jfoobar

I certainly don't think I do. I do, however, pretty consistently make a concerted effort to not drive like a reckless asshole. Reckless assholes also cause a tremendous amount of the traffic that we all suffer from in urban areas.

eXcentris

It is my opinion that an opinion based on having experienced both sides of this issue is inherently more objective than one based on driving a car only.

Then all that proves is that the general driving public is ignorant because several studies/reports have shown that motorcycle riders are better drivers and do better in basic safety tests (much more aware since driving a motorcycle is more dangerous), and also that the majority of car vs motorcycle accidents are caused by car drivers.

andicus

Because I tend to like the people in this thread, outside of this thread, I'm not going to reply. I also don't want to get suspended.

Threads like this are why I would love to see a 'hide thread' forum option.

LurkerDan

This is really odd. Are you telling us that out of the blue, for no reason at all, the motorcyclist gave you the finger? Or did you just omit the fact that you said or did something that caused him to give you the finger?

Also, if you were stopped in a line of cars, and he was traveling at a "high rate of speed", how could he possibly pull right in front of your car and stop. I know bikes can decelerate faster than cars, but either he wasn't traveling at a high rate of speed or he stopped quite a bit in front of your car.

bcd

I hate it here. It is illegal and scares the shit out of me that a motorcyclist will get killed. With the horrible distracted drivers on the road here and people doing quick lane changes if I was on a motorcycle you would never see me doing it. Also, on a side note, I catch way too many motorcycles riding in my blind spot on the highway. I don't see or hear them, until I double check my blind spot.

mndtrp

I'm against lane splitting (cutting between moving cars) and am mostly ok with lane filtering (moving to the front of stopped cars). My feelings depend entirely on how fast the motorcycle is going when getting to the front of the line of stopped cars. When I rode my motorcycle, I didn't do either as I didn't feel comfortable with it. In hindsight, maybe I should have, since I wouldn't have been almost killed by someone hitting me while I was at the back of a line of cars at a stoplight.

bcd

If I recall that was at 20th street. Right by where I work. I remember that there was a spaghetti luncheon or something in Brighton. I dropped of an AMC gift card for you so that you could get out and see a few movies while you recover.

eXcentris

In car vs motorcycle accidents, the #1 reason for accidents is the car driver saying "I didn't see/hear you". There are a few reasons for this. One, motorcycles have a smaller profile. Two, people perceive speed according to size and often misjudge both the speed a motorcycle is travelling at, and it's distance from their vehicle. Three, car drivers lack the awareness of their surroundings that motorcycle riders have. In one study people living in the same area were asked how often they see motorcycles. Those who only drive cars answered "occasionally" while those driving both a car and a motorcycle answered "all the time". And that's because people on motorcycles don't muck around with cell phone/radio/food/makeup/talking to others/etc., they watch the road. Also, when you learn to ride a motorcycle, it's drilled into your head that you must have "eyes around your head" and that you should always "look where you are going", not just check if the light on the next corner is green or red, but scan the road ahead 2, 3, 4, streets down for potential hazards. You're not protected by a steel cage on a motorcycle and your life depends on that awareness. I am 100% convinced that riding a motorcycle makes me a much better all around driver.

AGuyNamedMike

Yeah, there are plenty of full-on asshats tooling around on motorcycles. Yeah, the sportbikers tend to be even more asshatted than the Harley riders.

I'm a motorcyclist. I currently ride a "metric cruiser", a very nice older Yamaha V-Star 1100. You'll notice me because I'm huge and I wear ultra high-viz neon gear.

Wear a full face and pants and jacket with the pads in place every. damn. trip. All the gear all the time as they say.

Never lane split or filter or pop wheelies or cut people off or flip the bird, that's just self-preservation.


I don't trust cagers (or other motorists) when I'm on my bike. I don't trust bikers (or other motorists) when I'm in my truck. Trustno1 and you just might make it home alive.

eXcentris

Yeah, I'm not trying to portray all motorcycle riders as saints. The number of single vehicle crashes is almost twice as high on a motorcycle than in a car. And the majority of those are due to not slowing down enough before a curve. And that's because some riders are going too fast, fail to heed the "look where you are going" mantra, and so, did/could not properly "read the road". But the majority of riders aren't youngsters on crotch rockets or Hell Angels, the average American rider is a 48 y/o male with an $85k annual income.

AGuyNamedMike

I agree most of us are calm and careful. The asshats stand out.

