Posted by Frank on July 28, 2001 at 01:15:07:
A message was posted 7/19 about splitting lanes. The subject is near and dear to my heart so I din't want to reply to the last post as no one reads posts that are more than a couple of days old. I live in the LA area and commuted daily for three and a half years 120 miles a day in LA traffic. Some of you that have been on the list a while might recognize me. I put well over 100,000 miles in the saddle, most of it on the Savage. I not only split lanes, I believe in it and advocate it. It is legal in California simply because there is no law against sharing the same lane. Cars can't do it because it is illegal to straddle lanes. This comes from a local free bike rag here that has a section called "Ask the Seargent". He is a LAPD motorcycle traffic officer that answers traffic law questions. Done prudently and at full alert at a safe speed I firmly believe it is safer that sitting behind some cage in traffic just get rear-ended by some other cage. You would be amazed at the menuverability you have in "the zone". It looks a lot more dangerous than it is from the view of the car driver. The trick is keep the speed down to within 10-15 mph above traffic. Even slower when traffic is at a standstill. Some might say I have just been lucky, but I say that's a lot of look in 110,000 miles. Of course, I understand it is illegal in most other states, so what I wrote won't apply to you. Just my .02 cents. Ride safe
Frank
01-Harley Sportster 883 8,300miles
97-Savage 650 (lil' Suzy) 76,500 miles