"Lane Splitting"

[Bryant]

Is lane-splitting legal?
Here's the text (verbatim) from the CHP's site for you Hypercyclers: "Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible under California law but must done in a safe and prudent manner." The text used to also include "The motorcycle should be traveling no more than 10 mph faster than surrounding traffic (without exceeding the speed limit) and not come close enough to that traffic to cause a collision." but has since been removed. Perhaps they wanted to give cops more latitude to interpret what they thought was safe so they removed it.
Lane splitting on surface streets is probably not addressed in city or county laws so I would do this with caution, as individual cops will decide whether or not they like what they see. I split lanes on surface streets if I don't see any cops, but I stop immediately if I spot one.


Here's some more info on Lane Sharing from the DMV Handbook. Check out Page 20.

----------> DMV California Motorcycle Handbook 2003 (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl655/dl665mcycle2003.pdf) <----------

[remusR6]

I used to do the same thing.

Remus

[pgold21]

Has anyone ever received a ticket for lane sharing on Chula Vista surface streets? If so, were you able to get out of it?

[cycle_chick]

this may be a stupid question, but what do you mean by "surface" street?
-sandahl

[dre_2k2_f4i]

Originally posted by cycle_chick
this may be a stupid question, but what do you mean by "surface" street?
-sandahl Anything not a highway/freeway. Basically, residential/business areas.

The interstate highways are under the jurisdiction of the California Highway Patrol, whereas surface streets are jurisdiction of local law inforcement. This mostly applies to traffic violations; if you're blatantly breaking the law, they'll pull you over regardless of jurisdiction.

[JohnTL1]

I saw a guy in Coranado get pulled over for lane sharing down Orange Ave. Stupid thing about it was,he was doing it in the same block as the Police station is in.

[Nenna]

sometimes i get really lucky and a chopper with extremely loud pipes goes splitting in front of me, but the danger there is sometimes they go so fast....

[JC039]

All police officers in the state of California have police powers anywhere in the state regardless of what agency they work for. CHP can stop you anywhere just as city police or Sheriff. The rules for lane splitting are the same on the freeway as it is on the city because technically they are both highways.

If all traffic is stopped at a light and you decide to move up to the front your gonna be ok.
I know eh emmm other cops that ride and they do it all the time. In the CVC there is no such thing as a "freeway" and no such thing as a "surface street".

Its complicated to understand which is which but we are all good.

[brownbrown4]

lane splitting is 100% legal here in cali. but as everyone mentioned. its a safety call. everyone knows surface streets are more dangerous than freeways due to the high volume of intersections and cars going the other way are much much closer. i split at stop lights. but i look both ways before entering the intersection(red light runners). on the freeway bumper to bumper sucks( fumes :sick: and heat kill :sick: ) so i push in my mirrors and check everyones head to see if they are going to pull a fast one one,they are on the cell, or not paying attention. rev the engine or honk the horn periodicly to make sure your not invisible. and watch out for their mirrors they would probably hurt pretty bad if they shift a litttle in their lane. enjoy not sitting in traffic safely. dont go shooting through at 65 on bumper to bumper. ive passed lots of cops and had no probs......yet (knock on wood)

[JC039]

Sweet and thats how it should be my brotha!!

[Pathogen]

I got nailed for sharing a left turn lane... by a MC cop no less. Pissed me off, since he wrote me up for an illegal left turn. I asked how it was illegal, then he sat there for about 20 minutes telling me how I broke three of four different violations when I split lanes. Total bs and I think he was just trying to meet his quota... I should have faught the damn thing, but oh well!

Later,
Mark

[SilverBird]

[...] telling me how I broke three of four different violations when I split lanes.
If you did NOT cross the solid lines (either white or yellow), it will be dismissed at the court.

[badiozam]

this may be a stupid question, but what do you mean by "surface" street?
-sandahl
Surface streets are the ones that have stop lights or stop signs on them. I guess that's a good enough definition. How about this, if it's not a freeway, it's a surface street.

