California recently made lane splitting, or the practice of letting a motorcycle move between two lanes of auto traffic, officially legal. It's been practiced in the state for decades but in an unofficial capacity because there was nothing saying outright that it couldn't be done. Lane splitting is not unique to California -- you see it in places like Asian countries as well. However, for out-of-state drivers and cyclists who have never lived in Asia or other places that allow lane splitting, the practice can seem terrifying at first. If you ride a motorcycle and are heading to California, you may want to learn lane splitting, but you need to know how to do it safely.
You Don't Have to Lane-Split
Only engage in lane splitting if you feel comfortable doing so. It's still legal for motorcycles to ride in the lane as a normal vehicle, in between other vehicles, even in heavy traffic. However, there will be circumstances in which you are better off engaging in lane splitting. One of these is heavy traffic where you're stuck unless you split. If you can move freely out of the line of cars, you reduce the risk of being rear-ended, you reduce the amount of car exhaust being blown in your face (your super-duper visor helmet won't stop exhaust from coming in), and you get yourself out of the heat if you're in a non-coastal part of the state. Face it, that bike doesn't have an invisible air conditioner keeping you cool if you're stopped on the freeway in triple-degree heat.
Here Are the Numbers
Officially you can't go more than 15 miles per hour faster than surrounding traffic, and you can't go faster than 50 mph when you split. So if surrounding traffic is going faster than that, you actually have to slow down. However, in an interview with LA Weekly, one motorcyclist was told previously that he shouldn't really go more than 10 mph above what other drivers were doing because anything faster than that was too risky. In fact, that motorcyclist said that only high-speed lane splitting would be affected by the new law. If you do lane split, listen to the long-time lane splitter in the interview: Don't go more than 10 mph faster than surrounding traffic.
Cautions
Lane splitting has its benefits, but it also carries risks. The biggest is that a car will try to switch lanes without looking and hit you as you come up behind it -- yet another reason to go slow when lane splitting. Encountering debris is another risk; with lane splitting, you won't have the room to move sideways to avoid the debris like you would in the regular lane.
If you start lane splitting and get into an accident that you think was due to a reckless driver, contact a motorcycle attorney. Lane splitting is a normal thing to long-time California drivers, and new drivers to the state should be aware of it too after the new law made the news. A lawyer like Todd East Attorney at Law can help you determine whether the case is worth pursuing in court.
