White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgent

[IG.]

This is a copy of my post in the original thread. Time is of essence - every day counts. No one seemed to notice my reply, so I am making it visible. If the proposed below is not started ASAP, there would be no point of starting it after vital time is lost.

I checked the number of signatures, and it went up by about 2000 after a couple of days. Pathetic. That's not going to go anywhere. What's missing here? The marketing effort.

So, here is what I am proposing if the rest of the folks are serious about it, and not only on this forum, but on other forums (if you are a member) as well.

1. A Facebook page needs to be created. I could take care of that. I did find a few pages advocating lane sharing in a certain state, or in general, however they suffer the same marketing deficiency - the number of likes is laughably small. Feel free to suggest a title for such new Facebook page, and one it's up feel free to suggest edits/content.

2. Such Facebook page has to be promoted, and there is no better and more cost effective way of doing it than on Facebook.

3. Put your money where your mouth is. For the total of $10-$15 a day, I can almost guarantee that most US motorcyclists who are on Facebook will know about it over the course of the rest of the month. If enough people are willing to donate a few dollars each to the cause, I will gladly setup a Facebook advertising campaign targeting all motorcyclists in the US, and will be periodically reporting all metrics/expenses right here on the forum to provide transparency of the process. Then, you will see the count of signatures fly.

The objective of such advertising campaign is pretty straightforward, and those who learn about it are able to react quickly, and sign the petition. That's why I believe there is still enough time to get 100,000 signatures by the end of the month.

If there is enough interest, I could provide my PayPal account for others to donate. The only caveat I see is that a donor has to indicate that this is to friends/family and use their existing non-zero PayPal balance or bank account. Otherwise, I will be charged a fee of $0.30 + 2.5% of the amount. This is not a big deal for $12 or above, however if someone wants to contribute let's say $0.50 and does not meet the conditions above, PayPal would charge fee of $0.32, so the actual deposit will end up being $0.18.

I am a man of action. So, how about it?

Edit: I just checked with Facebook Ad Manager, and the potential audience for people who are related to motorcycles and scooters in the US is around 18 million people. So, getting around 100,000 signatures should not be a problem. It's a good cause, and it would be reasonable to assume that most people who see a related ad are likely to click on it, and sign the petition. I will also ask to donate a $1 or $2 to support the cause, so the process may become self sustaining.

 

[GNBRETT]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

I checked the number of signatures, and it went up by about 2000 after a couple of days. Pathetic. That's not going to go anywhere. What's missing here? The marketing effort.

I really don't think anything is missing. I think a lot of ppl just feel its a poor idea and therefore not inclined to sign. that, or they feel their signature doesn't really mean squat as far as this law ever getting passed. and their right. and a lot of ppl don't have fb.

 

[RedBusarider]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

I don't do FB.

Also I looked and the first law that ever got changed was on Aug 1, 14

Didn't find a second law that got changed so I wonder if it's like one out of a thousand that really have a chance.
I hate to be negative - but like I said before, why do we need 100,000 signatures in one months time.
If we had 3 months then I think there would be a lot better chance of meeting the goal.


I hope a miracle does happen and it does get to the magic number...

 

[IG.]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

You guys are both wrong...

GNBRETT, a lot of people simply don't know about it. How did you come to your conclusion that most feel it's a poor idea?

RedBusarider, ordinarily I don't do Facebook either and not a big fan, but millions of other riders do. And that's what matters. No miracle is going to happen by itself - you can count on that. Facebook offers very effective marketing tools, and I am saying that from my firsthand experience.

 

[RedBusarider]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

Don't get me wrong IG.

I'm all for you posting it on FB. Go for it.
I hope it can reach a million people and 10% of them will vote for it.

I just can't help you make it grow via FB as I don't have any interest in that social media branch of the web.

Good Luck and may be force be with you. lease:

 

[IG.]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

Facebook is simply a vehicle to achieve the objective. So, your dislike of Facebook is greater than the desire to reach our objective, right?

Fulfilling item#1 without the rest of items makes no sense at all.

I share your sentiment towards Facebook, but I don't deny reality.

Anyway, I guess we reached a logical end...

 

[GNBRETT]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

You guys are both wrong...

