Non riders just do not understand why lane splitting should be legal and why there is a reason for it. Ever been stuck in bumper to bummer crawling traffic? Even better yet on inclines. Got arthritic hands? Believe me it's a joy. Another is the fact air cooled bikes have got to move.


A lot of my riding is in situations as above, and splitting is not legal here. I have done a tiny bit of it really bad traffic messes, but my nerves can't take much of it. As others have said it would take many years for drivers to get accustomed to it.

Agreed, culture has to do with it a lot.
Look at Asia. 1-track vehicles are the norm there and their crash rates are much lower than in the US. They move whole families on a single bike.

Also, I hate to admit it but my old-lady-mother, for example, surprised me with "hell no" when I mentioned lane splitting (for some reason). She had that mindset that nobody can "cheat" and go faster than stopped traffic. The typical "if I can't, nobody can" thinking.
I told her that I might be on an air-cooled bike or it might be 100F outside and the boiling hot air from all the cars running A/C around me is cooking me. So moving fwd slowly helps me cool and get out of the jam so that I can get home and not die from dehydration. She said that she never thought of it that way. She learned something new that day.

So as we all agree, it is in the mindset and culture. Until people accept it as a way of life, we are in danger.

Just saw and interesting blurb on HD forums regarding lane splitting.


https://www.hdforums.com/articles/la...-for-everyone/


As a rider I think it's a great idea, but I'm not sure the mentality of the drivers in my area are at all conducive to safety while lane splitting. In the lower mainland (ie, Greater Vancouver, BC), I think it would work much better than it would here, unless there was a distinct shift in the mentality of the drivers. We have some snow on the ground here now, and the most selfish of drivers make themselves all the more obvious in such driving conditions. Those drivers don't seem to understand that they are sharing the road with others. Around here there seems to be a lot of these drivers.


I remember, some time back, before I got my VTX, I was several years without a bike and there was a rider that always lane split on our drive to work. I remember thinking that this was incredibly irresponsible and he was looking to get hurt. I would never ... EVER ... put anyone in harms way due to their acting, what was in my mind, irresponsible, but many others might. It's,. in the mind of many, unfair that someone on a motorcycle should be able to circumvent the traffic everyone else is stuck in. "How dare they!". Yet as a motorcyclist, I can see how getting bikes, that use up almost as much space as a small car, through lights and bottlenecks faster, does nothing but reduce the amount of time angry cagers need to spend waiting.


What are your thoughts on the local cager population, and would you feel safe lane splitting in your area? Should it be universally adopted?