Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Lane Splitting OK?

Dwight,

I live in FL and wish I could split the lane like I use to in CA. The big difference is that in CA most of the drives are use to this happening. If it became legal in FL it would take a while (years) for all the drivers to understand 1-that it is legal, and 2-that it actually benefits all (safer for the motorcyclist when done correctly).

I don't know if lane splitting (or as they call it filtering) is legal in all of Europe, but most of the countries over there tolerate it, and most of their roads are generally narrower in width than the average road in the US.

When I lived in CA I considered lane splitting as a safety outlet. In bumper to bumper highway traffic I always moved to the white dash line (even if I didn't pass traffic). On at least one occasion the car behind me failed to stop and hit the car in front of me. If I had stayed in my lane I would have become a metal sandwich.

In multiply lane city traffic I would always split the lane at red lights. As soon as the light turned green I was gone. Riding this way on city streets I was able to travel over 80% of the time with no moving cars around me. Which to me made riding much safer.

Tom