[vito]

Visiting here in NYC and surprised at how common lane splitting is. I know it's not legal but if you saw as many riders doing it as I have you might think it legal here. I never see it in Chicago and traffic here in NYC is even worse than Chicago.

 

[Trondyne]

Visiting here in NYC and surprised at how common lane splitting is. I know it's not legal but if you saw as many riders doing it as I have you might think it legal here. I never see it in Chicago and traffic here in NYC is even worse than Chicago.

Yeah it is very common but I don't do it.. I've seen plenty of guys come close to buying the farm with sudden lane changes, shifts and unexpected door openings... NYC roads are plenty dangerous enough without it.

 

[vito]

I grew up in NYC and learned to drive there. I didn't start riding motorcycles until long after I left the area. Lanes are narrow, drivers aggressive, and for the most part when driving I do NOT look in my rear view mirror, leaving it for the drivers behind me to watch out for me, not the other way around. Riding on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, with heavy highway speed traffic, the lane splitting seemed excessively dangerous in my view. Several of my relatives that I spoke to during this recent visit remarked how they really dislike motorcycles and motorcyclists because they ride so dangerously. Makes me especially glad that I left NYC a long, long time ago and never returned to live there.

 

[distantThunder]

Can't speak for NYC.

I was driving my cage on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles yesterday.
I watched a dozen motorcycle riders pass me ... lane splitting in the area between the fast lane and the carpool lane. This is the CORRECT location for lane splitting ... the separation between lanes is very wide there.

BUT ... out of a dozen riders, I only saw 2-3 people who were doing it right. Most riders were doing lane splitting at speeds that are WAY TOO FAST. It's a recipe for total disaster. I am amazed at the number of riders who seem to be willing to throw their lives away.

CAGE Drivers in LA are relatively "OK" with lane splitting. Meaning that cages see motorcycles splitting lanes every day - and accept it as reality. I'm sure that the cages feel that the MC riders are "lunatics" for doing this. But LA drivers do not do hostile things (like opening car doors). However, they DO commonly make erratic lane changes ... very, very common. Almost every day, MC riders die in the Carpool lanes of LA.

Hate to say it. But human life is becoming cheap out there.

dT

 

[Jahuth]

Hey Vito, they even lane-spit with cagers in NYC. :biggrin: