Splitting headaches

[Edbear]

Please, please, slow down when lane splitting! I am still seeing bikers giving themselves zero margin for error when splitting.
It's not the overall speed, it's the speed differential.

What is especially concerning is the number of bikes displaying L plates doing the highest speeds. Yesterday, while doing around 20km/h in heavy traffic, with vehicles changing lanes frequently and suddenly, an L-plater sped through at about 60km/h or more.

You are giving yourselves no chance and hitting the side of a car, even a glancing blow with your mirror or especially your handlebar can have very serious consequences.

[Scubbo]

agreed, especially with a lot of fresh off the boat, borrowing their brothers van driving on a learners license types out on the roads thinking even if they see you coming they have a right to move into you because the middle isnt a lane bro....

[AllanB]

We don;t get a lot of splitting in Christchurch but in morning/evening traffic rushes centerline or inside passing is common. I watched a guy a week or so back fatting along the centreline and almost run into a pedestrian island due to speed/attention/space. He just made it.

It was quite amusing. Expensive bike too.


And the guy on a green Kawasaki Z something something zipping along - I mainly notice the lack of a rear number plate as you passed me on the inside .... probably get away with it if a cop was in the traffic train as he/she would be stuck.

Plus - it's Christmas traffic from now on. And that sucks arse double time.

[nzspokes]

This is something I have noticed as well more of late. And some of them are fair moving.

One thing I have noted with them is helmet Go Pros. :brick:

[rastuscat]

We don;t get a lot of splitting in Christchurch .....................

Have a ride on the Northern Motorway dude. Lane splitting happens most days, sometimes okay, sometimes ridiculous.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I have a standing appointment across town at 5.30 on a Wednesday. I bring the motorbike to work that day. My self imposed rules for splitting are: I only do it if the traffic is stopped. If we are moving even at a crawl I dont bother. Cycle lanes are good to split in. I am a cyclist as well so I tell them to go fuck themselves if they give me shit - very rarely. I would rather be in the opposite lane (i.e. not between two lanes going the same way) because I have space to my right and not many people turn right. And I am vigilant as I know how to be. Full arse pucker, covering the brake, EXPECTING Some cunt to try and fuck my day up.

I also used to commute in Wellington and that was intense some days.

[rastuscat]

Cycle lanes are good to split in.

And when they write you a legitimate ticket for Unauthorised Use Of A Special Vehicle Lane you can pop into KB and start a thread about revenue collecting, quotas and how cops should get a real job.

[mrchips]

Same ol same ol, every year.....

Summer comes around, these crazies wheel their show ponies out of hibernation & wobble through traffic to split everything in their path in any available space (they're not fussy) at warp speed & piss off all the cages.... in the weekends they head for the hills & crash :baby:

Winter comes around, they go back into hibernation & the regular m/c commuters are left with a bunch of peed off anti-biker cagers & big juicy ACC premiums

Happens every year .. ho hum

[HenryDorsetCase]

And when they write you a legitimate ticket for Unauthorised Use Of A Special Vehicle Lane you can pop into KB and start a thread about revenue collecting, quotas and how cops should get a real job.

You'd have to fuckin' catch me first copper!

[Luckylegs]

Oh thank christ (ha- see what i did there ed) youve raised this. Ive just been reflecting on the terribly high number of deaths we've been seeing reported as being attributed to bikes splitting lately

Oh wait... hold on.

Go back to your knitting gents. Theres nothing to see here!

[nzspokes]

Oh thank christ (ha- see what i did there ed) youve raised this. Ive just been reflecting on the terribly high number of deaths we've been seeing reported as being attributed to bikes splitting lately

Oh wait... hold on.

Go back to your knitting gents. Theres nothing to see here!

Pro tip, not all crashes are reported and not all lead to death.

Ive seen 3 busted up bikes parked on the side of the motorway recently.

[jafagsx250]

I have noticed that I go a bit fast while splitting so I am slowing down. Now impose rules of if the traffic is going 60 km per hour I don't split and only 20 km per hour faster. Seems an acceptable compromise

Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

[Luckylegs]

Pro tip, not all crashes are reported and not all lead to death.

Ive seen 3 busted up bikes parked on the side of the motorway recently.

No shit sherlock. Not all busted up bikes parked on the side of the motorway were splitiing either.

I look forward to your response telling me that the three bikes have previously been seen splitting at ridiculous speeds

[pritch]

Plus - it's Christmas traffic from now on. And that sucks arse double time.

Good thought. I'll make allowance for idiots to a greater extent than normal.

[babysteps]

And when they write you a legitimate ticket for Unauthorised Use Of A Special Vehicle Lane you can pop into KB and start a thread about revenue collecting, quotas and how cops should get a real job.

