Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique Any crash you can walk away from...

I'm linking to the Biltwell page because YouTube requires an account to see it...

http://biltwellok.blogspot.com/2011/02/splittin-lanes.html

it dosn't work.

Sorry, dude. Didn't think it would be US-only.

Let me see if I can save it off somewhere.

It works up here. Seems to me that guy had horseshoes up his you-know-what that day! Reminds me of a time I hit a cyclist with my car and on that day the cyclist was okay and I was all over him saying, "Sorry... are you okay. I'm so sorry... are you okay!!

Background info on my story... I had just returned from Africa where I was driving all over the place on the 'wrong' side of the road. I was home, turning left when a friggin' cyclist appeared on the screen. Back in Africa a left turn meant I had the road to myself. "Sorry dude!"

wow

Note her left hand at right ear, then left hand at left pocket.

Cell phone? Can't say for sure.

"I better hang up now, I mighta just killed a guy. See you later."

Hard to say, could have been hands to face in shock then dropped to get out and check on the guy. Video didn't work where linked for me either, had to go to the Biltwell main page to see it.

Video worked fine for me must have got it fixed.

Thats one luck son of a gun, did yall notice how far she was up on that bike. I am already paranoid at lights watching my mirrors more than the light. I like that dude just walks away and don't say anything he probably was looking for a place to check his pants.

After viewing this now about 5 times, I'm wondering why on earth the green little SUV in front of the rider and in the middle lane of 3 lanes stopped for no apparent reason?!!! I mean, I can ALMOST see why this happened and why the lady in the silver vehicle hit the motorcyclist. I'm almost sure she probably took her eyes off the vehicle in front of her(the motorcycle) for JUST a second, but noticed the rest of the traffic continuing down the road(maybe though her peripheral vision), and so there was nothing to signal in her mind that she would have to make an unexpected stop right in the middle of the road.

AND, one side note here...

Notice the title of this video: "Splittin' Lanes", and the thought the blogger added below the video: "This is why I split lanes rather than sit in line while other cars come up to the light behind me."

And while I realize the accident in this particular case is slightly different in nature than the scenario the blogger uses for his rationale for splitting lanes at red lights, once again, NOW do some of you "Lane-Splitting Naysayers" around here GET IT???!!!

(...and yeah, I fully realize I've now used this thread as an another "educational tool" for those around here STILL somehow CAN'T grasp the concept of how lane-splitting can actually be safer for everybody concerned out there...BUT REMEMBER, it was NOT I who named this friggin' video "Splittin' Lanes", but was IN FACT the ORIGINAL BLOGGER who did...so gimme a friggin' BREAK here for sayin' my piece and agreein' with the ORIGINAL friggin' blogger, OKAY???!!!)

Your right there is no light or any reason to stop. She just did.

+1 on lane spliting
(lane splitting can be a useful tool in your technique tool box however when abused it can be very dangerous.)

see our Russian friend in another thread of this forum.

You can't see in front of the SUV to see why it stopped in the middle of the road. The bike could have easily hit it if reaction was slower, he still slowed down pretty quick. Rider was wearing full face helmet, leather jacket and gloves, boots and jeans. Kudos to him. The person that rear ended him probably wasn't as attentive as she should have been, and wasn't able to stop as quick as the bike did. No big surprise there, and not an unexpected result. What would legal lane splitting do there? The guy didn't have time to check blind spots to see if they were clear and make a safe pass around. If these were 3 cars in a row, the same thing would have happened.

I agree on the lane splitting but in this case wouldn't it have been illegal since the surrounding traffic is supposed to be still or moving very slow? In this case just one idiot was stopped in the road. Everybody else (including the git behind him) was moving normally. The proper/legal response in this situation would've been a lane change, not a split. But it all happened so fast. My tendency, when seeing the vehicle slow to a stop in front of me would've been to check my mirrors and immediately lane change around them, if possible. It was probably possible to the right since the guy didn't get run over immediately after walking away from the accident into the right lane.

