07-14-2016, 02:13 AM
(07-13-2016, 03:01 PM)Elipten_imp Wrote: Yes you are. Splitting IMHO puts more situational demand on the car driver and motorcyclist. How one can quantify that risk versus the risk of the motorcyclist being in traffic.Here is one for you. I am in the car pool lane 80 mph, which is standard if you don't want to have someone on your rear tire. I constantly check my surroundings to see who's coming up in the lane to my right, which we call the #1 lane. Often vehicles with drivers who are texting and facebooking (yes, they are doing that, they are not scanning diligently) or otherwise distracted, putting on makeup, chatting, drifting off to sleep, eating an In-n-Out burger, whatever, these drivers will fade into the car pool lane and come very close to the double-yellow or double-white line, so it is not a good idea to ride to far right of the car pool lane.
For this reason I ride always in the center or to the left tire track in the car pool lane. In this case a car decided to split lanes between the carpool lane and the #1 lane. Driver was doing about 100 mph and squeezed between a car in the #1 lane and myself, the other car being about 100 feet behind me and of course to my right. So the speeding motorist did a diagonal cut between us and came about a foot or so from contacting me.
However I noted the car's approach when I scanned and could tell instantly it was not going to strike me but would have just enough room to squeeze by. I didn't move a muscle or budge an inch off my line. Whole thing took place in less than two seconds from the time I saw the car.
The second car, behind and to my right eased alongside and the driver looked at me in bewilderment as if to say, rightly so, "What was that all about?"
It was just about a dork wanting to send a message.
My setup looks much like a police bike, a big ADV with a large extending protective cage, white full-face helmet. Could well have been someone who hates the police, hates motorcycles, or was just hauling the mail like we get sometimes and decided to take a short cut. No way to know. Life goes on. Pay attention out there.