WARNING: S Mwy Commuters

[Coldkiwi]

Don't say you weren't warned...

I was lucky not to get hauled over this morning coming up to the greenlane overpass going north. There was a motorcycle cop waiting on the overpass looking south to catch cars cutting late into the left hand lane after they've shot most of the way up the off ramp and cut in at the last point. No doubt he would gladly ticket bikers for lane splitting as well.

I'm sure he had a very good view and has a big quota to fill, so be VERY wary if lane splitting while you can see the overpass. I only saw him because I went up the off ramp and back down the other side (I have my reasons... cop avoidance is one of them!).

 

[jrandom]

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
I was lucky not to get hauled over this morning coming up to the greenlane overpass going north

Yer a lucky bastard. She's a hard road keeping the eyes peeled for bike cops while using lanes 1A/2A

On the bright side, if you have to pull in behind one to avoid detection, it beats being stuck behind a four-wheeled plodmobile. I lane-splitted (lane-splat?) behind a bike cop all the way through spaghetti junction the other morning (he didn't have his flashies on). Gave me a nice warm fuzzy secure feeling (although I doubt whether "but the copper in fronna me was doing it too, m'lud" is an acceptable defense if nicked)

Anyone here ever actually been pulled and/or ticketed for filtering? What did they 'officially' book you on?

[Marmoot]

Passing on the left when prohibited $150 fine

The Bike-mounted Queen Representative Tax Officer told me I can pass in ANY lane as long as I stay on the right hand side of the car in my lane (and provided that it is done sensibly: e.g. not too fast and only when the cars are nearly stationary (below 20-30kph?))

[Coldkiwi]

yes... having any cars on your right while you do it though is considered passing on the left. I don't recommend using the deadmans strip between the median barrier and the fast lane.. a bike cop (same guy? bushy moustache.. nice bloke?) told me that was legal (as he gave me a ticket for filtering between the cages)... and then 6 months later some spam (canned ham) busted me and I got fined.. arguing through letters didn't help either. Anyway.. that bit is puncture city... which is a shame because its by far the safest way of passing cars

[Marmoot]

bushy moustache, nice bloke, about 6ft.
Very sexy in his tight spandex too.....eh? ahem....sorry. Please disregard that last sentence.

Anyway, it is a very grey area because (although passing on the right hand side of the car in your line is legal) you can still get done for passing unsafely (too fast, etc), or passing unneccessarily (the car is moving enough, etc), or passing too close (self explanatory).
Plus, some of the canned hams don't understand bike riding much either. And, some of the just hate bikes altogether.

[jrandom]

Ho yus.

Been ticketed for using (a) the emergency shoulder to get past a blocked onramp and (b) a marked bus lane on the motorway. (a) was a fair cop, I guess. (b) sucked goats. The copper on (b) was nice enough to let me off the $400 hit for not displaying an L-plate (is their quota ticket-count based, or pull-over-count based, I wonder?)

Stupid bint who pulled me over for using the shoulder didn't even *notice* the lack of L-plate, although with her attitude, I was expecting to feel a thrown book land heavily in the back of my neck any moment. Got a couple of sympathetic waves from fellow westie bikers while I was waiting, though.

Anyway, I now lane-split like a maniac while keeping an eye out. No more hard shoulders for me on *either* side of the lanes.

Anyone feel like lobbying Parliament to make like California and the UK and legalise lane-splitting?

[Coldkiwi]

you're lucky she didn't bust your nuts for using the emergency lane ( i presume from your tone of voice that you only picked upa $150 fine).. that $600 worth!!

[Big Dog]

I seem to recall a readers letter to motorcycle trader that quoted the relevant highway laws to lane splitting that if applied and adhered to legalise lane splitting. unfortunately it got turfed a move or two ago, approx 14 months ago ( about a month before I bought my current stead).

Effectively it states right hand traffic can only be passed from a different lane or when stationary or so slow as to be considered stationary and that left hand traffic is fair game unless it "posses a hazard to other road users".

Kind of gutted its gone as it details the appropriate acts and sections.

Does any one have a copy of this magazine (april 02)?

[jrandom]

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
you're lucky she didn't bust your nuts for using the emergency lane ( i presume from your tone of voice that you only picked upa $150 fine).. that $600 worth!!

Gawd, I didn't know that. Ouch. Yes, I got the $150 hit, not the $600 one. Still, I suspect it was due to the copper's ignorance in this case, rather than any sort of easygoingness (she *really* irritated me for some reason, one of those I-want-a-penis-too-so-I'm-gonna-be-a-traffic-cop types). Gaaahhhhh. Technicality on that one was 'failing to drive entirely within a marked lane'.

I mean... she walks up, right, and asks me if I was "in a hurry". Of *course* I'm in a f#$@ing hurry, you stupid cow. If I liked sitting still in filthy stinking traffic in the hot sun, I'd commute in a nice air-conditioned cage, wouldn't I? Just get the hell on with it, and write the bloody ticket. Screw the moralistic lectures about how dangerous and 'hard to see' bikes are (well, maybe for permanently blind female drivers with a cellphone nailed to their head, sipping lattes from cardboard cups...)



(fume fume fume...)

This country needs some *serious* public education about motorcycles, you know.

[bikerboy]

Ditto that !

[SPman]

This country needs some serious education - period!

So do the police - everyone seems to have a different interpretation of "the Law"! and most of its bullshit!

As a nation we're to busy getting bogged down in the exact minuteae of the law and totally ignoring the intent! Perhaps because to interpret "the intent", you've got to have a brain bigger than a gnats testicle!

 

 

 

[MikeL]

What's this about $600 fine for using the emergency stopping strip on the motorway????
I got done for it and copped the (presumably standard) $150 - that was bad enough. What do you have to do to get the $600 teicket??

[jrandom]

Ah, the $600 fine.

That would be what you get when you walk back to the cop car and run a key down the side, moon the cop, turn around and wave your buttocks at the traffic, pull a .357 Magnum from your riding jacket and shoot out his tyres, insult his mother, steal the doughnuts off his passenger seat and lanesplit away from the scene with your trousers still down, making sure to exceed the posted speed limit by more than 50kph.

Did I miss anything?

[bikerboy]

Finger gestures and obscene language.

[Coldkiwi]

Nope.. nothing anywhere near as much fun

$600 fine is for using an emergency lane in a non-emergency... ie. overtaking, stopping for a ciggie etc.

That includes using the Motorway buslanes... BIG no-no.