Would you like lane-splitting to be legal in North Carolina (or your state)?

May 8th, 2007

Would you like lane-splitting to be legal in Arizona (or your state)?

angrybob at motorcyclebloggers.com posed this question to his readers, and asked others to do the same.

Lane splitting is currently only legal in California. Do not confuse this with lane sharing, which is two motorcycles riding side by side in the same lane. Lane splitting involves riding on the striped line between lanes, and between the cars that are involved in the congestion. Lane sharing is legal in a lot of states, but not lane splitting.

Advocates of lane splitting in California cite several reasons, including the fact that a lot of motorcycles are air cooled, and subject to over heating in the stop and go traffic sometimes involved with big city commerce. One I have not heard of actually happened to me when I was stationed in California back in the early seventies. I frequently was riding in rush hour traffic in San Francisco, and even then resorted to lane splitting to minimize my need to stop, then go, then stop.

One day, though, my parents had come from Montana to visit me, and we went into San Francisco to do the routine tourist things. Since Mom and Dad were going to Lodi to see an uncle after the visit, and I had to report back to my ship, I rode my motorcycle while they followed me in their car. We ran into the stop and go, and, because Mom and Dad were following, I was forced to stop and go with the traffic. After about 4 miles of this, my clutch cable snapped. Luckily, I was carrying a cable fixer, and the down time was short, but we said our good byes for the night and I continued to my ship, lane splitting the rest of the way.

So, here is the poll, and I would really be interested in your comments for or against, as well as any personal experiences with splitting the lanes with your motorcycle.