those doing so are more likely not to be drunk and be wearing better helmets (again, sunshine pirates vs commuters) And it's no more dangerous than operating a motorcycle in general.

 

I don't have any studies to point ya to, but I would have to believe the insurance lobby and the nanny state of CA would have nixed it a long time ago if there was any data showing it was more dangerous and led to more accidents. California does have the largest amount of registered private and commercial motorcycles in the nation, so I'm sure it would have been pretty obvious.

 

I cringe every morning watching the traffic reports around the Bay area when there is an accident involving a motorcycle.

 

Having spent much time the Bay Area, (as with much of metro CA), many of the motorcyclists are the ones causing the unsafe circumstances and getting themselves in the situation in the first place. It drives me bonkers when motorcyclists do not look at other motorcyclists as the one who might have caused the accident in the first place.


That said, I have mixed feelings about this law. Now there is something to hold us to. I would have to say I prefer the "grey" area.

 

There were a lot of restrictions on lane splitting -I bet the cops write more tickets!

 

Ghost: I agree with you 100%, a lot of riders abuse the law, pissing off cagers. I do it mostly at intersections (red lights) to get out ahead of the cagers. In the mornings the risk is higher because everyone is trying to get to work.