05-26-2019, 02:48 AM
I have a theory/hypothesis on how lane splitting got started.
I was in Florida recently in 80+ temperature and stopped to crawling traffic.
Normally I would ride the shoulder whether it was far left or far right to give me as much distance between me and other traffic as possible, thinking it would give me an extra second to react and the quickest out away from trouble.
However, during this ride I found myself riding the centerline. When changing lanes, I realized if on the centerline, just a 4-foot turn and you’re in the other lane! What an advantage over cars that must make probably an 8-10 ft lane shift.
At first, I made sure the open lane had several car lengths open before I would switch. The more I did it I the more comfortable I felt switching with less clearance.
I started to think, this must be how lane splitting got started. The lines started to blur between which lane they were actually in. The people doing what I was doing finally figured out the closer they stayed to the center line, they could pass cars with little to no lane change. I figured most people think of lane splitting as going straight down the centerline, but in reality, they are probably making slight lane changes as necessary for required clearance.
That’s just my theory.
I was in Florida recently in 80+ temperature and stopped to crawling traffic.
Normally I would ride the shoulder whether it was far left or far right to give me as much distance between me and other traffic as possible, thinking it would give me an extra second to react and the quickest out away from trouble.
However, during this ride I found myself riding the centerline. When changing lanes, I realized if on the centerline, just a 4-foot turn and you’re in the other lane! What an advantage over cars that must make probably an 8-10 ft lane shift.
At first, I made sure the open lane had several car lengths open before I would switch. The more I did it I the more comfortable I felt switching with less clearance.
I started to think, this must be how lane splitting got started. The lines started to blur between which lane they were actually in. The people doing what I was doing finally figured out the closer they stayed to the center line, they could pass cars with little to no lane change. I figured most people think of lane splitting as going straight down the centerline, but in reality, they are probably making slight lane changes as necessary for required clearance.
That’s just my theory.