Lane splitting...OUCH

WuzzaCBXRider

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Not me but this evening just after dark I actually watched a splitter blast by me on a CBR1000 @ around 60+ mph when all four lanes of traffic were doing between 0 and 15! Having absolutely no reaction time factored into his riding habits, when a car to his right tried to change lanes he slammed into it and luckily for him, it was a glancing blow to the side of the car. He and his bike were separated and each were tossed into the cement lane separator with him following the bike. A giant shower of sparks flew from the bike which slid to a stop in the fast lane but I couldn’t see the rider. The car to his left he had just passed was blocking the lane and my view. The driver he hit hadn’t gotten out and to my surprise, the rider came walking into view. By his body language it appeared he was ripping the driver a new one. Taking it all in, they both had to share in the blame, the driver for not signaling (or looking) before he turned and the rider who was riding 4-5 times faster than he should have. What a sight!:shocked:
 
Got clipped splitting years ago, I wasn't going fast and I still believe the driver did it on purpose. He was from out of state (it happened when I lived in California) and told the cop he thought I was breaking the law. Cop told him that what I had been doing wasn't illegal, and his response was "well it should be". He merged over and pushed me and the bike into a 4Runner, bodywork on the bike was damaged and my leg was rashed. Thankfully it was nothing major.
 
Got clipped splitting years ago, I wasn't going fast and I still believe the driver did it on purpose. He was from out of state (it happened when I lived in California) and told the cop he thought I was breaking the law. Cop told him that what I had been doing wasn't illegal, and his response was "well it should be". He merged over and pushed me and the bike into a 4Runner, bodywork on the bike was damaged and my leg was rashed. Thankfully it was nothing major.
That sucks but totally believable, lots of folks in cars think they can regulate what the biker is doing for some reason, like because we are on a motorcycle we have lesser rights or something...
 
Got clipped splitting years ago, I wasn't going fast and I still believe the driver did it on purpose. He was from out of state (it happened when I lived in California) and told the cop he thought I was breaking the law. Cop told him that what I had been doing wasn't illegal, and his response was "well it should be". He merged over and pushed me and the bike into a 4Runner, bodywork on the bike was damaged and my leg was rashed. Thankfully it was nothing major.

Even where it’s illegal, it’s just an infraction of the law, meaning it’s not a jailable offense but trying to hit a motorcyclist with a car is an assault with a deadly weapon, a felony. Helluva difference (and outcome). One gets a ticket and the other, handcuffs.
 
I think the law says no faster than 35mph while splitting. I've seen cars move to let me lane split doing 85. I don't do it though. 35 mph is fast enough when lane splitting sometimes with inches from the cars. It gets my heart pumping too!! I went look to verify, DMV took the specs down, it even said that it did, strange.
 
Even where it’s illegal, it’s just an infraction of the law, meaning it’s not a jailable offense but trying to hit a motorcyclist with a car is an assault with a deadly weapon, a felony. Helluva difference (and outcome). One gets a ticket and the other, handcuffs.
He got a ticket, but since he claimed he didn't see me there were no criminal charges....
 
I've seen enough on youtube vids of high speed lane splitters getting taken out by cars and trucks suddenly changing lanes, not a pretty sight . . . . years ago I had an incident where I was lane splitting on a 4 lane highway and the traffic was pretty much stationary, I was going about 20kmh being careful and watching intensely and suddenly a drivers door started opening from the car about 1 car length ahead of me.
I braked pretty hard and he fully opened his door, then slammed it shut.
I'm sure he was trying to scare me/p*ss me off and he sure got a reaction, oh boy did he get a reaction!
He was an old guy about 60ish (old lol) and I gave him an earful and he was lucky to have no panel damage from my boot!
 
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