Lane splitting (sharing) interview

[the Ferret]

What say ye Randy, Ulve, MMC, Aschem, Lunatic, Retsel et al can you guys keep to down to max 30 kph (18 mph?)

Ulve that would no doubt require you to be under 4500 rpms lol

[Pterodactyl_imp]

What say ye Randy, Ulve, MMC, Aschem, Lunatic, Retsel et al can you guys keep to down to max 30 kph (18 mph?)

Ulve that would no doubt require you to be under 4500 rpms lol

True Ferret. Some can't. They are part of the problem, not the solution.

Cheers

[mattmcuomo@yahoo.com]

18 mph? No, sorry.

Sent from me......

[Ulvetanna_imp]

What say ye Randy, Ulve, MMC, Aschem, Lunatic, Retsel et al can you guys keep to down to max 30 kph (18 mph?)

Ulve that would no doubt require you to be under 4500 rpms lol

No, not possible, preposterous actually. Bike would fall over, no stability.

I would say when traffic starts to drop below 45 mph I start looking to lane-split.

I don't say it's my favorite thing to do but when I find myself in the situation I usually go with it. However I have been known to just get off the freeway and take surface streets if I am not up to it.

Funny though, as far as gearing, I did some riding in 3rd gear instead of 2nd on one of my fave roads today and it is quite relaxed, but I just really like to have the engine braking available. However it does pull almost as hard in 3rd as in 2nd due to time retard in 2nd. I was very much in cruise mode today. So the bike doesn't care too much how you ride it, wind it up, lug it, that's the beauty of that big engine.

[Pterodactyl_imp]

What say ye Randy, Ulve, MMC, Aschem, Lunatic, Retsel et al can you guys keep to down to max 30 kph (18 mph?)

Ulve that would no doubt require you to be under 4500 rpms lol

And of course that leads to :Quote: I know when I was driving out there in a car lane splitters scared the absolute beejeesus out of me when they would come blasting by inches from the side of the car. If I saw them coming in the rear view and got prepared for it, it wasn't as bad, but still unnerving to have someone so close to your elbow. Sound familiar? An "informed discussion" need not have to find absolute winners or losers. Compromise is an option. That's what I like about the law as it stands in Oz. Filtering is done where it's most useful, not as a demonstration of superhuman motorcycling prowess.

Cheers

[jerrycon_imp]

Thanks for the definitions of filtering and lane splitting, Mr. Dactyl. I filter, but I don't lane split. Maybe part of the problem here in California is that we call it all lane splitting when, in fact, it is two distinctly different activities.

And Mr. Ferret, I assure you that if I had putt-putted by your rental car stuck in a traffic jam, you would have felt comfortable. I am quite slow and deliberate about it.

[Cormanus]

Great explanation of how it works in Australia, Pterodactyl. I agree with the 30 kph limit even if I often see it observed in the breach. It provides a useful definition (albeit arbitrary) of when filtering is no longer acceptable. The theory is that, if the traffic is moving at that pace there is no need for anyone to travel more quickly. By all means argue about the speed, but it goes a significant way to resolving the liability question posed by EmptySea.

I'm a fan of the law, even if I don't often use it. On the freeway where using the shoulder is allowed, it's fantastic when traffic is at a virtual standstill; in the city where, in the normal course of events, cars move from side to side in their lanes, even at low speed I am less comfortable. At traffic lights, or at other times when the traffic is at a standstill and I can ride between cars, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Sensible law makers (or is that an oxymoron) everywhere will, as part of a range of strategies to remove as many cars as possible from increasingly congested roads, find ways to encourage more and more people on to small, manoeuvrable scooters and bikes. Giving them a legal advantage in traffic seems a good first step.

As someone said earlier, law makers are unlikely to make filtering compulsory. That suits me fine.

[curlyjoe_imp]

To me, lane splitting and filtering is anti-social behavior and is equivalent to cutting in at the front of the que. I doubt any of us would cut in front of the que at a grocery store check out line so why do it on the road?

[Cormanus]

Yes, joe, I think that's a view that informs many opponents of lane splitting and filtering. But, what then of overtaking?

[Chapomis_imp]

For some reason my brain is programmed to only pass on the left. I don't like it when drivers or riders pass me on the right, except at slow speeds, like traffic jams or free right turns at stops.