Lane splitting (sharing) interview

[Ulvetanna_imp]

From an European perspective

I watch a lot of youtube videos, also about motorcycles and vlogs worldwide.
While lane-splitting is accepted in Europe, I have the impression it is indeed frowned upon in the US, even in the only state where it is allowed (or is it in more than one state now?)

I cannot understand why its not regulated or even not allowed in certain states.
You guys are famous for having long roads and when I see videos I see roads that are broad enough for a bike to lane split.

Why would one forbid a motorcycle to use its full potential?
Because if you forbid a motorcycle to lane split, why even buy a motorcycle, would be the conclusion in Europe
People buy a motorcycle here to lane split as one of the main reasons...

In Belgium there is even a specific law that explicitly allows lane splitting, be it under certain conditions:
- no faster than 50km/h = 31mph
- there has to be a speed difference between the car and the motorcycle no more than 10km/h = 6mph
- only allowed between the 2 most left lanes.

Also, go to Italy or Rome, your eyes will fall off with what you see there

Just saying, forbidding lane splitting is plain stupid.
Arguments against them are funny as heck and seems a good excuse to harass motorcyclists.
The so called safety argument to forbid this practice to protect the motorcyclist is a joke, if car drivers would be more alert and actually take into account that they share the street with more nimble motorcyclists that lane split, you got no safety argument left.
Again, with those kind of streets you would have to open your door wide or actually steer your car into the path of a lane splitting bike to actually make lane splitting dangerous.

America is a very strange country. Believe me there is no where else in the world I would want to live, but we Americans are a proud, tough-bitten breed of people.

The disdain for motorcycles and bicycles in our country stems from a couple of philosophical reasons.

Bicycles went through a phase of being extremely popular with the upper classes in the late 19th century; "A Bicycle Built for Two" is one example of popular culture being enamored of two-wheelers.

When automobiles became viable transportation, bicycles fell out of favor, and those who continued to ride them were viewed as lower-class people who could not afford a car. This was especially true after Ford began selling the Model T.

The same thinking applies to motorcycles. A certain percentage of people want to believe they are better than you, locked securely in an automobile, and you are not worthy if you can't even afford a car.

Another other reason is the adoption of the motorcycle post-WWII as an emblem of anti-social behaviour and rebellion.

Yet another reason is that this country was settled, very rapidly, by what Theodore Roosevelt and others of his time called "borderers". These borderers were considered necessary to carve out a nation, but were also a very hard-bitten, uncouth breed of folk, and necessarily so. They were rightly suspicious of anything strange or unusual, because in the wild, strange and unusual could mean deadly and dangerous.

Biker movies in the 1960s continued to portray motorcyclists as wild, strange, unusual, deadly, and dangerous.

So, our cultural background doesn't include a great deal of tolerance for motorcycles or bicycles.

In Europe, bicycles and motorcycles to this day are a very common and well-integrated form of transportation and are not dismissed or looked down upon in any way.