Lane Splitting. A Wimp's Guide.

[James Deuce]

This is in the Rave On thread for a reason, so don't read on if you don't want to follow the musings of a madman.

1. Commuting by bike. There are many advantages and few disadvantages.

a. Easy to find parking.
b. Use less petrol than even a small car of similar engine displacement.
c. You are awake and into your day as soon as you thumb the starter.
d. Even bad weather gives you cause for celebration, when you challenge and defeat the elements to arrive at work, on time, and unhurt.
e. Lane splitting reduces your commuting time. Dramatically. Which brings me to my rant.

2. Lane splitting. Many disadvantages and few advantages.

a. The practice is of dubious legality. In a court room dispute the prosecuting officer is going to win. Fair enough.
b. Bikes are invisible at the best of times. Lane splitting places you in multiple blind spots at comparatively rapid intervals.
c. There are very few escape routes when it "goes wrong".
d. A large percentage of the commuting populace is focused on getting to work, not driving, and are consequently frustrated in heavy traffic.
e. If anyone is as sleep deprived as I am, and is driving/riding to work, well you deserve to share a cell with me for criminal endangerment (if there is such a thing).
And worst of all - F. There are a few homocidal maniacs out there who regard the road, the space around them, and the air you breathe as theirs - and they are willing to attempt to hurt you to protect it.

I have a proposal. The Kiwi Bikers Guide to "Safe" Lane Splitting.

I know everyone hates to be lectured, and everyone has their own comfort zone, but I will present a saftey checklist, with a mnemonic phrase to go with it, just like a pilot's checklist, to say out loud before you begin your commute each morning. Use it or ignore it, I don't care, but I do care that you all travel safely at the most dangerous part of the day.

C - Comfort Zone. Stay in YOUR comfort zone. Do NOT adopt someone else's pace when lane splitting, no matter how tempted. It isn't a race, and who the hell HURRIES to WORK FFS!!

O - Organisation. Do I have everything with me that I need? Have I resolved every Mental/Emotional/Financial issue BEFORE climbing on the bike. Make sure you have organised things so your Brain is focused on the commute ahead and all that it entails.

S - Safety. Have I put all my saftey gear on? Don't leave stuff off because you are late. Those running shoes instead of boots may mean the difference between a broken ankle and a minor sprain.

I - I am the most important person right now. Other people's mistakes are not important. I will not get angry. I will make it to my destination in one piece.

N - Never visit retribution on an evil doer/4 or more wheeled vehicle driver. If it goes wrong YOU will get hurt, not them.

E - End your trip upright.

The Mnemonic is COSINE

C - comfort zone. O - organisation. S - Safety. I - I!. N - Never get even. E - End. Get to it.

Take it easy.

[merv]

Yeah bugger commuting on the bike. Save it for fun.

[bear]

All good points, esp. comfort zone. This is a great point for all riding, and operating outside of it can end in tears.

[Hitcher]

Trigonometrically inspired!

Now isn't it time to take this thread off on a tangent?

If there are sines that right bikes, then that begs the question: "Why didn't the sine wave?"

[Devil]

Thaaanks Uncle Jiiiiiim

[DebK]

Jim2, you're a legend! Thanks for your advice.

I only split when the traffic is stopped or if it's very slow & I'm late for an appointment. The only reason I don't split outside of these two reasons is because I don't want to p*ss others off. Too often when I do split a car/truck/van will move across on me deliberately. When this happens I feel one of three emotions - sudden guilt, absolute confusion and if the day is right, extreme anger. Being the normally happy & enthusiastic rider that I yam, any one of these emotions will always interupt the happy, happy, joy, joy world I may have been in at the time.

Soooo, I tend not to split. And I can confidently say that in my daily travel in & out of work on the m-way, I would be the only rider who doesn't split.

Does this mean the rest of you couldn't give a sh*t what others think or is it an automatic, 'shut the rest of the World out' kind of biking experience?

[James Deuce]

Thaaanks Uncle Jiiiiiim

The message you have entered is too pithy. Please insert an emoticon into your message to convey your meaning.

[Devil]

The message you have entered is too pithy. Please insert an emoticon into your message to convey your meaning.

How dare you associate my message with the useless parts of fruit!

[F5 Dave]

I have a better idea, why don’t we all just ride in that neat little unused strip on the motorway just on the left hand side?

[stands back, hits unsubscribe thread link]

[Motoracer]

Yeah bugger commuting on the bike. Save it for fun.

Yep, works for me

[Ms Piggy]

I don't usually lane split b/c:
a) It's outside my comfort zone
b) I don't like peeving off drivers
c) Why rush, it only gets me to work faster!

Cheers Jim.

[jrandom]

That's an excellent post, Jim, and worthy of sticky-ness, I think.

I personally find that filtering is essential to my sanity, but when I fail to follow those basic guidelines, I crash, and end up in pain with a broken bike.

I would add the point that the single most important handling characteristic of a motorcycle to take into account while filtering is its straight-line stopping distance. That, when things turn to custard, is all you'll have left to save your sorry biker butt.

My two lane-splitting crashes occurred in very similar circumstances - a mad back-end fishtail dumped me on my side, giving me the learn about injudicious use of the rear brake, and then a Death Stoppie turned into a forward flip and Superman. Oops. Front brake doesn't do the trick either, sometimes.

In both cases the road was damp and greasy, and someone pulled across in front of me without leaving an escape route. As things were, I should have been travelling slower. If it'd been dry, or I'd had better tyres... I probably wouldn't have crashed.

[aff-man]

hmmm when i started i would not lane split at all, now i do it at most traffic lights but never in moving traffic. I did do it once in traffic moving at like 10-15km/h and it was pretty scarey with drivers all over the place. And ummm i think CK's definition of lanesplitting is highly different from most people tried to keep up with him for all of 5 secs before giving up.

Well done jim great post

[R6_kid:Me]

good points!!!

now my 2c
i always look for a "spot" to go to incase something comes from other direction/goes wrong.

And as for the 'legality' of lane splitting, you can only split lanes (travelling in same direction) when they are stopped i.e, gridlock on the motorway (up the middle not along the sides), or through lines at lights (again up the middle) otherwise if you get seen by the police you'll get napped!

[mangell6]

Jim2, obviously you are at a loose end now that you have finished your study for the year.

What is the next topic?

Oh yeah, well writted