Is that a picture of you on your bike, btw?

[LIF]

Question: I was in LA splitting lanes inbetween the carpool and regular lanes. I split there because the have TWO pairs of double yellow-- simply more room = easier/safer. But while I split, I cross over to the carpool lane nad back again. Illegal?

[Irk]

I think it's illegal to split lanes on any yellow or solid line.

I don't know for sure though, these are just the rules I follow: No splitting lanes on solid or yellow lines. So far those two simple things have kept me out of any trouble.

As far as lane splitting on a turn I'm not sure with the laws on this. Doing this could get you run into uncoming traffic or off the road. I don't don't do it for this reason as there are just to many variables such as two cars turning left pinning you, the car in the leftest lane pushing you infront of the car in the right left lane, any of these causing you to be pushed into the traffic turning from the opposite direction. Just to many bad things that could easily happen. I can wait.

:cheers:

[justjay619]

Bodmaster, i was just about to post something like this. cuz yesterday i was riding in la jolla around 3pm. the line for this light was about 2-3 miles long, no joke. so i lane split all the way to the front. i was just wondering if this is legal? i don't lane split that often, but i wasn't about to wait that damn long for a light when i'm on bike.

[Termin8r]

A lot of people up here seem to think that the double yellow separating the car pool lane and the freeway is a motorcycle lane. To answer your question, it is not really illegal to split the car pool lane, but it is illegal to go over the double yellow (represents a barrier, remember?). If you can split the car pool lane safely, then you shouldn't have any problems with the law. Nothing is guaranteed, however, as it's always subject to what a police officer dictates as safe.

[GixxerDemon55]

[QUOTE=Bodmaster]Is lane-splitting legal?
Here's the text (verbatim) from the CHP's site for you Hypercyclers: "Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible under California law but must done in a safe and prudent manner." The text used to also include "The motorcycle should be traveling no more than 10 mph faster than surrounding traffic (without exceeding the speed limit) and not come close enough to that traffic to cause a collision." but has since been removed. Perhaps they wanted to give cops more latitude to interpret what they thought was safe so they removed it.
Lane splitting on surface streets is probably not addressed in city or county laws so I would do this with caution, as individual cops will decide whether or not they like what they see. I split lanes on surface streets if I don't see any cops, but I stop immediately if I spot one.


Here's some more info on Lane Sharing from the DMV Handbook. Check out Page 20.

I'm with you on that! If there's no cop I'll split lanes...if I see one, I don't even take a chance

[pgold21]

Can you legally laneshare on an offramp or onramp with only 1 lane?

[deathblow]

Can you legally laneshare on an offramp or onramp with only 1 lane?

No, I received a ticket for this. They will site you for driving on the shoulder. It sucks :(.

[navel_rigger]

I think we already pretty much know the answers to most of these questions. By the book there is nothing saying that lane splitting is illegal in california. We are ,however, the only state that does not have a law against it and cops keep that in mind. If a cop wants to bust you, there gonna bust you. There are too many factors to think about when it comes to whether or not your gonna get a ticket. The cop could be upset with another biker who ran from them which they didn't catch and because you were the responsible one who didn't run you get the brunt of it. With that said, just try to be smart about what you do, and as safe as possible (if your concerned with the whole ticket issue), good driving habits go a long way with cops even when you are in the wrong.

[nyburner]

A crucial element regarding this issue is the wording. While the majority of riders refer to it as lane-SPLITTING, the law refers to it as lane-SHARING. The key distinction is that the latter doesn't involve actually changing lanes, in theory just passing a car w/in the same lane. This is contrary to how most of us view it, as riding inbtwn two lanes. Lane-sharing while variably crossing btwn the left and right lanes [splitting] w/out signaling will be viewed by the law as illegal lane changes, and similarly viewed as riding the shoulder or illegal passing when doing it on a single lane road. Discretion is really up to the individual officer though, a la "spirit" of the law vs. "letter" of the law.