The best pitch for lane splitting in California

[Gone in 60]

If you think lane splitting sounds dangerous, you'd be taking a bigger risk to stay behind this landscaping truck. I wonder how much of that stuff was still attached to the truck when he got where he was going.

[Randy B]

Yikes!!

[the Ferret]

We cant lane split but we dont follow that kind of stuff either. We pass it at first opportunity

[GoldOxide_imp]

Once upon a time, maybe as late as 1980, police would pull over and ticket and/or tow such precariously loaded vehicles.

Today, there are just too many vehicles and situations that overwhelm the meager law enforcement that they can't really give it a fair try.

[LongRanger_imp]

Yikes indeed. That’s an accident waiting for a time and place.

I once narrowly missed a mattress that flew off the the roof of the car ahead of me on the freeway. It wouldn’t have been a soft landing.

[j3gq_imp]

Lane splitting is not just essential for safety in front, it is essential to survive the risks from behind. I had a bad accident while waiting at a red light a few years ago, I have witnessed such an accident lately, and one of our forum members had his CB totaled the same way after riding 250,000 km without our a scratch. Both an aging, and smartphone centered population at the wheel make waiting dangerous.

[alprider]

when i see this photo i wonder at what speed it was. The key word is: safety distance ...... i have learned 2sec ..... 1 for the reaction time the other corresponds almost exactly to the minimum braking distance with the current speed
or ... If I have to wait at a red light, for example, I always look in the rearview mirror if possible and let the brake light "flash" briefly 2-3 times if something comes from behind. or even if it suddenly comes to a standstill in the dense columne traffic if I still have enough time / way to do it myself ...

[misterprofessionality]

I see this kind of thing and much worse all the time here in Charleston, and lanesplitting/filtering is expressly ILLEGAL here. Did I tell you about that time last year when I dodged a charcoal grill that had cartwheeled off of somebody's trailer in the middle of the highway? Did I tell you about that time there was a ladder in the middle of the road that fell off somebody's truck? How about the ratty old landscaping trailer that had a massive tire blowout not 10 feet away from me?

But no....I stay in my lane like a good law abiding citizen.

[Gone in 60]

Scenes like this are a daily thing on my commute. I live in the "working class" part of the county, and commute toward the beach and the more ritzy homes. So, it's a daily parade of landscaping, contractor and handyman trucks, as well as beachgoers carrying barbecues and coolers in the back of open trucks. The shoulder is littered with smashed barbecues, ladders, Igloo coolers, lawn trimmers, etc. It's pretty nice to be able to come up behind something like this truck, and say "Nope, not gonna sit behind you for one second!" Most of the contractors and handymen are very attentive to motorcycles, either because they ride, or they realize that they have wide trucks that are laden with big objects, and they tend to move over quite a bit for riders.

Gold, as far as enforcement for things like this truck, keep in mind that I'm in the HOV lane. Enforcement is VERY lax on this highway... maybe every few months, they'll do targeted enforcement of the HOV, with motor CHP guys riding up alongside of cars and peeking inside. If this was one of those days, they'd probably snag this guy for an unsafe load.

To j3gq's point, red light "rear defense" is important. We have the option to "filter" in California, which is moving between cars to the front of an intersection at a red light. I don't do that very often, but there are a few places on my commute where it's common for cars to come up to an intersection at high speed, particularly the first traffic light off of a freeway. In cases like that, I'll use this tactic if I've got room, and it will avoid making me the last guy in line with fast cars coming up from behind. When I don't do this, I'll stay to one side of the lane and keep an eye on the mirror. When a car comes up from behind, I'll blip the brakes. Since I've got my helmet-mounted light now as well, I'll give my head a shake to light that up. With two alternately flashing LED strips, a taillight, and a helmet light, I can make the back of my bikes light up like a small fire truck.

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Yesterday wife and I were on the 215 South outside Vegas, coming home to SoCal after
T-day when we saw a big heavy-duty hand dolly lying on the freeway. Several miles later we saw the truck it probably fell off of, moping along in the #2 lane, with all kinds of junk in the bed that did not appear to be very secure at all.