And I don't really push too hard for them to change their ways, I only push for them to check the organ donor box when they renew their license. I might need that kidney or whatever someday!

zyzzle

I'm sure you're right. No argument that most motorcycle drivers are better drivers than most auto drivers. They almost *have* to be unless they truly have a death wish.

And, being a better driver, does it not make you see the extreme folly and danger in lane-splitting?

eXcentris

It's a controversial topic and opinions vary widely. I think lane filtering is fine (when cars are stopped) and lane splitting as well if it's at low speed (maybe 30mph and below?), but certainly not at highway speeds. That said, I'd only do the splitting part where it's allowed and where car drivers are used to it like in some European countries.

Here's a good breakdown along with pros and cons:

Lane Filtering: For, Against, & Somewhere In-Between

movieguru

Yes, he gave the middle finger as if he knew he was doing something wrong by cutting in front of everyone but didn't care about the people he affected.

The speed limit on the road was 25 mph. He could be seen from the side mirror coming up the road at a speed clearly much greater than that and only decelerates when he gets closer to the front of the cars. He took for granted there was no one in the crosswalk where the boxed truck was because he would not have been able to see them until it was too late.

movieguru

Lane splitting has never been legal in any state I've lived in. But, whenever I've seen riders lane splitting anyways, they are always doing it do like the idiots in this video. The Darwin Award is at 5:50. The law of averages will eventually catch up with you when you are riding like this.

Nick Danger

Out of the thousands of motorcycles who movieguru has interacted with, the asshole is the one that he remembers, and the one associates with motorcycle riders. I try not to be "that guy".

mndtrp

Yeah, down by Coors Field. Thanks for coming to that. I can't recall what I ended up seeing, although it did take me several months to where I could sit for a couple of hours straight.

movieguru

I don't normally pay attention to motorcycle riders when I am out driving. Many of them drive safely and within the law. The only time they are noticed is when some of them do boneheaded moves on the road that they get noticed; the same as other cars and trucks, etc.

rw2516

I always notice bike riders when it's freezing cold out. I don't care how bundled up they are, it's gotta be colder than hell going 40-70 MPH in that cold.

zyzzle

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them wear neoprene wetsuits. Seriously!

cultshock

I mostly notice it with assholes zipping around on their little crotch rockets like they have a death wish. In my experience, folks on "real" bikes like Harleys, etc. aren't nearly as bad.

JoeySeven

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...40C3&FORM=VIRE[/IMG]





I do not mind the rider's lane splitting as long as they do it at a safe and slow speed. but I also do not drive as much when at home in the Willamette Valley Oregon and ride my bicycle lots of places. But it is dangerous enough just riding a motorcycle in some of these cities. I rode a little 20+ years ago.
But it was an enduro motorcycle and I lived in Foresthill, Ca and my house was on a dirt road that connected to tahoe natural forest.
It was on Anderson Road in Baker Ranch. I kind of wish I keep that custom log cabin on almost an acre of land.
But needed to the money to buy a house in Oregon.

Kevin Phillips

I am close to Baltimore, so that skews the type of people I encounter. I mostly see motorcyclists on crotch rockets on the highways, driving like maniacs at 90+ mph, splitting lanes between traffic already moving over 65mph in a 55 zone. There are easily many more of these maniacs than sane riders.

There is a guy in my neighborhood with a Harley, or similar bike, who rides slowly and carefully. He also also has a very loud exhaust, so I know every time he goes by, no matter where I am in my house.

SmackDaddy

Unless it's been going on since beginning of time like it seemingly has in California I don't know how you could implement it anywhere these days.

I've been riding motorcycles since I was 18, and I've only done lane splitting once and that's when me and a buddy of mine hauled out to San Francisco to ride the Pacific coast all the way up to Washington and back down. Coming from Texas, where you would get a door opened on you kicked to the ground and then shot a couple times lol we tried lane splitting in the San Francisco area to get around some traffic and it was amazing! We didn't abuse it and we noticed most people just cruising through doing nothing crazy.

I'm more in favor of creating motorcycle lanes by using the shoulders of most freeways. While that would also present its own issues, it would definitely be safer than trying to introduce lane splitting where the learning curve would be high for everyone.

So would I do if it was properly implemented and safe, of course. But I just don't see that happening any new major metropolitan areas. Lane splitting bills have been introduced to here in Texas several years in a row but never get past the proposal stage.

Nick Danger

If there were motorcycle lanes on highways, cars would drive in them.