Lane splitting - Accidents

[bluninja]

There is still the potential for the rider to become a sandwich when the lights do change as they will not be able to see the lights change and weave between traffic at the same time if they are 10 vehicles back with their view of the lights blocked by double decker buses. If they allowed that to happen here how quickly to you think traffic would get a way at the lights if we had to check for weaving motorcycles before taking off?
Do you know if many riders became sandwiched while doing this although the fact that drivers must give way to them must have kept the number of sandwiched riders low.

Perhaps you can't see ahead and weave and watch for traffic movements and light changes, and wing mirrors; other people can, and do every, day in large numbers. It's the responsibility of the rider to keep themselves safe during filtering, not the other road users.

Personal experience is that I saw 2 filtering accidents in 4 years; both on 4 lane motorways out of city. 1, a zx9r going between the Armco barrier and the right of a vehicle and hitting some debris and slipping off...no injury. 2 rider and pillion on commuter bike hit a cats eye whilst leant over between 2 cars, slipped and tapped a bumper and fell off. No injuries. During that time I would see 2, or 3, vehicle accidents (or aftermath) every week. So no sandwiched motorbike riders. Quite a few pedestrians clipped by buses, and cyclists stranded, or bumped, when the bus sets off when they are half way along the bus length (the bus being stationary at a bus stop and the rider overtaking, as opposed to lane splitting).

BTW the standard for driving in most countries is "Mirror, signal, manoeuvre". that would cater for all road conditions including lane splitting. Nothing extra required from drivers other than standard practice before any move (start, stop, change lanes, turn).

[gjm]

I've not seen or heard of a cyclist or motorcyclist getting trapped between two vehicles. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but in 9 months as a courier in London you do get to hear about a lot of stuff. Lots of accidents of one sort or another, but not that in particular.

The biggest difference I have found since being here is that in the UK, most drivers appreciate that in a queue of traffic they're going nowhere, but don't begrudge someone else the opportunity. In NZ it is the opposite and many drivers aren't paying attention, don't wish to make a little room, or seem to take offence at a motorcyclist threading (however slowly and carefully) through traffic.

Of course, we chose to ride bikes. We just need to be aware of this and ride accordingly.

[bluninja]

I hardly do it at all today but did it a bit years ago when I had lighter more flickable bikes. My perception of being sandwiched comes from seeing that video where it looks like the rider is tapping other vehicles on both sides as they pass. At the very least I bet a few get bills for scratching other vehicles as they pass which they don't appear to care about getting that close.

If you focus on the closeness of the vehicles either side you're not looking far enough ahead. When I watched I was looking ahead of the rider for traffic movement, pinch points, building gaps (may indicate a side road). Your perception has little to do with reality.

You would lose your bet....see any scratches in the video? on the car sides, on the bar ends or wing mirrors of the other bikes? On the buses? They aren't there ...perhaps there is an autopaint shop working flat out repairing each days scratches, or perhaps the everyday motorbike commuter is able to ride without hitting other road users vehicles.

[Katman]

I think you miss the point that in many of the cases anticipation is not needed as the 10 vehicles ahead are nose to tail and can't move...so what is to anticipate?

Pedestrians and people opening car doors for a start.

[samgab]

I've not seen or heard of a cyclist or motorcyclist getting trapped between two vehicles. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but in 9 months as a courier in London you do get to hear about a lot of stuff. Lots of accidents of one sort or another, but not that in particular.

The biggest difference I have found since being here is that in the UK, most drivers appreciate that in a queue of traffic they're going nowhere, but don't begrudge someone else the opportunity. In NZ it is the opposite and many drivers aren't paying attention, don't wish to make a little room, or seem to take offence at a motorcyclist threading (however slowly and carefully) through traffic.

Of course, we chose to ride bikes. We just need to be aware of this and ride accordingly.

You mean like this?


Edit, oh, and that London rush hour filterer I posted is nothing compared to this lunatic with a short future lifespan:

[bluninja]

Pedestrians and people opening car doors for a start.

Pedant!!!

I was speaking within the context of anticipating vehicle movement, given that it was a response to that point.

Text, taken out of context is a pretext..and all that.

[PrincessBandit]

Post #69 - video 1 = idiot; video 2 = lucky idiot. With traffic like that I can certainly appreciate the advantages of a nimble bike threading through but I'd have absolutely no sympathy for him when he finally becomes bugspooge.

[TheDemonLord]

I love watching the Royal Jordanian - its pure filtering Porn

and plus he is for the most a super nice guy

[DamianW]

I fold the mirrors in when splitting in slower moving traffic as there's usually one or two drivers on the north shore on-ramps who for whatever reason will decide to close the gap and try to make it more difficult for me to pass. These are the drivers who will look out for bikers with the sole purpose of performing an unnecessary/dangerous manoeuvre but (and I'm guessing their mentality here) these are the same drivers who don't normally perform a 'mshm' when changing lanes in free flowing traffic. It's all wasted effort on their part anyway as I've never come remotely close to clipping a mirror or scraping the bike.

[DamianW]

Eh? I fold my mirrors on my bike not anyone else's vehicle. But thanks for your kind gesture mate.

[jonnyk5614]

Never and no near misses either, which is less than can be said for using the motorway "as a car".

As I see it, use the motorway "as a car" in queuing traffic and someone will vaguely see a gap (guess what - I'm narrower than a car) through their coffee mist in their rear view and pull into me. This has happened more often than I can remember.

If I lane split, for a start they see me miles back in their mirror.

If I'm between two vehicles, who the fuck squeezes their neighbour?

The only unsafe bit is riding on the line, gap to one side, car to the other and I personally either don't do this or do it very quickly.

[Erelyes]

Clipped a mirror once. Never had any other incident, near miss or accident.

There was one occasion when a truck at the lights 'moved across' partially (in a two lane one-way road) as I was filtering between perhaps 20 cars stopped each lane. Not sure if it was intentional or not and they still left just enough room to get through.