A Logical Conclusion

California’s Office of Traffic Study looked at lane splitting for a year and concluded “the practice is no more dangerous than motorcycling in general, if the rider is traveling at speeds similar to or only slightly faster than the surrounding traffic.” The Sacramento Bee did a pretty good review of this study called, “Motorcycle lane-splitting study finds: the more speed, the more danger.” The article and study found that “Lane-splitting in California appears to be on the rise. The state Office of Traffic Safety study found 62 percent of motorcyclists say they lane-split on both freeways and other roads, a 7.5-percentage-point increase over 2013. Seventy-five percent of riders between the ages of 18 and 24 report they lane-split on all roads, including freeways. Notably, the survey found that motorcyclists were splitting lanes at slightly slower speeds and in slightly slower traffic than the year before.” The last part surprises me and is encouraging. Maybe California’s motorcyclists are beginning to wise up a little. If they do, it will be to the benefit of all of us. Lane splitting and filtering are the single most important issue that makes motorcycle commuting beneficial.

As in most areas, the US lags the world here and we appear to be going backwards rather than forward. If you think your right to illegally and obnoxiously loud pipes is more important than lane splitting, you are the problem. You’re not part of the problem, you are the problem and motorcyclists everywhere should join with the rest of society and give you the finger when you rattle and blast your plodding way along public roads.