Brougham st would be a field day for your ex colluges, especially the douchebag on the old Ducati. Oh and the kid in school uniform on a scooter messaging on his phone while riding. I admire his multitasking but he is going to end up under a truck

[nzspokes]

No shit sherlock. Not all busted up bikes parked on the side of the motorway were splitiing either.

I look forward to your response telling me that the three bikes have previously been seen splitting at ridiculous speeds

Pro Tip. Each time its been in stop start traffic.

[Luckylegs]

Pro Tip. Each time its been in stop start traffic.

Apologies, my comment should have said "were not splitting at extortionate speeds"

Notwithstanding that, please shove your pompous "pro tip" where the suns rays do not radiate" you dumb cock

Or in the words of cassina.... pro tip yourself

[Luckylegs]

Either way - shit happens. People arent dying splitting so who cares. Are they injuring themselves. Highly likely. Are tgey just as likely to injure themselves with some other passtime or in a car, even more probable so who cares.

Look, given ive seen people splitting at speeds i wouldnt, if this was really causing serious carnage then we would know about it or the five o would be campaigning and taxing against it.

Its likely not the issue the puckered arseholes of other motorists think it is

[Ifsn8u]

I split and feel a shit ton safer rather than crawling with makeup lady behind me and newspaper reader in front of me. If I get knocked off yes I will hurt, however, I am 100% paying attention to my surroundings and what the traffic is doing. This has saved my bacon many a time. But I certainly have seen some douche bags splitting. Saw a scooter and rider sprawled out on the road few weeks back. It was peak hour, don't know if he was splitting or not. Must have missed it by about a minute. Looked like that hurt.
I have now seen about 4 bikes and riders in less than happy circumstances on the Auckland Mway. That's one a year for my time on the roads.

I forgot why I'm writing this
Good day to you fine young and old peeps.

[Viking01]

Either way - shit happens. People arent dying splitting so who cares. Are they injuring themselves. Highly likely. Are tgey just as likely to injure themselves with some other passtime or in a car, even more probable so who cares.

Look, given ive seen people splitting at speeds i wouldnt, if this was really causing serious carnage then we would know about it or the five o would be campaigning and taxing against it.

Its likely not the issue the puckered arseholes of other motorists think it is


Hi,
An interesting perspective on lane splitting. Especially your opening lines.

"People aren't dying splitting, so who cares?" Are they injuring themselves?
Highly likely" . So who cares?

Well, can I raise my hand and say 'I for one care'. And that I care for a
number of different reasons.


1. Encountering Injured Riders
It's not good to turn up at an accident scene and come upon a fellow biker
down on the ground.

2. Avoiding Personal Injury
I enjoy being able to split through traffic, and have been doing it reasonably
safely (without incident) to date. I do however rely on my fellow motorists
giving me a little space, and not unexpectedly carving me up. Even though
occasionally the opposite occurs.

I'm happy to keep my own splitting speed (in slow traffic on the Wellington
motorway) down to 40km/hr max, to not scare the living daylights out of car
drivers (by racing past), and to acknowledge those motorists shifting over
to give me space with a hand wave where appropriate.

I realise that I have to co-exist with them on the motorway, and that in the
event of a collision, I'm likely to come off second best. So by acting in a
sensible manner, I'm trusting that my fellow motorists will in large part act
the same way towards me. So I'll be riding in a marginally safer environment.

3. ACC Charges
While not every motorcycle accident will result in an injury requiring ACC
related treatment and expense, why potentially risk making the current ACC
charges levied via vehicle registration any greater?

4. Legislation
Again, I enjoy being able to split through traffic, and I'd be upset if the
politicians choose to outlaw lane splitting. It just doesn't sound like smart
behaviour to act in an irresponsible manner and give them more ammunition.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Viking

[Luckylegs]

Hi,
An interesting perspective on lane splitting. Especially your opening lines.

"People aren't dying splitting, so who cares?" Are they injuring themselves?
Highly likely" . So who cares?

Well, can I raise my hand and say 'I for one care'. And that I care for a
number of different reasons.


1. Encountering Injured Riders
It's not good to turn up at an accident scene and come upon a fellow biker
down on the ground.

2. Avoiding Personal Injury
I enjoy being able to split through traffic, and have been doing it reasonably
safely (without incident) to date. I do however rely on my fellow motorists
giving me a little space, and not unexpectedly carving me up. Even though
occasionally the opposite occurs.

I'm happy to keep my own splitting speed (in slow traffic on the Wellington
motorway) down to 40km/hr max, to not scare the living daylights out of car
drivers (by racing past), and to acknowledge those motorists shifting over
to give me space with a hand wave where appropriate.

I realise that I have to co-exist with them on the motorway, and that in the
event of a collision, I'm likely to come off second best. So by acting in a
sensible manner, I'm trusting that my fellow motorists will in large part act
the same way towards me. So I'll be riding in a marginally safer environment.