GNBRETT, a lot of people simply don't know about it. How did you come to your conclusion that most feel it's a poor idea?

because where I live there is no lane splitting allowed (u either) and you rarely see it happen till u get closer to the city (ny city ur neck of the woodz). there is plenty of opportunity to do it and to be quite honest the only ppl I see splittn lanes usually are little azzholes doing stunts and running from the police.

its quite rare that ur gonna see a licensed MC rider splitting lanes and not because its illegal cause when sitting in traffic cops can't get to u anyway its simply because a lot of ppl think its dangerous and don't feel its a good idea to put their lives in the hands of some teenage driver or some cager who gets his rocks off by cutting motorcycles off cause they feel empowered in their vehicle in a cage that protects them. ur not winning that fight ever.

Ive seen these ppl often where I work and I've takn many to jail for doing just that and charged with reckless operation but they don't care. they get in that cage and plow away. u shud know just as well as I being from LI that ppl like that are quite common around here and I'm sure elsewhere. its not worth the 5-10 minutes ur gonna save.

I get it when its really hot and u don't want to melt. but skin grafts are much more inconvenient and living in a state like mine with no helmet law riders tend to wear less gear.

if u live in a state that demands a helmet riders there tend to gear up more but here in CT I see these jackasses out here in flip-flops, shorts and tanks tops so these morons are gonna be the ones going 50 mph splitting lanes killing ppl as well as themselves.

and bikers know that if u put a restriction on speed while splitting lanes it will have no teeth cause riders know that the police can't catch them anyways. the small inconvenience one has to endure by sitting in traffic is quite reasonable wen compared to plates and screws in ur legs or back cause u wanted to cut in-between cars to save a few minutes and got crushed by some elderly woman who swears she just didn't see you....

bikes startle ppl to. I see that all the time. Ive seen road rage from it. its just a stupid idea. you can find a good reason to do anything but it doesn't mean there isn't 50 other reasons why u shudnt!

ppl speed all the time. even knowing thats its illegal. but ppl know lane splitting is illegal too but u just don't see many responsible MC riders doing it.

and lets face it the majority of ppl who are out riding are doing it because they enjoy being on their bike and enjoy others see them riding their bike. ppl are proud of their little gems. so splitting lanes just isn't on everyones minds and again the simple thought of cutting in-between cars PRAYING no one changes lanes in front of u just doesn't give a lot of ppl that warm n fuzzy feeling in their gut...

ok maybe lane splitting shud be legal during rush hour traffic. say 6-9am and 4-7 pm? that to me wud make more sense since those on bikes at those hours are indeed trying to get from one point to another asap.

 

[IG.]

Re: White House Lane Splitting Petition - not a duplicate of anther thread, but urgen

Maybe where you live traffic is rarity and no one splits lanes. But it's such a common occurrence that I can't imagine avoiding it. Not sure where you got 5-10 min. When traffic is crawling for miles, we are talking about losing 40 min - an hour - 1.5 hours. Not to mention how exhaustive it is for a rider, and especially for the left hand. Yes, it is illegal, but most everyone is doing it, and in a reasonable way. Yes, you may find a few idiots doing it the wrong way. You'd be surprised how often cars move giving you a bit of extra space, and I most always wave and thank such drivers. It's also very rare that a cager tries to block you. Obviously, keeping rpm low and noise down is a good idea. What you are describing in terms of dangers of lane splitting contradicts my experience.

BTW, a couple of times when I decided not to split lanes, I was almost rear ended. The one instance I clearly remember, the car was full of youngsters, because I heard screeching of the brakes and turned around. Actually, I think there was a research somewhere that splitting lanes is safer for a motorcycle than not, and for that exact reason. And I will tell you why, because I followed bikes a number of times in traffic. Compared to a car, a bike just doesn't register in your brain the same way. It is easy to focus for a driver when they need to brake once or twice for the bike in front. However, doing this for an hour, it's easy to lose focus, and this in turn greatly increases a chance of hitting the bike in front.

I don't see how splitting in a reasonable way is reckless and deserves a jail. If an idiot doing 50 between standing cars, then sure. But doing 5-10-15, and stopping when necessary is reasonable.