That guy had no time. That lady probably looked away for a second not knowing assy magee would just stop in traffic for no appearant cause. He is a lucky fellow to walk away from that.

Watching this the first time I wondered why he was stopping with the suv to begin with!

Yet upon further review, the biker was busy with something. Otherwise why did he not simply change lanes as he was approached the suv? Had he been busy riding, a little side step round the suv on the right hand side and all that would have happened to him would have been a loud noise behind him...

This isn't lane splitting or heck, even filtering. Just riding 101. And there was a long line of stopped vehicles in front of the suv (nine seconds into the flick you can see over the suv).

Hum, three lanes. Odds are the right lane is cluttered with people turning/parking. The left lane gets cagers turning left. So the middle lane is the preferred lane of through travel. Say the right lane ends ahead at the light and you are forced to turn right. Way betterer imho to jog to the right then cut back into traffic closer to the light. Cagers always are distracted. Or atleast one or two are in a long line at a light. This makes it easy to cut in as gaps open up due to this inattention of at least one of the cagers.

Having said that, leading several riders round than back in is no good. The gap is usually just large enough for one at most two bikes.

Some good observations and suggestions there moe, however after watchin' this video yet again and noticing that the green SUV in front of him as actually accelerating and pulling farther ahead of the rider just before the SUV quickly braked right in front of the rider, and so I'd say he was probably pretty busy braking himself and was wondering if he had enough room to stop without rear-ending the SUV himself, and so all of his concentration was probably suddenly right there.

And, regarding this question of yours:

Quote:

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...otherwise why did he not simply change lanes as he was approached the suv?

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....I think Dave might've had the best answer to that with his:

Quote:

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The guy didn't have time to check blind spots to see if they were clear and make a safe pass around.

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And there was a car that passed in the left lane just as the biker was slowing down, and so he probably would've been toast again if he would've tried goin' around the stopped SUV, at least by taking the left route anyway.

I hear you Dwight. It's just that the biker should have known where all the cages where at around him. My supposition is that his mind was elsewhere. He wasn't S.E.E.'ing.

I finally got this video to work by going to the main page as earlier suggested. Wow wish I hadn't seen it.

Big flashback from my last accident except I was at a roundabout and giving way to my right (remember I'm in Aust). Now I always check mirrors when I am braking but I seemed to have plenty of room, stop, give way and BANG from behind just like that but I got my left leg pinned under the bike when it went down and slid.

I think the driver of the car was on the phone as well but mine was a young sexy girl so that was the only bright side.

Yep, I hear ya too moe, and that's probably the bottom line here, alright.

It's just that I can't stop thinking that if I were in the guy's shoes and saw the green SUV accelerate in front of me, I wonder if I would've been checking my 3, 6 or 9 o'clock for cars at that exact moment so as to have an "escape route" to another lane(and even though that IS the smart thing to do), because it appeared as if "all systems were Go" straight ahead at that exact moment and the green SUV was giving me more and more stopping distance as he pulled away and just before braking.

The very fact that the green suv was in front of me would have been enough for a lane change.

Lane splitting is great...
AS LONG AS THE CAGERS KNOW IT'S LEGAL!!!!
otherwise they will try to cut you off or squeeze you!!! Heck cagers don't know what a YIELD sign means!!!

That's it!

And as long as there's tourists, foreigners, young drivers, etc., there will ALWAYS be probably over 50% of the drivers in the traffic your in, that WON'T KNOW what lane-splittin' is, much less wether it's legal or not. (but, you can always sue them for being at fault,YAY! )

Why did the suv stop? Who knows, but PROBABLY because traffic was stopped in front of them. And what happens when a few cars start stopping in any certain lane? They start pulling out into adjacent lanes from a dead stop, to go.

Any move you make in traffic can be the WRONG move.
As an old big rig driver in the past (yea, I know, I know ), I DO know that the best defense is to distance yourself from traffic when possible!
Otherwise, Good luck, and may the "force" be with you.