3. ACC Charges
While not every motorcycle accident will result in an injury requiring ACC
related treatment and expense, why potentially risk making the current ACC
charges levied via vehicle registration any greater?

4. Legislation
Again, I enjoy being able to split through traffic, and I'd be upset if the
politicians choose to outlaw lane splitting. It just doesn't sound like smart
behaviour to act in an irresponsible manner and give them more ammunition.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Viking

To be honest, I skimmed the post, but looked Sensible, and while I dont come to KB for sensible often, may all your shield maidens be busty and wanton

[caspernz]

Lane splitting is a divisive topic. Done sensibly, with a reasonable differential speed to other traffic, no issues. When done at higher differential speeds, the margin for error shrinks rapidly. I suspect those who run at higher speeds haven't yet encountered a near miss or actual incident. Funnily enough, in Auckland traffic it seems to be the bikes sporting L plates that run the fastest between the cars. By comparison there's number of year round riders I come across regularly who'll happily lane split at sensible speeds. I guess experience makes a difference :innocent::shutup:

[oldiebutagoody]

I did a two and a bit year stint as a mbike courier in the mid 90's and given the little sportbike I used, splitting was part of the professional and skin saving skillset employed on a daily basis.

On bigger heftier bikes nowadays. Still I had a chance to blast up to Aucks for this fine weekend (1-3/12/17) and the crap traffic started at Manukau before 3pm. I wanted to ride the new tunnel for the first time (it was no drama and quite fun). I was heading to Albany first so the stopped traffic at the beginning of the SWest motorway immediately made my stomach sink.

I found myself very quickly splitting as soon as the traffic halted, and would pull back in as it moved again. I was thinking all the time I should really have been on the left of the centreline the whole time but cars were right hard up against it leaving only the right side of the line to travel in. I did my best anyway.

So all the way from Manukau (excepting around the tunnel area) past Lincoln road/royal road was probably a fair old distance to be continually splitting. Encroachers were few, mover overers were more common (thankyous fullas). Faster splitters than me on nippier machines waved thanks when I moved over to let them get ahead of me. Yes a bit speedy but I wouldn't say more than 20kph faster than the traffic.

Surprisingly calm and orderly experience, and I haven't split motorway traffic recently. I was being sorta careful.

It was a great weekend to blast up from Wanganui to AK and back again South of Ngaruawahia traffic was sparse, north of that it sucked. Central plateau was wonderful, lots of bikes on the roads. Stopped at several cafes and decided eating was a fun part of the whole weekend so tried as many different things as were on offer.

Glad I don't have an Auckland mway commute any more. I commute Wanganui to Palmerston Nth daily, so no splitting required.

[Moi]

Considering that the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council [MSAC] states "The Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council's role is to ensure the motorcycle safety levy is spent on initiatives that will make riding on New Zealand roads safer."

It could be argued that the MSAC could formulate a set of guidelines for lane splitting* that could be adopted which would enhance the safety of riders who lane split. It would also be necessary to educate drivers as to how they should also behave...

* guidelines used in Australia would be a good starting point

[Luckylegs]

Considering that the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council [MSAC] states "The Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council's role is to ensure the motorcycle safety levy is spent on initiatives that will make riding on New Zealand roads safer."

It could be argued that the MSAC could formulate a set of guidelines for lane splitting* that could be adopted which would enhance the safety of riders who lane split. It would also be necessary to educate drivers as to how they should also behave...

* guidelines used in Australia would be a good starting point

You mean I gotta spend my $30.00 bucks on fixing something else that isn't broken... Awesome! Mind you, I was less than complimentary about there recent stats and pretty pictures however even that was better than them meddling in something that will only result in a "guideline" which will need to be dumbed down to the lowest common cassina, leaving the rest of us worse off than we are now.


Ho-Hum... As sweet as Malibu smells it really seems to be having the opposite effect on my mood. I'm off to open the peach schnapps

[Swoop]

It could be argued that the MSAC could formulate a set of guidelines for lane splitting* that could be adopted ...

With their previous track record, I'd prefer they kept the fuck away from anything.

[Moi]

You mean I gotta spend my $30.00 bucks on fixing something else that isn't broken... Awesome! Mind you, I was less than complimentary about there recent stats and pretty pictures however even that was better than them meddling in something that will only result in a "guideline" which will need to be dumbed down to the lowest common cassina, leaving the rest of us worse off than we are now.

You don't have to contribute your $30 to MSAC, you could easily do what others on here do - don't pay to licence your bike each year...

But seriously, would it not be sensible if MSAC came up with a set of guidelines that they supported through to becoming road legislation that removed a current grey area surrounding something which is common practice...

[Luckylegs]

You don't have to contribute your $30 to MSAC, you could easily do what others on here do - don't pay to licence your bike each year...

But seriously, would it not be sensible if MSAC came up with a set of guidelines that they supported through to becoming road legislation that removed a current grey area surrounding something which is common practice...

No. The government and police believe they have a sensible and neccessary set of guidelines for general roading. If splitting is based on the same fucked up logic then we'll all be worse off. Said grey area has not resulted in an accident or ticket in many years doing it so... grey is good

[Edbear]

When I was riding to work, I used to follow a cop on his BMW Police bike. I invariably lost ground to him as he split faster than I did on the C50T.

I came across a few bikers knocked off and not looking too well. Back then, 7 or so years ago, fewer bikers split at high speeds, unlike now. As per my OP, my concern is that most of the high speed splitters are displaying L-plates. So not very experienced to start with.

[Navy Boy]

Lane splitting is a divisive topic. Done sensibly, with a reasonable differential speed to other traffic, no issues. When done at higher differential speeds, the margin for error shrinks rapidly. I suspect those who run at higher speeds haven't yet encountered a near miss or actual incident. Funnily enough, in Auckland traffic it seems to be the bikes sporting L plates that run the fastest between the cars. By comparison there's number of year round riders I come across regularly who'll happily lane split at sensible speeds. I guess experience makes a difference :innocent::shutup:

On my Ride Forever courses a year or two back I was told of the 30/30 rule regarding filtering. That is don't filter when the traffic is doing more than 30 Km/hr and when you are filtering ensure that the speed differential is no more than 30 km/hr. This seems to work well for me but as with all such things this needs to be applied with some judegement as Auckland motorway traffic tends to yo-yo in speed quite a lot.

As with oils and breaking-in this is an area where if you ask 5 different people you'll likely get 10 different answers. :msn-wink:

[Old Steve]

I don't lane split, I lane filter. I was riding in QLD when lane filtering became legal. I lane filter only between stopped or slow moving traffic, if I'm not passing anything at 40 km/hr I pull back in to the lane.

But I see those lane splitters go by on the Southern Motorway at 80 km/hr or so, weaving from side to side of the gap between the traffic, and wonder how many of them come to grief. But I have never seen a busted up bike on the side of the motorway, so they (or most of they) must get away with it.

On the other hand I saw some F*WIT nearly have two accidents with the same car on the Southern motorway within the space of 15 seconds. He was in the inside lane and started to move out into the centre lane, right into the side of the car that was right beside him. He suddenly realised that he was just inches away from something bigger, heavier and harder than himself and braked hard and pulled into the middle lane behind the car. He then looked over his right shoulder (as he should have done in the first place) to check whether there was anything he should avoid if he moved over into the centre lane. The car in front of him had to brake, he looked back up just in time to avoid modifying the car's boot and disappearing over it's roof, and veered into a small space between two cars in the centre lane. I was a few cars back in the centre lane and instinctively touched the brake in the expectation there'd be broken motorbike and motorcyclist on the road in front of me.

So it's not just the lane splitters that worry me, there are some real dimwits out there.

[ellipsis]

...knit one...pearl two...another cup of tea Vicar...

[Luckylegs]

When I was riding to work, I used to follow a cop on his BMW Police bike. I invariably lost ground to him as he split faster than I did on the C50T.

I came across a few bikers knocked off and not looking too well. Back then, 7 or so years ago, fewer bikers split at high speeds, unlike now. As per my OP, my concern is that most of the high speed splitters are displaying L-plates. So not very experienced to start with.

A very possible concern re the l plate except that, there are riders who have had l plates forever. They are also possibly likey to do this type of riding twice a day commuting so their experience in this type of traffic is possibly higher than a lot of more seasoned riders.

...its ok though i took my own advice and have almost finished a hanging macrame pot plant holder

[caspernz]

When I was riding to work, I used to follow a cop on his BMW Police bike. I invariably lost ground to him as he split faster than I did on the C50T.

I came across a few bikers knocked off and not looking too well. Back then, 7 or so years ago, fewer bikers split at high speeds, unlike now. As per my OP, my concern is that most of the high speed splitters are displaying L-plates. So not very experienced to start with.

The adage of "there are old riders, and there are bold riders, but no old & bold riders" comes to mind :innocent:

[Jeff Sichoe]

people learn best after crashing a few times so I figure the dudes who split like mad-men just need a little more education

it'll happen naturally :)

[GazzaH]

Learning by crashing works, to a point (the point at which death becomes you).

Learning from your own mistakes is great, provided you recognize dangerous situations and diagnose them properly ... which takes experience.

Learning from others' mistakes is much less painful, much cheaper and almost as effective.

Learning from courses is on a par with that, with decent instructors and plenty of practice.

Learning from books works well for some, and advice from competent mates is OKish.

Learning from the Road Code or the laws is for lawyers and learners, not bikers with licenses.

The real point is to learn, actively, deliberately, all the time, as much as possible. Preferably without actually dying to make a point.